Louis Kimber’s Record Six-Fest all in vain

Some times with four-day cricket, a rash of big scores is indicative of dull flat batting tracks and drawn matches. This week, however, there were eleven individual scores of 150+ but five of the nine fixtures produced victories, three by an innings. 

With the County Championship returning, it was back to normal for the champions. Surrey crushed Worcestershire at a dry New Road, Dan Lawrence starring with 175 and four wickets, and the bowling strength in depth paying dividends. 

Closest rivals Essex and Somerset both drew, allowing Surrey to re-open a lead of twenty points. Second-placed Essex were facing defeat at home to Durham, who piled on 587 in just four sessions. Ollie Robinson (198) and Alex Lees (113) le the charge before Potts and Siddle claimed seven wickets. Durham chose not to enforce the follow-on, and gave themselves just over a day to bowl out the hosts again. Zealander This time, Tom Westley and Dean Elgar dug in to avoid defeat, the South African veteran notching his fiftieth first-class century. 

Bowlers toiled at Trent Bridge, although two of them, Migael Pretorius and Olly Stone, made 241 runs between them with the bat! Nottinghamshire spent much of the last two days occupying the crease and losing only two wickets to Somerset. Ben Slater compiled an unbeaten 168 before skipper Haseeb Hameed pulled the plug on Wednesday evening. 

At Canterbury, Lancashire hauled themselves out of the relegation mire by pummelling bottom-placed Kent. Luke Wells (150) and Josh Bohannon (205) put on 312 for the second-wicket, more than Kent managed in their whole first innings. Bailey, Williams and Wells finished the job on the final morning. In the other Division One tie, Warwickshire and Hampshire served up a feast of cricket. The runs really flowed in the second half. James Vince and Liam Dawson scored centuries, then a 183-run partnership between Sam Hain and Michael Burgess thwarted Keith Barker et al. Hain was still there with the last man when time ran out. 

Next weekend sees the leading contenders meeting head-to-head at The Oval, while Somerset welcome Warwickshire to Taunton. 

Sussex were victorious at Hove, remaining top of Division Two in the process, but they had to endure one of the most extraordinary rearguard innings ever witnessed. Skipper John Simpson rattled off 183 not out on day one and Tom Alsop 81 on day three, leaving Leicestershire a daunting target of 464. Sussex were cruising at 144-6 when all-rounder Louis Kimber rocked up. After a circumspect start, the 27-year-old decided to chance his arm and went after the spinners. He reached 50 in 37 balls, 100 in 62 and 200 in 100, the fastest in Championship history. His 21 sixes shattered Ben Stokes’ record and England paceman Ollie Robinson became the unwanted victim of the most prolific over ever. With the aid of three no-balls, Kimber pulled, cut, slashed and carved an unbelievable 43 from the over! Just 18 short of victory, Kimber was eventually dismissed for 243, and both sets of players and officials gave him a standing ovation and guard of honour!   

Up at Scarborough, Yorkshire ended their win drought by beating Gloucestershire by an innings.   A triple-century opening stand involving Adam Lyth and Finlay Bean set them on their way, followed by their seam attack, led by Jordan Thompson and Connor McKerr. At Lord’s, Derbyshire are still winless, succumbing to Middlesex by 194 runs. Ryan Higgins enjoyed scores of 163 and 67, adding four wickets to the victory fund. 

At Cardiff, Glamorgan and Northants fought a really competitive, high-scoring encounter. Marnus Labuschagne top-scored for the home county but Northants’ wicket-keeper Lewis Mc Manus (168) was the game’s only centurion. Glamorgan had less than forty overs to attempt a 262-run chase, and they really went for it. Trouble is, the wickets fell regularly, too. When they slipped from 196-5 to 207-8, the chance had gone but the visitors also ran out of overs to remove the remaining two batters. 

It's another full set of fixtures next week, in which Northamptonshire face Sussex and Middlesex travel north to Leicestershire, although the latter’s new signing, Ajinkya Rahane, won’t arrive for a few more weeks. 

