County Cricket: Somerset Rewdy and Abell

Somerset Rewdy and Abell 

Only four Championship fixtures this week, but they delivered a high degree of excitement over the four days. At the Rose Bowl, Hampshire and Somerset engaged in a tight game of cat-and-mouse, with little between them, and enough in the wicket to please batters and bowlers alike. Lewis Gregory returned to lead Somerset and eventually turned the game in their favour, but the result was in doubt well into the final day. 

James Rew struck 86 to take Somerset to a 50-run first-innings lead, then Hampshire were heading towards a potential 400 total until Gregory mopped up the last four wickets. His side still had a lot to do. A target of 288 was not going to be simple. However, good things happen when Rew and Tom Abell are together at the crease. They put on 89 but, even after Rew was caught behind for 59 and three more were despatched, Abell maintained admirable patience and determination and his eighth boundary brought up both his century and victory for Somerset. There is talk about England sniffing around young Rew but I hope they hold off until the county’s season is over, preferably with a maiden title in their grasp. Well, you can only hope…. 

There were only forty-one runs separating Warwickshire and Essex, too. Seamers were generally on top and 220 proved to be the highest total, and Beau Webster’s 91 the top individual score. Chasing 206 to win on the fourth day, Essex slumped to 21-4, their top three falling to the veteran Keith Barker, back in the Warwickshire side after a seven-season stint at Hampshire. Harmer and Akhtar offered some tail-end resistance but Webster broke both to earn the home side’s first success of the year. 

Barker is a mere spring chicken compared with James Anderson but the former England record-breaker bowled his way to another Team of the Week entry and Lancashire dealt Gloucestershire another Spring blow at Bristol. The home side did acquire their first bonus points of the campaign, but batting remains a huge problem. Anderson (3-12) and George Balderson (5-34) skittled Gloucester for 136 but Matt Taylor’s 6-43 kept them in the match. Second time around, Hammond and Bracey put on 148 for the fourth wicket to extend the game into the final day. At 46-3, Lancashire were tottering but Keaton Jennings’ second 70+ score guided then home by four wickets. 

At Wantage Road, there was no repeat of Northants’ rampant run glut but batsmen were too dominant to prevent a draw. Nathan McSweeney struck a second successive ton and James Sales stroked his way to 164 but, in their second outing, Middlesex safely batted through four sessions to seal the draw. Sam Robson shared a couple of century partnerships with Holden and Du Plooy on his way to 162, falling to Guthrie shortly before the curtain fell. 

Lancashire will extend their Division Two lead next week, travelling to Durham, while it will be the Derbyshire attack eager to rip into the Gloucester line-up. 

Team of the Week:-  Jennings (Lan), Robson (Mid), J Rew (Som +), Bracey (Glo), Abell (Som), Sales (Nor), Gregory (Som), Balderson (Lan), M Taylor

County Cricket: Record-Breaking Somerset Bag the Blast

It can be difficult supporting Somerset. Not that we are bad. We’re not. We have been in the top tier of the County Championship longer than most, won the One-Day Cup at Lord’s in 2019 and are regular qualifiers for the Blast Finals Day. It’s just that, like England Men’s football team, the expectation is that we will probably bow out in the semis or final. Coming second is what we do best, and it can be sickening. 

Cricket has changed since the late Seventies and early Eighties, Somerset’s golden era. Year after year, we could enjoy performances by the likes of Richards, Garner, Botham, Rose, Marks, Moseley, Denning et al. These days, you never know who might appear on the team sheet, such is the schedule minefield of global international and franchise cricket. However, it only takes one blistering innings to win a T20, whoever they may be. 

In the first semi at Edgbaston, it was Tom Kohler-Cadmore whose 81 laid the foundation for Somerset’s defeat of Lancashire. Ben Green, Lewis Gregory and Migael Pretorius completed the job with the ball. In the other semi, reduced to eighteen overs, Northamptonshire never really got off the blocks. Earlier in the tournament, they had racked up three of the four highest totals but when it really mattered, they amassed only 158-7. When Hampshire replied, Saif Zaib caused all sorts of problems, but not to veteran Aussie Chris Lynn. Despite his long career, I know little about him but his amazing 108 not out included no fewer than eleven sixes and the game was won with plenty to spare. 

And so it was Hampshire vs Somerset under the lights. I have been to only two live one-day finals supporting my county and both featured the same opposition. At Cardiff in 2012, Somerset capitulated miserably to Dmitri Mascarenhas’ Royals at the semi-final stage but in 2019 I witnessed Tom Abell lifting the 50-over cup after a surprisingly smooth chase. What would 2025 deliver? 

Hampshire’s successful 2012 Blast side featured James Vince and, now 34 years of age, he was again in good nick. Lynn was caught on the boundary early on but Vince and Toby Albert blazed away with abandon, adding 97 in just under ten overs. Vince also fell in the deep, for 52 but young Albert, the competition’s top scorer, continued to 85, when Gregory clipped his off stump. The momentum was lost but a total of 194-6 challenged Somerset to achieve a record run chase in a final if they were to take the crown. It looked unlikely. 

