The latest report covers both ends of the county cricket spectrum. The week began with the Vitality Blast quarter-finals, Serial Finals Day participants Somerset and Hampshire progressed again. Hampshire easily outscored Durham but it took a scintillating unbeaten 71 from 26 balls by soon-to-depart Sean Dickson to swing the tie against the Bears with one delivery to spare.
Liam Livingstone delivered a fine all-round performance for Lancashire to defeat Kent by three wickets. With Tom Hartley, he kept the lid on the opposition batting before crunching 85 not out. Surrey fielded a stellar line-up of internationals but, surprisingly, were undone by a 40-year-old blast from the past. In a game reduced to fourteen overs, Northamptonshire lost both openers in the first over, only for Ravi Bopara to produce only his third T20 century in almost five hundred matches. Pope and Sam Curran did their best but Surrey fell seven runs short and so miss out on another trophy.
In the County Championship, Surrey’s seemingly smooth route to the title hit an unexpected barrier. With nationwide rain preventing results almost everywhere, second-placed Nottinghamshire scrambled their way to a three-wicket win at Worcestershire. Lyndon James (5-35) and Josh Tongue (4-52) left their side a target of only 136. Haseeb Hameed bagged a pair and wickets fell regularly but James and Tongue combined again to complete the victory which narrows the gap behind Surrey to a single point.
After the first innings, at The Oval, there was barely a bail’s width between the leaders and Warwickshire, then Sibley and Pope steered the home team to 391-8 declared. On day four, Alex Davies’ team safely negotiated the final afternoon. Somerset clung on to third spot in their draw versus Yorkshire. Their first innings spanned almost three days, during which Tom Abell compiled a patient 130. A draw seemed inevitable but, when Yorkshire crumbled to 60-7, an extraordinary result was on the cards. However, Jordan Thompson blasted a rapid half-century to prevent an embarrassment.
At Chelmsford, Essex had the better of their encounter with Durham, with Elgar and Critchley striking tons, but at Hove the bowlers were in control. Day three was washed out but there was no time for Hampshire to bowl Sussex out a second time. Hampshire’s week ended with another setback when they were docked eight points for preparing a substandard pitch back in May against the same opposition. To make matters worse, they lost that game!
The ECB verdict pulls Hampshire down to within six points of Durham who occupy one of the relegation places with Worcestershire who are all but doomed. None of the bottom six are safe. Next week, the bottom two face up, as do the top pair. Should Surrey defeat Notts, the Championship pennant will continue to flutter over The Oval for yet another year.
The big news from Division Two was Leicestershire gaining enough bonus points to ensure their first promotion to the top division since the two-tier structure was introduced. Having been wooden-spooners so often, their avoidance of defeat to Gloucestershire put them out of reach of the chasing pack. Glamorgan could yet displace them as top dogs but it would require something miraculous but with young Asa Tribe in such sensational form – 206 in his first outing against Northants following three List A centuries in four innings – who knows?!
At Lord’s, rain ruined the contest between Middlesex and Derbyshire, in which Toby Roland-Jones took 6-77, while Lancashire and Kent were evenly matched at Canterbury. In only his second first-class appearance, Lancashire seamer Mitchell Stanley claimed an impressive eleven wickets.
Next week’s Division Two highlight should be Glamorgan v Derbyshire, but the weather forecast doesn’t look great. The same goes for the T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston. No seven-over thrashes, please!
Team of the Week:- Elgar (Ess), Tribe (Gla), McKinney (Dur), Bopara
(Nor), Livingstone (Lan), Abell (Som), Roderick (Wor +), Saif Zaib (Nor), James
(Not), Roland-Jones (Mid), Stanley (Lan)
