County Cricket: Dan's the Man!

Whether it was the Blast or the re-emergence of the County Championship, it was certainly a great week for Dan Lawrence. With the red ball, he dominated both Surrey’s innings, with a career-best 218, followed by a destructive 101 from only 64 balls. He took his liking for the Hampshire attack into the T20 by smearing it for an unbeaten 94 at two a ball. The strange thing is, Surrey won neither match. They failed to hammer home their advantage in the fourth day, delaying the declaration until after Lawrence’s century then running out of time to take ten wickets. They did at least advance to second in the table, but having played an extra game. Hampshire sit top of the Blast’s South division after beating their neighbours by just five runs. 

Lawrence’s old club Essex also had a profitable week, defeating Middlesex by sixty runs and Kent by three in a very tight encounter at Northwood. Charlie Allison aggregated 135 across the two fixtures. 

In the North league, Yorkshire remain four points ahead of Nottinghamshire, assisted by a 106-run demolition of Lancashire at Headingley. Jonny Bairstow top-scored with 73 and Moeen Ali fell to a second-ball duck. However, his 3-16 and T20 specialist, leg-spinner Jafer Chohan’s 4-17 destroyed any chance of a Red Rose run chase. Wickets tumbled, too, at Leicester, where Hasan Ali’s 4-18 could not prevent Yorkshire going down by twelve runs. 

Lancashire beat Durham in a ten-over thrash, but also slid to a final-ball defeat to Glamorgan. Another white-ball all-rounder, Liam Livingstone, was in fine fettle in all three ties, taking wickets and scoring more than two hundred runs. His 85 not out off 31 deliveries in the Durham game was the highlight. This form has prompted an SOS to make his first Championship appearance for the county in several years. A good performance against Worcestershire, and who knows? He may end up replacing banned boozer Ben Stokes as a Test all-rounder! 

My Team of the Week would give Messrs Farage, Tice and Lowe a collective fit, because another two bowlers in the Eleven are Sikander Raza and Mohammad Ali. The former excelled with bat and ball for Worcestershire, taking 4-17against Glamorgan and combining a miserly 4-17 with a gallant 47 in pursuit of Gloucestershire’s low target. Had he not been bowled by Jack Taylor, Worcestershire would almost certainly not have lost. Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire seamer Ali was instrumental in the triumphs over Warwickshire and Derbyshire, taking 3-27 and 3-25. 

Top score of the week was Beau Webster’s 112 for Warwickshire against Somerset, whose season continued to unravel. Sadly, their chances of reaching Finals Day yet again are already looking rather remote, desperately needing a post-hiatus recovery . 

Team of the Week:-  Bairstow (Yor +), Jacks (Sur), Webster (War), Lawrence (Sur), Livingstone (Lan), Allison (Ess), Sikander Raza (Wor), Hasan Ali (Yor), Mohammad Ali (Not), Jafer Chohan (Yor), Hunt (Sus).

No Landslide in the Blast

The UK general election may have delivered a decisive verdict for change, but it’s as you were in county cricket. After the County Championship fireworks, this week’s T20 Blast fixtures turned out to include a box of damp squibs. Damp being then operative word, with five complete washouts and a couple decided by Duckworth Lewis. Middlesex suffered two successive abandonments, one against Surrey, whose subsequent ten-over thrash victory against Kent kept them on top of the South Division. 

Sussex were blown away by Glamorgan’s 235-6 despite a Tymal Mills four-wicket haul, but remain on Surrey’s coat-tails thanks to a 22-run win against rivals Hampshire. James Coles starred in this one, combing a brisk 46 with 4-34. Somerset’s loss on the penultimate ball to Gloucestershire cost them third place, overtaken by Essex with Thursday’s success over Kent at Chelmsford. Paul Walter was their in-form man. 

In the North group, the top two were also unchanged. Birmingham Bears remain in charge courtesy of two contrasting triumphs on the road. At Leeds, Sam Hain struck eight sixes in an unbeaten 98, the highest individual score of the week, but Yorkshire ‘keeper Donovan Ferreira’s 32-ball 66 took the home side within four runs of the target. Next up were Nottinghamshire, who were skittled for just 57, the wickets shared by seven Bears bowlers. The top three batsmen finished the job in just 32 balls. 

The best bowling figures came from the Worcestershire seamer Matthew Waite and young Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafer Chohan. Waite’s 5-21, together with Adam Hose’s runs, did for Leicestershire, while Chohan claimed 5-14 in the defeat of next-door Durham, including three in four balls. 

With just one week of group games left, Surrey and the Bears are in pole position to head straight for Finals Day but with four to play, anything can happen. Surrey can’t afford to drop points against Somerset, Essex or Hampshire and face Kent next Friday. The Bears’ challenge looks easier on paper than Lancashire’s, and the hot-off-the-press news of the Roses match abandonment will help their cause. Don’t rule out Northamptonshire, either, as they meet both the counties above them, placing progress to the knockouts in their own hands. 

Team of the Week:- Carlson (Gla), Hughes (Sus), Hain (Bir), Hose (Wor), Walter (Ess), Ingram (Gla), Ferreira (Yor +), Waite (Wor), Briggs (Bir), Mills (Sus), Jafer Chohan (Yor)