Would Kohler-Cadmore repeat those heroics? No, but it was to be the day for his opening partner Will Smeed to excel. Still only 23, the Taunton-educated right-hander has never played top-level red-ball cricket but is one of the most destructive T20 batsmen in England. On 94, he crunched Scott Currie hard and flat on it way to the six which would have given him the first-ever Final century, but that man Vince was in the way. Sean Dickson and Gregory still had plenty to do. The former was fortunate to watch Currie drop a sitter, which could have altered the course of the match but it was the ever-dependable captain Gregory who eased the tension with two sixes off Currie’s final over, the winning flick sailing over square leg. 

I don’t know how many of this team will be there to defend the title next summer but as long as you have Lewis Gregory and a squad filled with economical spinners, strong seamers and match-winning openers slotting in as required, anything is possible.

County Cricket: Gregory’s Boys Still Unbeaten

Just as England’s men and women were making mincemeat of the poor West Indies in every format going, the county T20 fixtures offered surprisingly few close encounters. The exception was Surrey’s last-ball victory over Kent. Having dismissed four batsmen with the ball, Chris Jordan proceeded to crunch Parkinson’s final delivery for the winning boundary. 

Northamptonshire maintained their unbeaten star to the Vitality Blast beating closest rivals Lancashire and the Bears, only for Durham to spoil the party at Wantage Road. Hamed Neesham was inspired, cracking an unbeaten fifty and taking 4-29. They remain eight points clear in the North group, with Lancashire trying to cling on. That 24-run defeat to Northants, for whom England’s forgotten seamer, George Scrimshaw claimed 4-19, cost them dear. However, the forever-remembered James Anderson took three wickets in each of his matches this week. 

Somerset are now the sole county with a 100% record, after chasing down targets set by Gloucestershire and Middlesex. The latter made things tough, compiling a formidable 229-5. Max Holden (87*) and Ben Geddes (69) put on 131 in only 63 balls. Somerset were 45-3 but a sensational stand of 104 from 43 balls by Sean Dickson (76) and skipper Lewis Gregory (58 not out) put the home side back in the driving seat. Gregory clinched the victory with his sixth six. Hampshire sit six points behind Somerset, after a tie against Middlesex. With rain invoking Duckworth-Lewis, Middlesex had to outscore their hosts by 13 and not lose a wicket. Holden and Geddes did their best but missed out by a single. 

Gloucestershire have no points to their name at all, but played just a single fixture this week. Sussex stand third after thrashing Glamorgan by 78 runs, including an impressive 5-19 for Nathan McAndrew. Best figures of the week, though, were Hasan Ali’s 6-23 for the Bears against Derbyshire. The Pakistan paceman had only been in the country for a few days. He picked up a further five scalps later in the week only at greater expense. 

His team-mate Dan Mousley was probably the most consistent all-rounder of the week, Dawid Malan belted three half-centuries for Yorkshire and the highest individual innings was Adam Hose’s 95 off 51 deliveries in Worcestershire’s defeat of Derbyshire. Where will the season’s first century come from? 

In the South group, Somerset face Kent, Hampshire and Glamorgan, while Northants have only Notts to beat if they want to top the North table throughout the mid-competition break. 

Team of the Week:- Bell-Drummond (Ken), Malan (Yor), Holden (Mid), Hose (Worg), Cox (Ess +), Mousley (War), Gregory (Som), Hasan Ali (War), Jordan (Sur), Scrimshaw (Nor), Anderson (Lan)

County Team of the Week of the Decade!

2023 marked the tenth year of my weekly county cricket blogs. During the domestic season, I select a balanced team of the week, from opening batters to fast bowlers, incorporating the best performers in red or white-ball formats as appropriate. A decade on, I thought it might be interesting to see which players have appeared most often in this period. 

The central contract system, designed to protect the national squad’s interests above all else, inevitably means that many of the top England stars exclude themselves from the majority of fixtures. Therefore, the list is dominated by players who have either worked their way up to international recognition or those whose cricketing ambitions are relatively modest or whose Test or ODI careers are largely behind them.  It goes without saying that The Hundred franchise competition does not count. 

68 have appeared in a Team of the Week on at least ten occasions and six have done so twenty times or more. Keeping with the tradition of selecting a genuine XI, I was surprised how the Decade Team almost picks itself. Here goes…. 

Keaton Jennings’ inability to impress the England selectors has benefitted first Durham, then Lancashire. 2016 was his breakthrough season but, at the age of 31, he will surely get Lancashire (or whoever) off to many more solid starts in the Championship or One-Day Cup. Daryl Mitchell was another unflashy opener. His team, Worcestershire, have been a yo-yo county in the Championship for years, and the local man’s form has been equally erratic. However, before he retired in 2021, he produced numerous big innings that frequently won games. 

Prior to his reinvention as a Test match Bazball exponent, Ben Duckett was a compact hard-hitter for Northants, later shifting to the richer Nottinghamshire. He was one of the highest scorers in the Covid-affected summer of 2020 and no specialist batsman has bettered his twenty Team of the Week appearances. Hampshire’s redoubtable James Vince is another evergreen master of all formats, but especially in the Twenty20 Blast where he has been top-scorer for the past two years. Sam Northeast, Joe Denly and Gary Ballance have featured frequently but my third middle-order man is Wayne Madsen. Derbyshire may be short on success but the Durban-born batsman has been an absolute rock for so long, also briefly but economically contributing to the T20 cause as an opening spinner.

