County Cricket: The Runfest Continues….

820-9, 722-6, 679-7, 305,….It was a week when numbers seemed to encapsulate the latest round of County Championship matches. With the Kookaburra ball and hot, dry pitches almost everywhere, it was a double-whammy for batsmen. There were even more centurions than last week, making it extremely difficult to decide which to omit from my Team of the Week. And the hapless, put-upon bpwlers? Pity poor George Drissell of Durham. His 45 overs were plundered by Surrey for 247 runs, with just the solitary wicket of Sam Curran as compensation. 

Surrey compiled a county record 820-9 declared, anchored by Dom Sibley’s triple-hundred. Jacks and Curran also weighed in with tons, but Dan Lawrence’s 149-ball 178 was the most eye-catching. Dan Worrall (4-60) helped dismiss Durham for 362 but, despite the massive deficit, the visitors’ openers cruised to the close without losing a wicket. Alex Lees struck his second hundred of the game, while Emilio Gay struck twenty-five boundaries in his unbeaten 156. 

Nottinghamshire also failed to win, despite having a first-innings advantage over Somerset at Taunton, and slipped a point below Surrey at the top of Division One. Slater and Haynes reached three figures while Jack Leach twirled away for 53 overs but on the final day Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s 147 not out was crucial in preventing defeat. 

Bottom club Worcestershire have struggled for first-innings runs all summer so it was a shock when their third-wicket partnership went on….and on….and on. Captain Jake Libby was the quiet partner while Adam Hose provided the fireworks. Both swept past 200 and the stand totalled 395. They even collected maximum bowling bonus points as Hampshire slumped to 221 all out. Second time around, Ben Brown et al pulled up the drawbridge and crawled to safety.

Sussex remain third after another high-scoring game at Hove. They, too, topped 500, both Hughes and Coles hitting the 150 mark but, like Somerset, Durham and Hants, Warwickshire batted out day four with little hardship. 

The only victory in the division came at York. For the first three days, there wasn’t a great deal separating Essex and Yorkshire, with Westley and Revis exchanging tons. However, Ben Coad and Jack White tipped the balance and polished things off by ten wickets. In doing so, Yorkshire leapfrogged Essex out of the relegation positions. 

In the second flight, the form book was tipped upside-down. Both leaders were beaten by basement residents. Runaway table-toppers Leicestershire lost to Middlesex by an innings. While Sam Robson (133) and Ben Geddes (137) propelled the Londoners to 534, seamers Tom Helm and teenager Naavya Sharma helped restrict the home team to 205 and 202 and their first loss of the season. 

At Chesterfield, Lancashire recorded their first triumph so far, crushing Derbyshire by 261 runs.  Their star performers were all-rounders George Balderson and Chris Green, although Ashton Turner and Keaton Jennings also scored centuries. 

Northamptonshire racked up the highest score at Canterbury, 722-6, including an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 298 involving Saif Zaib (196*) and Justin Broad (157*). Although responding to Kent’s formidable 566-8, the pair sensed a possible victory so accelerated the run rate on the last morning, giving their bowlers sixty-odd overs to bowl Kent out. They almost succeeded. Spinners Chahal and Harrison worked their way through the batting, but Joey Evison defended admirably, and the injured Muyeye limped on as tenth man to aid the survival effort, but it was nerve-shredding stuff. 

Another 500+ total was delivered by Glamorgan at Cardiff against Gloucestershire. Colin Ingram and Ben Kellaway contributed almost half of those runs, then the latter added six wickets. However, the visitors held on comfortably for the draw. 

It is now back to the Blast for a few weeks. At least in this format spectators won’t mind so much if the boundaries flow unchecked. 

Team of the Week:- Sibley (Sur), Lees (Dur), Libby (Wor), Hose (Wor), Lawrence (Ess), Bracey (Glo +), Kellaway (Gla), Saif Zaib (Nor), Balderson (Lan), White (Yor), Helm (Mid) 

County Cricket: Notts hit the heights, Lancashire rock bottom

The record dry and sunny Spring continued to lend cricket grounds a real summery atmosphere. Trent Bridge was also the scene for Nottinghamshire dealing Hampshire a hefty 366-run blow and consolidating their position at the top of Division One. Young Freddie McCann returned to their middle-order with a century, then the second innings was dominated by a 238-run partnership between Jack Haynes and Liam Patterson-White. Mohammad Abbas took 5-31 against his old mates but in the end it was Lyndon James (5-21) and Brett Hutton who instigated Hampshire’s second-innings crumble. 

On the South Coast, Worcestershire lost again, making little headway against the bowling of Sussex’s Finn Hudson-Prentice and Ollie Robinson. John Simpson took eight catches behind the stumps and off-spinner Jack Carson struck his maiden hundred but the bowling of Tom Taylor kept Worcestershire in the game. While Jake Libby was at the crease, they were even threatening to win it but when he was eighth out for 167, the remaining target pf 75 was just too stiff for the tail. 

Sussex advanced to third, but Warwickshire remain above them after a tame draw against Surrey. Only fifteen wickets fell on a placid Edgbaston featherbed, enabling Tom Latham (184 in his first game of the season), Ed Barnard (177 not out) and Surrey ‘keeper Ben Foakes (a career-best 174 not out) to fill their boots. 

Contrast that with the tense finish at Chelmsford where Yorkshire had Essex on the rack throughout. The bowling of George Hill and Ben Coad, followed by Adam Lyth’s 185 and a typical Bairstow blast, left Essex facing four sessions and a massive victory target of 510. At 45-4, the home team looked dead and buried but a slow but solid partnership between Critchley and Pepper, plus dogged defence by the tail (the last wicket survived for 14 overs) saved the draw. 

In the second tier, only two fixtures were played but the results were significant. At Canterbury, Kent’s hopes of bouncing back into the promotion places were dashed ruthlessly by bottom-side Glamorgan. Last week, spinner Ben Kellaway hit his record score of 74. This week, he extended that to a whopping 181 as the Welsh side racked up a total of 549-9 declared. They endeavoured to back this up by bowling out Kent twice inside two days. The wickets were shred out generously but Timm van der Gugten was the pick of the attack. 

The result elevated Glamorgan to sixth, but Lancashire’s 70-run defeat by Northamptonshire consigned them to the basement. Keaton Jennings promptly quit the captaincy but the primary problem seems to be the batting, with the notable exception of his successor, Marcus Harris. The Aussie’s prolific start was maintained with another 164 runs, but the Northants seamers and leggie Calvin Harrison (4-32) were too strong overall, earning then their opening victory account for 2025. 

Next up, they play Glamorgan and leaders Leicestershire travel to Middlesex. In the next rung up, all counties are in action, including Notts at Durham and Warwickshire at home to Hampshire. Worcestershire’s ambitions of taking at least one batting bonus point lie in the hands of Essex’s useful attack. 

Team of the Week:- Lyth (Yor), Libby (Wor), Latham (War), Harris (Lan), Foakes (Sur +), Barnard (War), Kellaway (Gla), Hill (Yor), James (Not), Van der Gugten (Gla), Hudson-Prentice (Sus)