Kent and Lancashire having a Blast

The past week will long be remembered for record-breaking temperatures but it also introduced 2019 to the Vitality Blast. Sadly the hot weather also brought a swathe of storms which caused five washouts but, on the bright side, they did ensure Leicestershire have a point to their name.

At the end of the first week of fixtures Kent are the only unbeaten county, defeating useful one-day sides like Essex, Somerset and Hampshire. The Spitfires’ stand-out individual performance was Imran Qayyam’s 5-21 which shot Somerset out of the skies at Canterbury. Middlesex stand second of the South division. AB De Villiers got them off to a stunning start with an unbeaten 88 off 43 deliveries but Dawid Malan was the most consistent batsman of all, while seamers Tom Helm and Toby Roland-Jones were always amongst the wickets.

Sussex boast a formidable line-up of specialist T20 bowlers, particularly Mills, Topley, Rashid Khan and Danny Briggs.  They have propelled Sussex into third place, despite only managing a tie with Surrey. The latter side enjoyed a 97-run drubbing of Glamorgan on Thursday evening at The Oval. Tom Curran captured a second-over hat-trick, then Batty and Imran Tahir each took a further three wickets as the Welsh were dismissed for 44. It was their worst T20 performance to date but at least it was better than Ireland’s second-innings Test meltdown.

Curran was less successful against Essex. With South African hired T20 gun Cameron Delport slogging fourteen sixes in a career-best 129, the England man’s three overs went for 60. On their home ground, Essex amassed 226-4 from only 15 overs but it wasn’t the highest total of the week. In the North group Yorkshire took 255 off Leicestershire, with Tom Kohler-Cadmore leading the way with 96 not out. However, the Vikings lost the Big One, falling just short of Lancashire’s 170-6 at Headingley.

Warwickshire, aka the Birmingham Bears, also got off to a good start. Their recruit from Hampshire, Fidel Edwards, and Aussie spinner Ashton Agar looked useful acquisitions. Nottinghamshire ought to do well, and Alex Hales needs to make some high scores to get back in Eoin Morgan’s good books.

Gloucestershire and Worcestershire saw relatively little Blast action as they squeezed in a Championship fixture at Cheltenham. The result was closer after four days than the majority of games spanning just three hours. An excellent all-round contribution by Ryan Higgins helped the home team to a 13-run triumph, propelling them to an unlikely third position in Division Two.

As for the Blast, there’ll be plenty more thrills and spills before the knockouts start. I’m sure Glamorgan and Leicestershire won’t end the competition winless.

Team of the Week: Delport (Ess), Short (Dur), Kohler-Cadmore (Yor), Malan (Mid), Du Plooy (Der), Pooran (Yor +), Higgins (Glo), Roland-Jones (Mid), Agar (War), Helm (Mid), Edwards (War)

Somerset Celebrate at Lord's at last

When Somerset clinched a place in the Royal London One-Day Cup final a fortnight ago, my first thought was: “Oh, well. We’re bound to finish second again”. You can hardly blame me; in the past decade or more we’ve made a maddening habit of falling at the final hurdle, be it in the Championship or a knockout competition so why should 2019 be any different? Somerset’s opponents were Hampshire, reigning champions and, in stark contrast to us, with an unenviable record of finals success, so history was not on our side. Furthermore, they had murdered us at Taunton at the group stage.

What about showing my support by travelling to London? Hmm. Why should I splash out on a Lord’s ticket and another for the return train journey from Cardiff only to witness the inevitable crushing disappointment at first hand. And yet…what if this was the game that turned the tables? I’d be gutted if I missed the one occasion where Somerset finally fulfilled their potential. Encouraged by my wife, and with only thirteen days before the fixture, I determined to go online and make the bookings before my natural pessimism could regain the upper hand. Thank God I did!

And so it was with a mixture of excitement and apprehension that this 57 year-old caught the 07.26 to Paddington thence by Tube to Baker Street. Taking my seat in the Mound Stand close to the Somerset zone in the Edrich Stand, I took in the atmosphere at the ‘Home of Cricket’. When the teams were announced a chink of hope broke through. The 2018 winners were missing not only Vince and Dawson on England World Cup duty but also South African Aidan Markam, while we were more or less at full strength. Well, it made up for the years when Somerset were robbed of our own international stars.