 

There were several contenders for the wicketkeeper berth, including Foakes and Steven Davies, but Chris Cooke’s often match-defining heroics for Glamorgan have earned him an impressive seventeen Team of the Week slots. Batting down the order, he is always hard to remove, and takes plenty of vital catches behind the stumps to the likes of Hogan and Neser.

 

All-rounders have figured very strongly in my selections. The ability to strike a few fifties and take a five-for is a surefire way to merit a place in my weekly Eleven. Samit Patel, Liam Dawson, Rikki Clarke, Ben Raine and Ryan Higgins have been regulars, kept out of the England set-up by virtue of not being Ben Stokes. However, Somerset’s Lewis Gregory has been a below-the-radar star for a decade, but much-loved by the Tanton faithful, and me. Also deserving of twenty Teams of The Week appearances is Darren Stevens. His pace and eye may have slowed but even in his twilight years, past the age of forty, he was still capable of opening the bowling for Kent in the four-dayers, taking more than fifty wickets a season at under twenty runs apiece. Stevens was more than a mere journeyman. 

Michael Hogan and Chris Rushworth have also thrived well into their thirties but my next two bowlers have been instrumental in Essex’s success in recent years, notably in the County Championship. It is crazy that James Porter cannot find a way into the senior England set-up and, now 30, probably never will. He has been picked for 18 Teams of the Week, primarily for his red-ball exploits but his SA-born colleague Simon Harmer has gone three better. The off-spinner has dominated the Championship for a decade or so, and has more than nine hundred first-class wickets to his name, a sizeable chunk in the whites of Essex. Aged 34, he will surely reach a thousand, a rarity in this T20 era. 

Last but not least, the leading Team of the Week-er of the past decade is Craig Overton. Like Porter, his supreme county performances have not been enough to forge an enduring career for England, whose strategy no longer requires a McGrath-esque talent for nagging seam line and length. 2023 apart, the Somerset twin has been brilliant, particularly in those early months of the Championship. Like Harmer, his tendency to strike a brisk late-order half-century also does no harm. 

So there we have it. Who will be there in another ten years? The speed at which cricket is evolving, including its short-form entry into the Olympic arena, makes predictions impossible, and then there’s the uncertain future of the county game itself. Whatever happens, Simon Harmer will probably still be at the forefront! 

Team of the Week of the Decade: 

Jennings, Mitchell, Duckett, Vince, Madsen, Cooke (w), Gregory, Stevens, Harmer, C Overton, Porter. 12^th man: Denly

Pope Piles on the Runs for Surrey

For the first three days at The Oval, Surrey and Hampshire were neck-and-neck. Mohammad Abbas took 6-64, then Dan Worrall’s riposte was a 5-40. Ben Brown and Ollie Pope swapped scores in the 90s. Then the England batsman suddenly decided to go all Twenty20, clubbed an unbeaten 122 and the champions were home and dry by nine wickets. What was all the fuss about? 

However, Warwickshire hold a three-point advantage in Division One having beaten Kent by an innings and fourteen runs at Edgbaston. Rob Yates and Sam Hain plundered hundreds, then the home seam attack, including new recruit Chris Rushworth and, on a rare outing for his county, Chris Woakes made hay with the ball, despite a brave 99 by Joey Evison. 

At Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire outclassed Somerset by 165 runs. Stuart Broad was in action, but all bar three wickets went to Brett Hutton and Dane Paterson. Without Lewis Gregory’s eleven wickets, the visitors would have been in a right state. Middlesex suffered their second successive defeat, this time at the hands of Northamptonshire. Runs were in very short supply, but Northants’ seamers Sanderson and Tremain were in charge.

 Such were the temperatures at Chelmsford, James Anderson could be forgiven for wearing six sweaters and a Parka, but he still bowled 35 tidy overs for Lancashire. His side accelerated their second innings scoring to set Essex an unlikely target in the final few sessions. 20 year-old Mancunian wicketkeeper George Bell struck two half-centuries and is apparently a useful prospect, although he couldn’t deliver a victory. 

Division Two was a more sparse terrain. The Bristol pitch was so waterlogged that Gloucestershire’s match against Yorkshire was abandoned halfway through without a ball bowled. Durham took full advantage, winning their home fixture against Worcestershire. The latter’s Jack Haynes contributed 174 runs but David Bedingham (118 and 86) and Aussie spinner Matt Kuhnemann (5-53) finished the job with just five overs remaining. Leicestershire head the table but the weather wiped out days two and three, scuppering any chance of a decisive result. Skipper Lewis Hill and Colin Ackermann each made tons, Chris Wright took 4-38 but a draw was inevitable. 

Next week, Worcestershire host Gloucestershire and Durham travel to Glamorgan while in the top division, the leaders sit it out before meeting in a fortnight. 

