The week’s rain may have benefitted the parched pitches, but did nothing for cricket as a spectator sport. The players must have been bored to tears, too, with whole days washed out entirely. Only six centuries were made, and each of those who scored them went straight in to my Team of the Week. No-brainers, the lot of ‘em!
Only one result was possible, and inevitably it was Durham who took advantage of slightly better weather at Chester-le-Street to notch win number seven against bottom county Gloucestershire. In his final game of the season, David Bedingham struck 122 and, as part of a star-studded English seam attack, it was the unsung Kasey Aldridge who again stole the show with match stats of 9-63. If Durham beat Northamptonshire next weekend, promotion will be secured with three games in hand.
This week, Northants and Kent shared the spoils with Kent, and stand on equal points behind Durham. Zak Crawley and Ben Compton put on 162 for the first Kent wicket, then in reply, Ricardo Vasconcelos and Nathan McSweeney each maintained their consistent summer form by reaching three figures. At Worcester, the home side’s Beyers Swanepoel combined a swift 63 not out and 4-37 against Lancashire, while at Derby, only 87 overs were possible across all four days.
In Division One, five draws made little impact on the table. Nottinghamshire extended their lead to four points over Somerset thanks to Joe Clarke’s 150 and Olly Stone’s 5-49 against third-placed Warwickshire. Somerset struggled against Sussex on the first few days, but a strong second innings ensured there could be no defeat, even had the sun shone on day four.
At Chelmsford, Essex had the upper hand over Surrey. Having announced his imminent retirement, Dean Elgar demonstrated his trademark grit to register his 56th first-class hundred, and the visitors were staring down the barrel at 92-6. Luckily, Ben Foakes improved on his first-innings three-ball duck and clung on for almost five hours in eking out an unbeaten 120. There was another stalemate at Cardiff, where Hampshire seamers Abbott and Baker held sway over the Glamorgan openers, and the Bank Holiday seasiders at Scarborough saw very little action for Leicestershire’s trip to meet Yorkshire.
In the next round of fixtures, Notts and Warwicks have on paper the easiest opposition (Leicestershire and Hampshire, respectively) but Somerset require a home victory against Glamorgan to remain in the hunt for that elusive maiden title. The winners of the Essex-Sussex clash will also be in the running, but a draw won’t help either of them. Let’s hope the showers stay away.
Team of the Week: Elgar (Ess), Vasconcelos (Nor), McSweeney (Nor),
Bedingham (Dur), Clarke (Not), Foakes (Sur +), T Clark (Sur), Swanepoel (Wor), Aldridge
(Dur), Rahul Chahar (Sur), Stone (War)
