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: 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)

County Week: Stokes Six Blitz but Surrey storm ahead

There were no double-centuries this week but Ben Stokes marked his first Durham appearance in the Championship for ten months with an innings to match the new England captain’s larger-than-life personality. His first-innings knock had a typically charmed start but once he started swinging his bat, the records began to fall. He smashed 17 sixes from 88 balls, the highest ever in the competition, before another leg-side hoik was snaffled in the deep when on 161. Pity poor teenage spinner Josh Baker. He was clubbed for five successive sixes, and it could have been a full set had Stokes’ next club over mid-wicket bounced a few metres short of the boundary. 

In the match context, Stokes wasn’t even the top scorer. That accolade went to the opener Sean Dickson who struck two centuries, including a declaration-chasing 73-ball 105. Thanks to Jack Haynes’ maiden ton, Worcestershire easily avoided defeat on the final day. Stokes as bowled but ended wicketless from thirty overs. Will he play for the county again before England’s Test series begins? Who knows? 

Also in Division Two, Chetneshwar Pujara also outscored the Durham all-rounder, thanks to a second-innings 170 not out for Sussex at Hove. Middlesex were challenged to reach 370 in under three sessions and, anchored by Sam Robson’s 149 and accelerated by Max Holden and Martin Andersson, they succeeded. 

Middlesex now to the table, and Glamorgan also leapfrogged Nottinghamshire into second by defeating Leicestershire in Cardiff. Most players contributed, including ‘keeper Chris Cooke, Sam Northeast and the Aussie pacemen Neser and Hogan. 

In the top tier, there were centuries from four former England openers. Warwickshire’s Dom Sibley and Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings, in his first game in 2022, were the batting stars although the game limped to a draw. At Chelmsford, Alastair Cook emulated Sean Dickson by reaching three figures twice, surprisingly something he’d ever achieved before. However, the second innings of 102 not out was played out with little pressure as the match petered out into batting practice for Cook and opening partner Nick Browne. Special mention, too, for Yorkshire’s Harry Brook. His 123 was his sixth score of 50+ in six innings. That’s what you call consistent cracking form. 

Surrey notched a third win of the season, this time against Northamptonshire. Rory Burns’ 107 led the way to a total of 401, which was beyond Northants in two attempts. Colin de Grandhomme and Dan Worrall took ten wickets between them, and ‘keeper Ben Foakes claimed seven catches. 

Hampshire also enjoyed a home victory, clinching an 87-run margin over Gloucestershire. The latter’s Mohammad Amir was in ominous form but his Pakistan ex-colleague Mohammad Abbas had the edge, thanks to a first-innings 6-45. 

Hampshire sit it out this coming week, so Surrey can open up a sizeable lead by beating table-proppers Kent in the Beckenham derby. Talking of derbies, Yorkshire and Lancashire provide the year’s first Roses battle and neighbours Somerset and Gloucestershire also face off in Bristol. In Division Two, Nottinghamshire travel to Lord’s for the chance to reclaim the summit, although a draw could let in Glamorgan who head north to Durham and hope to avoid another Stokes special.  

Team of the Week: Sibley (War), Cook (Ess), Dickson (Dur), Pujara (Sus), Holden (Mid), Cooke (Gla +), Stokes (Dur), De Grandhomme (Sur), Mohammad Abbas (Ham), Mohammad Amir (Glo), Potts (Dur)