Team of the Week:-  Yates (War), Sibley (Sur), Bedingham (Dur), Pope (Sur), Haynes (Wor), Bell (Lan +), Gregory (Som), Hutton (Not), Paterson (Not), Worrall (Sur), Kuhnemann (Dur)

Outlaws in charge, Sharks under water

The Vitality Blast continues on its merry way, with most counties still in contention for quarter-final qualification. The Nottinghamshire Outlaws are probably the best team so far, having won six out of ten. Incredibly they have also been involved in all three ties to have occurred. They sit two points clear in the North group after defeating Lancashire and struggling Leicestershire. Alex Hales reminded the England selectors of his potential with 101 not out against the Lightning. The Birmingham Bears clipped Yorkshire’s wings by bowling them out for 81, Carlos Brathwaite and Danny Briggs the pick of their attack. 

In the South Group, just one point separates the top four. Poor Sussex have had a soggy time in the past fortnight. Half of the ten washouts in the competition to date have involved them, allowing near neighbours Surrey and Kent to edge ahead. Tom Banton’s unbeaten 51-ball 107 for Somerset was enough to earn an international recall while his new opening partner Devon Conway rattled off three successive half-centuries. Lewis Gregory also produced two outstanding bowling performances and a first-ball duck. 

Next week the Championship makes a welcome return, and then it’s the launch of the blasted Hundred. Heaven help us….. 

Team of the Week: Hales (Not), Banton (Som), Eskinazi (Mid), Conway (Som), Vasconcelos (Nor +), Thompson (Yor), Douthwaite (Gla), Gregory (Som), Harmer (Ess), Brathwaite (War), White (Nor)

Essex Edge the Trophy final

 If I may, I’d like to start with the end. I shall return to the Vitality Blast but for me the main event was the five-day final of 2020’s Bob Willis Trophy. The coronavirus crisis prevented any professional cricket until August but the ECB’s hastily-organised Championship substitute has proved a surprise hit. 

With fans absent, counties invested in superior camera angles for streaming and supporters have responded enthusiastically. On the pitch, as last year, Essex and Somerset dominated the first-class game and once more met to decide the direction of the premier trophy. Given Somerset’s recent record, it was inevitable that they again finished as runners-up, albeit without actually losing. 

It was strange to see a batting line-up lacking Trescothick, Hildreth and Trego but Ed Byrom (aged 23) and Tom Lammonby (20) delivered well-crafted centuries. However, it was the rather more experienced Sir Alastair Cook whose 172 essentially won the competition by means of a narrow first-innings lead at Lord’s. On the final day, Jack Leach got amongst the top-order so Ryan Ten Doeschate gave up the run chase and helped dig in to secure the draw Essex needed. 

Essex are also the reigning Vitality Blast champions but they have been way off the pace this rump of a summer. The South group was topped by Surrey’s band of internationals, joined in the quarter-final line-up by Sussex (who beat Essex in the final round) and Kent. For all the contributions of Roy, Billings, Harmer, Topley et al, the week’s stars from this group were probably Laurie Evans and George Garton. The former struck two 70+ scores for the leaders, while the latter claimed four wickets in each match bolstered by some lusty late hitting. Hampshire were never really in the hunt but Shaheen Shah Afridi stole the show by bowling out Middlesex with the final four deliveries of the contest, ending with 6-19! 

The Central group was quite a tight affair. Come the final weekend, Gloucestershire were home and dry but Somerset could sneak into the quarters with victory at Bristol. They very nearly made it but Tom Smith hit the very last ball to the boundary to end their hopes. That meant that winners of Northamptonshire v Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston would progress. Adam Hose’s brilliant 119 looked likely to be decisive only for Tom Taylor to reach his maiden fifty in the penultimate over and snatch a three-wicket victory. 

Nottinghamshire easily held on to first place in the North group thanks partly to Ben Duckett’s half-centuries and Steve Mullaney’s typical mix of wickets and cameo innings. Lancashire finished second despite losing heavily to Durham and falling tamely to Leicestershire. Nevertheless their seven-run Roses success at Old Trafford earlier in the week was enough to qualify on twelve points. Joe Root again made a desperate pitch for an England T20 recall by scoring two 60s and taking three cheap wickets. 

And so the domestic T20 tourney heads towards a climax in the autumn gloom of October. The students may be spreading Covid like the leaves of a chestnut tree but hopefully this truncated cricket season may yet give us cricket fans something else to savour. At least it won’t be Somerset coming second…. 

Team of the Week: A. Cook (Ess), Rutherford (Wor), Lammonby (Som), Evans (Sur), Root (Yor), Duckett (Not), Moores (Not +), Gregory (Som), Garton (Sus), Trevaskis (Dur), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Ham)

Somerset beat both Kent and the rain

In a week when heavy rains wept across the whole of Britain, it is probably remarkable that any first-class cricket fixtures produced a result. I’m biased, of course, but I’m delighted that Somerset were the only county to wring out a win from the soggy conditions, thus extending their lead at the top of the Championship to 26 points.

Lewis Gregory’s storming season stepped up another gear at Canterbury, taking 6-32 and 5-21. Spanning the full four days, Kent’s fate was sealed when the seamers bowled them out a second time for just 59, leaving Abell and Azhar Ali to knock off the required 30 runs in only 40 balls. As things turned out, Tom Banton’s 63 was not only the top score in the match but also the whole of Division One last week. 

Welbeck CC’s debut as a Championship venue proved less than lucrative as the last three days were washed out. Last Sunday, the pitch offered Kyle Abbott enough to reduce woeful Nottinghamshire to 162 all out, but second-placed Hampshire were left high and not-so-dry on 93-2.