Team of the Week:- Slater (Not), L Wells (Sus), Bohannon (Lan), O Robinson (Dur), Higgins (Mid), Lawrence (Sur), Simpson (Sus +), Kimber (Lei), Barker (Ham), Hannon-Dalby (War), McKerr (Yor)

County Team of the Year, 2023

The leaves are starting to lose their green sheen, the shelves are full of Halloween costumes so it must be time for my annual review of the best and most consistent players across the County Championship, One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast. It seems odd that one or two bright performances in front of a selector can warrant an international call-up (e.g. Rehan Ahmed, George Scrimshaw), while consistent quality is consistently ignored (Ed Barnard, Jamie Porter) but maybe here’s a lot of political stuff going on that I don’t see. Hopefully, this review shines a light on the unsung stars of domestic cricket. 

Openers 

In the four-day format, several opening batters in Division Two stood out for me. A rejuvenated Leicestershire boasted Rishi Patel, promoted Worcestershire had the ever-reliable Jake Libby (but not in the Blast) and Derbyshire’s Luis Reece broke all sorts of records, not least with scoring two centuries in each of his matches against Glamorgan, who must be sick of the sight of him. He and his partner Harry Came forged many a solid start, only for the bowlers to fall short. Kent’s evergreen Daniel Bell-Drummond was a revelation in the white-ball stuff, and Ed Barnard’s promotion to open in the One-Day Cup for his new county, Warwickshire, resulted in him being the competition’s top scorer.  However, there was no ignoring Alex Lees, who dominated the second half of the summer and anchored many of Durham’s victories. 

Middle Order 

Another Durham batsman who is no stranger to my Team of the Year is David Bedingham, and he appeared in six Teams of the Week, more than anyone else in 2023. Another South Africa-born Division Two star was Leus Du Plooy who, like Reece, struck over a thousand Championship runs at an average above 80. Glamorgan also failed to win many games, at times leaving Kiran Carlson as a one-man team. Across all formats, his was the second-highest run aggregate in the country. Nottinghamshire’s Joe Clarke somehow scraped a thousand runs, while Essex skipper Tom Westley was his side’s top scorer, too. Gloucestershire’s 22-year-old Oliver Price was excellent in the 50-over competition, and older brother Tom looked a useful bowling prospect, too. However, my middle-order is completed by Josh Bohannon and James Vince. The latter was the Blast’s leading run-maker for he second season running, and the former compiled more across all three formats (1822) than anybody else. 

All Rounders 

I’ve mentioned Ed Barnard already, and his move away from Worcestershire didn’t damage his ability to make useful red-ball runs while also opening the bowling. Ryan Higgins also transferred to a Division One squad, Middlesex and put the rest to shame, scoring 1,617 runs and taking 53 wickets. It didn’t prevent relegation on the very last afternoon but I’m sure this England-qualified all-rounder will bounce back in 2024. He’s no Ben Stokes but, aged 28, he’s perfectly qualified to deliver Bazball if required. Matt Critchley (Essex) is surely the top leg-spinner-batsman in county cricket and Sussex’s Fynn Hudson-Prentice enjoyed a fine summer in the Championship, especially with the bat. However, Liam Dawson gets the nod from me. His international days may be behind him, but his value to Hampshire was evident time and time again, right up to the final fixture.

 

Wicket-Keeper

 

As last year, picking one man for the role proved a nightmare. Ben Foakes and Ben Brown topped the County Championship dismissals table, keeping to two of the best seam attacks around, but their batting wasn’t so great. When he played, Chris Cooke inevitably played a blinder at the crease and behind the stumps for Glamorgan, and Durham’s Ollie Robinson accumulated over 1,300 runs and ten stumpings. It was a tough choice, and maybe my Somerset allegiance affected my judgment, but I have opted for the teenage sensation James Rew. He crashed five centuries in the Championship, demonstrating that the county’s locally-produced youngsters don’t all wish to abandon proper cricket. I hope he wasn’t a one-season wonder. 

