County Cricket: No Stopping Northants!

With the Men’s Vitality Blast entering its final phase, Northamptonshire prolonged their 100%r record to an impressive eight games. They widened their lead in the Central and West to twelve points with two crushing victories over Essex and second-placed Gloucestershire. Calvin Harrison spun his way to a 5-9 return as Essex crumbled to a 130-run defeat and David Willey helped himself to eleven sixes across the week, seven of them in a blistering 32-ball 73 as he and Nathan Mc Sweeney blazed a 99-run stand to surpass Gloucester’s 184, in which Dawid Malan crunched an unbeaten 91. 

Gloucestershire also fell to Somerset in the West Country derby. After becoming derailed in the last sequence of T20s, Somerset seemed to have recovered with an 18-run victory, with James Rew utterly dominant, scoring 116 not out. However, on Sunday they came a cropper at Worcester. Rew senior again top-scored but their response to the home county’s decent 180 never really got going. 

In the same group, Warwickshire won both their fixtures at a canter, all-rounder Beau Webster making two half-centuries and picking up a couple of wickets. Opener Zen Malik came within one from a maiden white-ball hundred in their 59-run triumph over neighbours Worcestershire. Apart from Rew, the week’s only other centurion was Durham opener Alex Lees, whose 108 anchored an unassailable total of 218 against Middlesex. 

Nottinghamshire displaced Yorkshire as kings of the north, taking Kent and Leicestershire to the cleaners. Scottish one-day specialist George Munsey performed much of the heavy-duty scrubbing with innings of 82 and 75 without getting out. Lancashire had England regulars Salt, Buttler and Livingstone in harness for their defeat of Leicestershire but managed without the first two in overcoming Derbyshire by just four runs. 

Yorkshire were involved in even tighter finishes. At Southampton, Hampshire overhauled them with a Chris Wood six off the penultimate delivery then two days later shared the points with Derbyshire. Matthew Revis plundered 69 off 32 balls, including two final-over sixes, to achieve an improbable tie with a single from Akif Javed’s finale. 

The greatest run-fest of the week occurred at Chelmsford, where Essex and Surrey treated the crowd to 473 runs. Roy, Evans, Pope and Aussie signing Josh Philippe whacked most of Surrey’s 240 before Paul Walter gave the home side a cracking start. Wickets tumbled but a late-innings rally by Snater and Akhtar took Essex tantalisingly close. For such a high-scoring match, figures of 3-28 for both Reece Topley and Dan Lawrence were exceptional as the visitors won by seven runs. 

Hampshire top the South division despite being well beaten by Kent, for whom Grant Stewart took 4-32 and skipper Sam Billings carved an undefeated fifty from only 21 balls. Hampshire seek revenge at Southampton on Sunday, followed by Middlesex three days later. Can Northants maintain their rampant run of success? Only Somerset and Glamorgan stand in their way, while Gloucestershire are ready to close the gap should they emerge victorious against Surrey and Warwickshire. Still plenty to play for in he remaining fortnight’s group fixtures. 

Team of the Week; Munsey (Not), Lees (Dur), Willey (Nor), J Rew (Som), Webster (War), Billings (Ken +), Phillippe (Sur), Lawrence (Sur), Tye (Yor), Harrison (Not), Topley (Sur)

County Cricket: Yorkshire shatter victory margin record

The super-dry tracks may have been to most batsmen’s liking but bowlers were able to hasten a few extremely decisive results in the County Championship. Yorkshire even went as far as breaking the competition’s record for a winning margin by runs, humbling Worcestershire at Headingley by a whopping 504. Inside three days! The home side knocked 425 on day one then, when Coad and Thompson reduced Worcester from 90-0 to 162 all out, the dominance became still more pronounced. Dom Bess struck his maiden century, Malan and Bairstow upped the tempo before declaring, setting a fanciful target of 610. Worcestershire barely lasted a session, the seamers again in charge. 

At Hove, Sussex were on course for a similar slaughter, with Somerset their hapless victims. They inflicted the greatest damage with the bat on days two and three. Tons by Tom Haines and John Simpson helped Sussex to a second-innings total of 501-7 but there was no Banton blockbuster to save the game (he was out for a duck). Abell, Gregory and Pretorious showed some resistance but young left-arm seamer Sean Hunt took his match tally to nine wickets and his side to victory by 260 runs. 

It was a much tenser finish at Chester-le-Street. Durham and Warwickshire produced a belter which could have gone either way. Local lad and last year’s England under-19 captain Ben McKinney top-scored with 153 but there were runs made all the way down the order for both teams. On the last day, chasing 339, Warwickshire were reduced by Potts and Raine to 90-5, but the combination of Ed Barnard’s experience and canny play by the youthful ‘keeper Kai Smith and all-rounder Michael Booth, polished off by a six from Ethan Bamber, took them over the line by one wicket. 

Champions Surrey could manage only a draw at The Oval against Hampshire despite a couple of hundreds by Dom Sibley. To their credit, the visitors recovered from 35-3 overnight to bat out the last day, thanks largely to Nick Gubbins’ 117 and Toby Albert’s unbeaten 78. At Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire and Essex also appeared too well-matched to achieve a win for either county. Notts batsman Jack Haynes (142) shepherded the tail in the second innings to make it safe, leaving Essex no time to launch an attack. 

The Easter fixtures include Surrey facing a run-happy Sussex and the other joint leaders, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire playing each other in Birmingham. The holiday weekend weather forecast looks grim, though. 

In Division Two, Kent became the only county to win their opening two games, defeating Middlesex by eight wickets at Canterbury. Bowlers were largely in charge for the first three innings until the Kent duo of Ben Compton and Tawanda Muyeye tipped the balance the other way with an unbroken third-wicket stand of 225. 

Despite their two wins, Kent sit a point behind Leicestershire at the top following the latter’s draw at home to Derbyshire. Runs flowed continuously, although only Martin Andersson (101) reached three figures. Interesting to see Leicester’s former boy wonder spinner being used as an opening batsman, not without success. 

At Old Trafford, Lancashire were forced to follow on after Northamptonshire racked up 496 and Calvin Harrison took 4-34. However, Josh Bohannon (155) led the Red Roses to the security of a draw, although tall leggie Harrison captured another seven wickets. In the Severn derby, Gloucestershire generally had the better of Glamorgan. Cameron Bancroft and Oliver Price laid the foundations of a likely success but the ever-reliable Colin Ingram ensured that didn’t happen. They next travel to bottom side Middlesex, Gloucestershire aim to deny Kent a third successive win and Lancashire host leaders Leicestershire. 

Team of the Week:-  McKinney (Dur), Sibley (Sur), Haynes (Not), Malan (Yor), Ingram (Gla), K Smith (War +), Potts (Dur), Harrison (Nor), Booth (War), Thompson (Yor), Hunt (Sus)