Surrey’s second successive fixture at Guildford saw the home side settle into the driving seat enforcing Yorkshire’s follow-on, thanks largely to the bowling of Morkel and Clarke. However, there was neither time nor the weather to finish them off. Yorkshire and Hampshire now have the chance to narrow the gap behind Somerset by beating Warwickshire and Essex, respectively.

In Division Two, all ten counties were in action but again the elements conspired against their efforts to reap the sixteen points for a victory. At least the Swansea fans were able to witness a harvest of runs. Glamorgan’s new-found ability to build a sizeable innings was again in evidence, although it was the ninth-wicket partnership of 167 between Wagg and Carey which took them close to maximum batting bonus points. Derbyshire’s response was to pile on almost 600, featuring Billy Godleman’s career-best 227 and Tom Lace’s maiden century.

The Welsh side remain second, nine points behind Lancashire, for whom Jimmy Anderson took 4-24 at Worcester. Sussex stand third after their draw with Gloucestershire at leafy Arundel. Promoted to open, Will Beer duly struck his best ever score of 97 out of 351-8, then Gloucestershire’s Gareth Roderick and Ryan Higgins each reached three figures to play out an inevitable draw on the final day.

At Chester-le-Street, Ricardo Vasconcelos just achieved a ton of his own for Northamptonshire before the last two days were rained off. The result left Durham seven adrift of their opponents and Middlesex at the bottom of the league. At least all of the above managed more play than Leicestershire and Middlesex. Eleven overs on Wednesday was the sum total of their week’s cricket.

Let’s hope the June weather improves sufficiently to get the Championship motoring once more.

Team of the Week: Godleman (Der), Vasconcelos (Nor, Lace (Der), Roderick (Glo +), Higgins (Glo), Wiese (Sus), Wagg (Gla), Gregory (Som), C Overton (Som), Abbott (Ham), Anderson (Lan)

Rain delay keeps Surrey at bay

While England’s ODI side were keeping the scorers busy in the series against Pakistan, the counties were reacquainting themselves with the red ball after a month’s fifty-over action.

The clash between current leaders and reigning champions ended in a tame rain-affected draw. After centuries by Burns and Elgar, Surrey looked set for a healthy first innings lead against Somerset until Lewis Gregory led a late-order counter-attack. He struck five sixes on the way to 129 not out as his side surged to 399 all out and took a couple more wickets as Surrey ensured there were no calamities.

Somerset remain top but Yorkshire and Hampshire both won to close the gap. At Canterbury, Ollie Robinson’s 103 propelled Kent into a winning position after two days before Gary Ballance turned the tables with his 159 and Ben Coad’s final day 6-52 closed the deal. Hampshire sit just a point behind after whacking Warwickshire at Edgbaston by 314 runs. Tom Alsop top-scored while all the bowlers chipped in as the Midlanders suffered their second successive defeat.

Nottinghamshire also endured their second defeat of the season so far. Essex crushed them by eight wickets inside three days at Chelmsford, thanks largely to Simon Harmer’s eight wickets. Nick Browne was the only man to reach 50 in the whole match. 

In Division Two, my wildcard tip for a possible promotion, Durham, made it three losses out of three, going down by five wickets at Worcester. Charlie Morris and Josh Tongue did most of the damage with the ball then, despite Chris Rushworth’s defiant five-for, Worcestershire limped to their meagre target of 81. Lancashire also maintained their 100% record, demolishing Northants by ten wickets at Old Trafford. Against his previous county, late-developer Richard Gleeson claimed five wickets in each innings, and the home side won with almost a day to spare.

At Lord’s Middlesex looked to have a slight edge over Leicestershire but, with Colin Ackermann’s runs and Mohammad Abbas restored to the attack, the visitors easily avoided defeat and were only eighty-odd away from snatching a surprise victory. The other fixture also ended in a draw but history was made when Glamorgan played their first senior game at Newport’s Spytty Park since 1965. Spectators would have admired the Welsh county’s day three recovery from the follow-on, as Selman and Labuschagne took them to 364-1 en route for a match-saving 481-8 declared. Gloucestershire even lost six wickets on the final afternoon but clung on against a none-too-strong attack.

Gloucestershire must fancy their chances this coming week against Durham but in Manchester, at least one of the leading pair must relinquish their 100% start, as Worcestershire travel to Lancashire for what already appears to be a key promotion clash. In the higher division, top plays bottom at Taunton in the form of Somerset v Warwickshire while a Hampshire triumph over Notts could advance them into pole position.