Sadly the stadium was only half full at the start but the sun was beginning to make an appearance bathing the greensward in light. Old Father Time was surely pointing his arrow towards the Somerset dressing room as its occupants entered the pitch, closely followed by Tom Alsop and Aneurin Donald. Hampshire had won the toss, which proved to be about the only thing that went their way all day.

Craig Overton looked lively but it was the unsung Josh Davey who removed both openers during the Powerplay. Somerset looked a tight unit in the field, cutting off singles and Lewis Gregory flinging himself around the boundary to prevent boundaries. Indeed, fours were in very short supply until last year’s centurion Rilie Rossouw joined his skipper Sam Northeast in the middle. Enter Jamie Overton.

He’d spent the previous two weeks loaned out to Northants for the Championship but he made a fabulous return to the Somerset fold. Bowling at up to 90mph his controlled hostility was troubling the in-form Northeast. ‘Joverton’ reaped his reward by forcing the dangerous Rossouw to play on then induced both Berg and Wood to miss-pull skiers into the hands of Bartlett in front of the Somerset fans. Hampshire spent ten overs failing to strike a boundary and Tom Abell brought himself on for a rare 50-over bowl and bowled both Northeast and Abbott. Mason Crane and James Fuller stopped the rot but saved any fireworks until the last three overs, marring Jamie Overton’s figures and making their total vaguely respectable: 244-8.

Respectable perhaps but, in these days of regular 350+ scores, it was hardly challenging. However, the fat lady had not yet sung. My only previous one-day final visit to Lord’s had been the one in 1996 when Lancashire bowled out Essex for a paltry 57, so I wasn’t yet counting my chickens.

Fortunately, after the 45-minute break spent wandering around the sun-baked Food Lawn and picnic area, I enjoyed the opportunity to watch young ‘keeper Tom Banton in action for the first time. Noticing Fidel Edwards’ tendency to stray onto leg stump he struck him for 4-6-4, hitting him out of the attack after only three overs. The 20 year-old was making Azhar Ali look pedestrian and before we knew it Somerset’s opening partnership reached 100. Fans around me were taking bets on how quickly Somerset would win. 29.2 overs? 32.4? I would have gone for 48.3!

Edwards eventually returned to the attack, this time from the Pavilion End. It worked. In two overs his pace did for both openers and later on what looked like a long hop was slapped by Abell straight to Donald at midwicket. Kyle Abbott was hard to get away and Mason Crane’s leg-spin was accurate. Nevertheless, at the 30-over mark, Somerset needed only three an over to reach their target. Surely we couldn’t screw this up? Luckily we had the wise head of James Hildreth to manage proceedings. George Bartlett seemed set on turning singles into risky twos but Hildy’s experience held sway. Northeast switched the attack with T20-style frequency, bringing the field in to increase the pressure but all to no avail.

At six o’clock, two Hildreth boundaries and a single off Edwards had taken Somerset to that elusive Lord’s success. The shouts of “Zummerzet la-la-la” intensified and filled St John’s Wood with West Country fervour. There was no way I was leaving the ground without witnessing the presentation of the trophy. Irritatingly the podium was erected below the Warner Stand, as far from the fans as it was possible to be. My zoom lens tried its best as the flames flared and the champagne fizzed but our hopes were pinned on a lap of honour. When it eventually came, it was a rather haphazard affair but the squad did finally line up in front of the Edrich Stand and deliver a rousing rendition of the Somerset song. County legend Peter Trego was so emotional he walked along by the advertising boards and clasped any outstretched hand he could find – including mine. 

Eighteen years of hurt were over. Now dare I dream about winning the Big One, the title that has eluded Somerset since their nineteenth century inception, the County Championship? Winning at Lord’s was wonderful but clutching the pennant really would make 2019 the year of all years.

Sadness for Sussex, Heaven for Hampshire

When rain swept the nation early in the week, I feared the worst: that the weather would decide the Division One relegation battle and the county season would fizzle out in a damp squib. How wrong I was; there were fireworks a-plenty, and a brilliant climax!