Bowlers 

Unusually, Craig Overton didn’t feature in the wicket league this year, and his contribution to Somerset’s T20 success was in his catching, not bowling. Instead, Matt Henry, Josh Davey and Ben Green led the way. As last year, Wiaan Mulder (Leicestershire), Tom Bailey and Matthew Potts were consistent wicket-takers, while at Essex, Jamie Porter and Sam Cook hoovered up more than a hundred first-class wickets at under twenty apiece. Durham’s Ben Raine was Division Two’s highest wicket-taker, and Oliver Hannon-Dalby continued to shine with Chris Rushworth at Warwickshire. OHD even claimed 24 victims in the One-Day Cup, the best by a country mile, and his county didn’t even reach the final, destroyed by Dawson at the semi stage. Brett Hutton topped the bowling charts in the Championship, with 62, proving again that Nottinghamshire need not worry too much that Stuart Broad has retired.  Last, but not least, there is Simon Harmer. He may not be the most economical but, whether with red or white ball in hand, the Essex man is an icon of consistency. In 2023, there were none of the old eye-catching eight-fors but he still snared 85 in total and makes my Team of the Season for the fifth consecutive year. Remarkable. 

So here is my considered multi-format selection:- 

Lees (Dur), Reece (Der), Bohannon (Lan), Bedingham (Dur), Vince (Ham), Rew (Som, wkt), Higgins (Mid), Dawson (Ham), Harmer (Ess), Hutton (Not), Hannon-Dalby (War). 

Also in the squad: Barnard (War), Carlson (Gla), Bell-Drummond (Ken)

Durham Promotion all but Certain

 After last week’s One-Day Cup exploits, Hampshire and Leicestershire were again on form in the County Championship, although titles look set to elude them, given the similar winning ways of their closest rivals. 

The sensational September heatwave seemed to benefit bowlers rather than batters, so all eight fixtures produced a result. At The Oval, Surrey marched on towards a second successive crown by defeating Warwickshire by an innings and 97 inside three days. Ed Barnard’s excellent 50-over all-round performance continued into the first day here, taking 5-66, but it was all downhill for his county from there. Ben Foakes struck a solid century, before Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark finished things off on the third morning. 

Essex are still pressing in second place, waiting to pounce should Surrey falter. They, too, wrapped up a decisive home victory with a day to spare, taking Middlesex apart by 297 runs. Michael Atherton’s off-spinning son Joshua de Caires claimed an excellent 8-106 for the losing side, but it was Jamie Porter (first-innings 6-34), Simon Harmer (second-innings 5-43) and debutant Umesh Yadav whose figures ultimately impacted the outcome. 

Hampshire were always on top against Somerset, with Liam Dawson striking a century and taking seven wickets. Nick Gubbins’ second-innings 139 not out took the game out of sight on day three. Meanwhile, Lancashire advanced to fourth with a straightforward demolition of bottom side Northamptonshire. Josh Bohannon’s 175 was the top score of the week, then Luke Wells’ part-time leg-spin generated a career-best 5-25. The Red Roses could also leapfrog Hampshire with a win this week but the Pennant won’t be flying above Old Trafford in 2024. 

In Division Two, Durham require just five points from their final two fixtures to confirm promotion. In this week’s encounter with Sussex, opener Alex Lees maintained his run of form with 103, and he was joined in the hundred club by colleagues Graham Clark and Dutch international Bas de Leede. As in the Cup, Leicestershire made short work of Gloucestershire, Wiaan Mulder and Tom Scriven leading the attack. 

Glamorgan’s promotion chances were dealt a severe blow by Worcestershire at New Road. In a low-scoring match, Logan Van Beek starred with the ball, but the Welsh late-developer Jamie McIlroy took 8-75 in total, and the result may have been reversed had Billy Root not run out of partners in the final chase. The sun shine at last on Scarborough, and Yorkshire responded with a resounding rout of Derbyshire. Wayne Madsen was dismissed twice on 93 but Yorkshire’s young Matthew Revis was the only centurion, adding five wickets to cap a fine all-round performance in only the second County Championship success of the season. 

Team of the Week:- Lees (Dur), Gubbins (Ham), Bohannon (Lan), Madsen (Der), Foakes (Sur +), Dawson (Ham), Revis (Yor), Van Beek (Wor), De Caires (Mid), Worrall (Sur), McIlroy (Gla)