Team of the Week: Burns (Sur), Selman (Gla), Alsop (Ham +), Ballance (Yor), Bracey (Glo), Higgins (Glo), Gregory (Som), Harmer (Ess), Morris (Wor), Gleeson (Lan), Rushworth (Dur)

Leach spins Somerset to the top

At Trent Bridge it was not so much a game of two halves as one of three thirds. After inserting Nottinghamshire on the opening morning, Somerset let the seamers do some damage, with Lewis Gregory (6-68) in particular maintaining his April form. The visitors could have suffered the same fate were it not for a double-century partnership between Tom Abell and George Bartlett before Broad polished off the tail. On the third day, new signing Jack Brooks chipped in with 4-22 but it was spinner Jack Leach whose six-for wrapped up a maximum-point victory, hoisting Somerset to the summit of Division One., just as the month break for the One-Day Cup kicks in. Ho-hum…

Last week’s leaders Hampshire returned to Earth with a brutal bump. They were beaten by an innings on home turf by Yorkshire, for whom Gary Ballance and Joe Root were again in the runs. Leaning and Tattersall extended the total to an impressive 554-7 declared. In reply, Sam Northeast fell one short of a second successive century and Liam Dawson followed his 60-over bowling stint with two fifties but Patterson and Coad wrecked Hampshire’s attempt at rescuing the match.

Kent also racked up 500+ and enforced the follow-on against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Zak Crawley and 20 year-old stand-in ‘keeper Ollie Robinson each reached three figures, as did the home side’s opener Dominic Sibley whose 132 was his fifth hundred in consecutive first-class fixtures. The second innings was heading for a disaster until Tim Ambrose and teenager Henry Brookes put on 141 for the eighth wicket and forced Kent to bat again to clinch the win.

The last two champions, Surrey and Essex, played out an evenly-matched draw at The Oval. The Londoners’ big guns all garnered some runs but Essex relied heavily on Dan Lawrence and skipper Ryan Ten Doeschate to compete in the first innings.

In Division Two, Worcestershire opened their account with a handsome victory at Leicester. Mitchell, Rutherford and Cox all scored centuries in a total of 553-6 but Leicestershire found it tough to emulate them. Charlie Morris claimed a career-best 7-45 and applied the coup-de-grace on the final morning with Paul Horton’s men still eighteen adrift.

Meanwhile, Sussex consigned Durham to a second successive defeat in a low-scoring contest at Chester-le-Street. All was fairly even-Stevens until Stiaan van Zyl held his nerve in the second innings, just managing to make a century as Sussex won by six wickets. Two of the favourites for promotion met at Lord’s and it was Lancashire who prevailed easily. After two miserable seasons, Haseeb Hameed finally struck a first-class hundred, but it was Glenn Maxwell’s off-breaks which proved decisive on day four.

The Cardiff pitch came in for justified criticism as it was a terribly one-sided affair. Batsmen filled their boots – six striking tons – and Northamptonshire piled on 750, the highest score ever seen at Sophia Gardens, spanning 227 tedious overs. Northants opener Ricardo Vasconcelos top-scored with 184 while for Glamorgan Billy Root achieved his maiden hundred for his new county, out-performing his brother Joe for a change. Mind you my dear departed grandmother could probably have driven a few boundaries on such a batting track!

To be honest, there weren’t many more wickets falling at Bristol although there were no records broken. The final day saw Derbyshire aggregate almost 300 runs for the loss of just one wicket, as Wayne Madsen cruised to a double, and Alex Hughes 109 not out. The result with Gloucestershire may have been a tame draw but it does place Derbyshire top of the table as we head into one-day territory. Enjoy it while it lasts, lads!

Team of the Week: Vasconcelos (Nor), Hameed (Lan), Ballance (Yor), Madsen (Der), Van Zyl (Sus), Robinson (Ken +), Gregory (Som), Wiese (Sus), Morris (Wor), Murtagh (Mid), Leach (Som)

Hampshire off to a Flying Start

In the first round of County Championship fixtures, Hampshire made April fools of Essex at Southampton. They taught my picks for title contenders an early-season lesson with victory by an innings and 87 runs, collecting maximum points en route. Sam Northeast’s 169 led the run charge before bowlers Kyle Abbott and 37 year-old Fidel Edwards carried on where they left off in 2018. Ravi Bopara (107) showed some second innings resistance but there was too much to do.

Somerset sit second (just for a change!) after clawing their way back to beat Kent on the final afternoon. Somerset’s George Bartlett struck the game’s only half-century, then Lewis Gregory nabbed Dickson first ball and the visitors crumbled to 131 all out.

The other first division match saw Joe Root face Stuart Broad and receive an ego-denting whack on the helmet for his troubles. Nottinghamshire’s new-look batting line-up took control, especially Joe Clarke, who came within three runs of securing two centuries on his county debut. I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t playing alongside his Yorkshire opposite number for England in the not-too-distant future. Root and Gary Ballance each reached three figures as Yorkshire easily avoided defeat.

Two of the Division 2 promotion favourites slipped at the first hurdle. Sussex were well beaten by Leicestershire at Hove. Ollie Robinson took six wickets but the victors’ Tom Taylor starred with the ball, his first innings 6-47 doing the most serious damage. Middlesex were also playing catch-up at Northampton despite Tim Murtagh’s splendid efforts. Nathan Buck captured 5-54 to force the follow-on but Dawid Malan’s rearguard century rescued the situation.

Elsewhere, Derbyshire survived the shock of losing two wickets in the first three balls of the season to defeat Durham by 125 runs. ‘Keeper Harvey Hosein top-scored in each innings then Alex Lees’ side were eventually ground down by Rampaul, Critchley et al on a tough final day.