Not only did the battle to avoid the drop go right to the wire, but there were also great performances with bat and ball in all eight fixtures played.

Personally, my relief came a day early. At Taunton, a combination of James Hildreth’s century and spinner Jack Leach’s wickets were enough to guarantee Somerset’s safety regardless of what happened at Trent Bridge or Headingley. Jeetan Patel’s 7-34 left Warwickshire needing only 225 to win on the final day, but Leach and the unlikely figure of Tom Cooper claimed nine of the ten wickets to fall, giving Somerset victory and a sixth place finish. That’s the second successive season when we’ve pulled it out of the fire in late September!

Sussex merely needed to avoid defeat to Yorkshire to remain in Division One. However, the champions weren’t happy to sip champagne and play their reserves. Most of their England stars were on the pitch, but Jack Brooks and Tim Bresnan were the pick of the Eleven. In his last game, Michael Yardy did his best, but Sussex’s batting, Ben Brown and Luke Wright apart, has been woeful for much of the summer, restricting their bonus point tally. They lost by 100 runs.

Meanwhile, the first innings scores in Nottingham were fairly even, but then Hampshire grasped the initiative on day three, West Indian seamer Fidel Edwards completing a ten-for in the match as the Notts batting collapsed. Jimmy Adams and Michael Carberry kept their heads and Hampshire had won the one that really mattered. Sussex were relegated by just two points!

Worcestershire’s demise had already been set in concrete so it was a huge surprise that they gave second-placed Middlesex a trouncing by an innings and 128 runs. The two Toms, Fell and Kohler-Cadmore each struck hundreds. In the latter’s case, it was his first in the championship.

By contrast, all four Division Two matches were drawn. It was a cracker at Derby where the home side were set a target of 341 in under a day by Leicestershire skipper Mark Cosgrove, whose 156 had made his side narrow favourites. At 285-2, things looked promising as Chesney Hughes reached three figures. However, once he and Madsen were out, it also became a race against the clock. There were two run-outs and in an exciting finale, Derbyshire closed on 331-8. Mark Footitt took another ten wickets on probably his last appearance for the county. He would be badly missed.

Surrey ended the season as second tier champions, but Northants gave them a rollercoaster ride at the end. Another silky century from Kumar Sangakkara and ten wickets for the young Curran brothers left the Londoners 300 runs ahead. However, the visitors fought back with three centurions of their own and time was against even Jason Roy et al in the final session to deny them victory.

Having lost the first day to bad weather, Lancashire and Essex couldn’t conjure up a positive result either. James Anderson and Alastair Cook faced each other for a change and it was the bowler who was most definitely on top, with match figures of 8-90. The England captain aggregated a mere eight runs in two innings, lbw to, then caught by Anderson! Ravi Bopara and Jesse Ryder scored most of Essex’s runs. Ashwell Prince’s career finished with another half-century while 41 year-old Glenn Chapple could take only three more wickets. He is now cruelly 15 short of the thousand in first-class cricket. Will he be back for more next year?!

In the other game, it was a runfest at Bristol. An unbeaten 180 stand between Ingram and Cooke for Glamorgan on the final day was impressive but was completely eclipsed by Gloucester opener Chris Dent. A mediocre season was turned on its head when he spent more than eight hours at the crease compiling a career-best 268. Few have score more in the Championship al summer!

And so the 2015 summer comes to an end. England won the Ashes, domestic silverware went to Yorkshire, Lancashire and Gloucestershire, and the same old questions were being asked about the demise of four- and five-day cricket, 50-over cricket and basically all cricket other than the IPL. Pathetic! There’s room for all formats; it’s just a matter of finding compromises to fit them in the calendar. However, that’s harder than it sounds!

I’ll be reviewing the domestic season’s star performers shortly but, in the mean time, here’s my final County Team of the Week:

Dent (Glo), Duckett (Nor), Sangakkara (Sur), Fell (Wor), Madsen (Der), Bopara (Ess), Cooke (Gla, +), Edwards (Ham), Leach (Som), Anderson (Lan), Footitt (Der)