Whether it was the Blast or the re-emergence of the County Championship, it was certainly a great week for Dan Lawrence. With the red ball, he dominated both Surrey’s innings, with a career-best 218, followed by a destructive 101 from only 64 balls. He took his liking for the Hampshire attack into the T20 by smearing it for an unbeaten 94 at two a ball. The strange thing is, Surrey won neither match. They failed to hammer home their advantage in the fourth day, delaying the declaration until after Lawrence’s century then running out of time to take ten wickets. They did at least advance to second in the table, but having played an extra game. Hampshire sit top of the Blast’s South division after beating their neighbours by just five runs.
Lawrence’s old club Essex also had a profitable week, defeating Middlesex by sixty runs and Kent by three in a very tight encounter at Northwood. Charlie Allison aggregated 135 across the two fixtures.
In the North league, Yorkshire remain four points ahead of Nottinghamshire, assisted by a 106-run demolition of Lancashire at Headingley. Jonny Bairstow top-scored with 73 and Moeen Ali fell to a second-ball duck. However, his 3-16 and T20 specialist, leg-spinner Jafer Chohan’s 4-17 destroyed any chance of a Red Rose run chase. Wickets tumbled, too, at Leicester, where Hasan Ali’s 4-18 could not prevent Yorkshire going down by twelve runs.
Lancashire beat Durham in a ten-over thrash, but also slid to a final-ball defeat to Glamorgan. Another white-ball all-rounder, Liam Livingstone, was in fine fettle in all three ties, taking wickets and scoring more than two hundred runs. His 85 not out off 31 deliveries in the Durham game was the highlight. This form has prompted an SOS to make his first Championship appearance for the county in several years. A good performance against Worcestershire, and who knows? He may end up replacing banned boozer Ben Stokes as a Test all-rounder!
My Team of the Week would give Messrs Farage, Tice and Lowe a collective fit, because another two bowlers in the Eleven are Sikander Raza and Mohammad Ali. The former excelled with bat and ball for Worcestershire, taking 4-17against Glamorgan and combining a miserly 4-17 with a gallant 47 in pursuit of Gloucestershire’s low target. Had he not been bowled by Jack Taylor, Worcestershire would almost certainly not have lost. Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire seamer Ali was instrumental in the triumphs over Warwickshire and Derbyshire, taking 3-27 and 3-25.
Top score of the week was Beau Webster’s 112 for Warwickshire against Somerset, whose season continued to unravel. Sadly, their chances of reaching Finals Day yet again are already looking rather remote, desperately needing a post-hiatus recovery .
Team of the Week:- Bairstow
(Yor +), Jacks (Sur), Webster (War), Lawrence (Sur), Livingstone (Lan), Allison
(Ess), Sikander Raza (Wor), Hasan Ali (Yor), Mohammad Ali (Not), Jafer Chohan
(Yor), Hunt (Sus).