Next week Middlesex get another opportunity at home to rivals Lancashire, while Leicestershire can make it two wins from two against Worcestershire. In the top flight, Hampshire will probably in pole position throughout the month-long Championship break should they beat Yorkshire. Somerset face a tricky trip to Trent Bridge while champions Surrey launch their defence at The Oval against Essex, surely eager to make amends for their thumping at the hands of Hants at the weekend.

First 2019 Team of the Week: Lyth (Yor), Duckett (Not), Clarke (Not), Root (Yor), Malan (Mid), Bopara (Ess), Hosein (Der, +), Gregory (Som), Edwards (Ham), T. Taylor (Lei), Claydon (Ken)

Surrey make it Eight wins from Ten

Gutted! Somerset deliver yet another brilliant victory, only for Surrey – yet again – to do the same. It’s turning out to be a right battle royal for the Championship but it’s definitely Surrey’s to lose. At least I’m confident Somerset won’t be in a relegation battle this year.

At the Oval, Nottinghamshire asked the home side to bat and allowed Mark Stoneman to reach three figures for the first time this season. After being bowled out for 375 on day two, they proceeded to dismiss Notts twice in under 92 overs. With brother Sam on England duty, Tom Curran took 5-32 in the first innings, while 20 year-old Conor McKerr weighed in with match figures of 7-47.

A day later Somerset completed a 224-run victory over Yorkshire, Jamie Overton wrapped up four of the last five wickets on the final afternoon after a fine 132 by Tom Abell and a second rapid half-century by Lewis Gregory set up the declaration. The in-form Gregory also took six wickets while leading the seam attack.

Champions Essex advanced to third after hammering Hampshire by an innings at Chelmsford. David Lawrence top-scored with 124 but Tom Alsop’s second innings 51 was the highest a Hants player could manage. Peter Siddle was the pick of the Essex bowlers, ending the match with 7-70. At Southport, Lancashire came from behind to beat bottom-club Worcestershire by four wickets. Dane Vilas and Bolton lad Josh Bohannon shared a stand of 139 to push Lancs over the line.

This week Surrey face a trip up the A12 to Essex while Somerset host Lancashire at Taunton. If Surrey win their next two games they can probably afford to lose to their rivals and still take the title.

In Division Two, Sussex lost ground in the promotion chase after losing a close encounter with Middlesex. Runs were in short supply at Lord’s, so Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan and Ollie Robinson helped themselves to eighteen wickets between them. Warwickshire remain top after Glamorgan crumbled to another innings defeat. At least they passed 200 twice, but Ian Bell also did so all on his own. The ex-England star is enjoying a renaissance this summer. and his 2014 was his 56^th first-class century of a 20-year career. Jeetan Patel’s spin did most of the damage with the ball, taking ten wickets.

Kent leapfrogged Sussex into second following a six-wicket triumph at Derby. Crawley and Denly put on 170 for the second wicket, then Grant Stewart and Matt Henry beefed up the tail to record a total of 561. Spin twins Adam Riley and an unwell Joe Denly restricted Derbyshire to 270 second time around and the match was as good as won.

At the other end of the table, Gloucestershire easily outscored Leicestershire at Bristol. Skipper Chris Dent’s second innings 214 not out was the critical difference between the teams. Northamptonshire had already despatched Durham inside two days, registering only their third win of the Championship. The ever-reliable Ben Sanderson took 4-34 to leave his batsmen a simple target of 65.

The top three counties each now play at home, Kent’s tie against Northants looking the easiest on paper, although the Sussex seamers must fancy the opportunity to get stuck into the Leicester batsmen.

Team of the Week: 

Stoneman (Sur), Dent (Glo), Denly (Ken), Bell (War), Abell (Som), Vilas (Lan +), Gregory (Som), Patel (War), Siddle (Ess), Sanderson (Nor), McKerr (Sur)

Somerset Surge and Western Storm

It’s been a busy week of Vitality Blast fixtures. In the North division, Yorkshire and Derbyshire each played four matches, two of them against each other, with the latter winning both. The Falcons also beat the Birmingham Bears but a clean sweep was prevented by a nine-run defeat at Trent Bridge.

I’d picked the Worcestershire-Lancashire clash as the big one, so maybe it was inevitable it was one of three games to be completely washed out. In the end, it was the Rapids’ Friday night home tie against Durham which was to decide who topped the table. Durham had already made it five wins in a row with an easy victory over struggling Northamptonshire, and seemed to be homing in on a sixth when Ross Whiteley’s powerful innings of 60 was ended in the final over. Ten were still needed off five balls, but Wayne Parnell required only three to hit the 195 target and take Worcestershire to the summit.

Elsewhere, Derbyshire's Wahab Riaz and Yorkshire's David Willey were both in fine fettle with bat and ball but Mohammad Nabi provide the most explosive innings of the division. The veteran Leicestershire spinner didn't have a vintage week with the ball but he plundered eight sixes in a 32-ball 86 to carry his side to success against Lancashire. 

In the South, Somerset won all three of their matches, the most impressive being a ten-wicket slaughter of Essex at Taunton. Johannes Myburgh thrashed 103 not out from 44 balls to end Essex’s misery. Captain Lewis Gregory had earlier beaten Middlesex almost on his own, striking 60 from 26 deliveries then taking 4-28. Jerome Taylor's 5-15 against Hampshire was the bowling achievement of the week.

Gloucestershire had retained their lead after defeating Sussex by four wickets in a low-scoring encounter at Hove on Wednesday but failed to consolidate n Friday night in Cardiff. Helped by Craig Meschede’s career-best 77, Glamorgan had passed 200 and seemed to be cruising until Jack Taylor began peppering the boundary and the crowd beyond. Van Gugten bowled him at the start of the final over, but AJ Tye duly heaved two sixes. He needed three runs from the last ball but missed. That left Kent to occupy pole position. Despite, or because of, three ‘No Results’, they have thirteen points whilst Somerset’s superior number of wins gives them only twelve.

However, the greatest runfest of the week came at The Oval last night in front of a sellout 24,000 crowd. It wasn’t as close as the Cardiff game but for huge hitting it was unsurpassed. Paul Stirling’s 109 in 58 balls had propelled Middlesex to 221-5. But, in Jason Roy and Aaron Finch, Surrey boast two of the most electrifying T20 openers in the world. They don’t always click at the same time but on this occasion they did. Roy plundered 84 from 37 before holing out to deep mid-wicket. Meanwhile, the Aussie kept going. Having already broken the county record for a fastest T20 fifty, he raced to three figures and was still there on 117 when Nic Maddinson launched the ball over mid-wicket to clinch the victory. There were still four overs remaining so God knows how many more runs Finch might have accumulated had they been batting first!

Next week’s potential highlights include Surrey’s trip to Somerset, the Roses battle at Headingley, Derbyshire’s visit to Worcester and Kent hosting Gloucestershire.

Finally, before I go, a quick mention for the T20 Women’s Super League. Thankfully it has been expanded this year, and there have been some fine performances in the past few weeks. The Somerset-based Western Storm have looked a formidable outfit, and with Indian Smriti Mandhana in sparkling form, may well retain their title. She garnered almost 200 runs in her three fixtures, including a 61-ball century and then 52 not out from a mere 19, taking her six tally for the tournament so far to sixteen. Watch out, Mr Finch, you have competition!

Team of the Week: 

Finch (Sur), Myburgh (Som), Williamson (Yor), Willey (Yor), Mandhana (Wes), Billings (Ken +), Gregory (Som), Wahab Riaz (Der), J Taylor (Som), Imran Tahir (Dur), Milne (Ken)

Team of the Week 2nd May 2014: Rogers and Anderson in the swing

Last week it was all about the openers but this time there were only really two candidates for those places in my team of the week. Chris Rogers belied his 'Steady Eddie' reputation by plundering an unbeaten 241 in 290 balls to ensure Middlesex achieved a Lord's record fourth innings target against Yorkshire. The Aussie has been a man in form over the past twelve months, something which can't be said of Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick. However, Tres struck his first hundred since September 2012 on a tricky wicket against a Sussex attack that only last summer wiped him out for a 'pair'! Buoyed by this, his side pulled together and delivered an innings defeat of Ed Joyce's team.

Unike the previous seven days, the County Championship saw a number of centuries. Ian Bell's excellent 122, Alexei Kervezee's 110 and Ben Foakes's 132 not out all came close, but I could not ignore the following performances. Hampshire's rain-hit draw against Surrey was memorable only for James Vince's splendid 156, while another early season star, Gary Ballance, earns his place for a second week in succession thanks to his 130 in 143 balls in what turned out to be a losing cause for Yorkshire. Wayne Madsen was one of Division Two's top run-scorers in 2013 and this week he top-scored in both Derbyshire's innings, aggregating 167 runs. Worcestershire still beat them with ease.

Leicestershire's Irish wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien thumped a belligerent 133 against Glamorgan, although he claimed only two victims behind the stumps, eclipsing Essex 'keeper James Foster who shared a double-century stand with the aforementioned Foakes.

Lewis Gregory took his season's wicket tally to 20 as he helped Somerset to that excellent triumph at Hove. He followed a 5-49 with a telling 4-48, including the scalp of Ed Joyce, inducing a play-on when the rival captain was going strong on 93. The 21 year-old Devonian has compensated for the loss through injury of Craig Overton and Steve Kirby and let's hope his form continues on the bat-friendly Taunton strip!

Steve Finn staked another claim for an England recall with eight wickets for Middlesex but an incumbent, James Anderson brought success for Lancashire by snaffling two five-fors in the win over Northamptonshire. His former county coach Peter Moores will expect more of the same when Jimmy joins the England squad shortly. The Chelmsford faithful were treated to another David 'Masters-class' as the 36 year-old took 6-48 for Essex against Glamorgan.

For the last two, I have dipped my toe in the wild waters of the IPL. One man is 20, the other is more than twice his age! Sandeep Sharma's medium pacers brought figures of 3-21 and 3-15 for Kings XI Punjab; his wickets against Bangalore included those of Gayle and Kohli. Finally I have picked ahead of Worcestershire spin debutant Saeed Ajmal the veteran leg-spinner Pravin Tambe. Well into his 43rd year, the man from Mumbai was only promoted from club cricket last May, yet this week he picked up four cheap Bangalore wickets (including Kohli again) and 2-31 versus Kolkata in the premier T20 competition. His is an amazing story!