Essex Gain Ground but Rew Rules for Somerset

It wasn’t a great week for Lancashire. First, they bowed out of the Blast, eased out by Surrey, then came a gallant but ultimately unsuccessful Championship chase against Essex at Blackpool. The visiting captain Tom Westley put Essex in a good position only for Tom Bailey (6-59) to rip out the tail. However, Sam Cook and Paul Walter bowled Essex back into a commanding position, which was extended by Dan Lawrence’s 135 and a late pre-declaration slog by Doug Bracewell. Set 430 to win on the final day, Lancashire were in the hunt well into the last session but Rob Jones was running out of partners. Last man Will Williams dug in but Bracewell ended Jones’ innings to give Essex the victory by 46 runs and advance them into second place. 

Nottinghamshire also lost in the T20, throwing away a promising advantage against Somerset, but with the red ball they held their own admirably against Division One leaders Surrey to secure a draw. Lyndon James and Brett Hutton claimed five-fors while Will Young (Notts) and Jordan Clark traded centuries. Warwickshire defeated Kent at a three-day canter in Canterbury. Opener Rob Yates finished unbeaten on 228 and tournament debutant Glenn Maxwell thrashed 81 to give the home county little chance of even making Warwickshire bat again. Oliver Hannon-Dalby took four wickets in each innings. 

Another great ton by teenager James Rew, this time a double, put Somerset on a similar victory charge at home to Hampshire. However, Dawson and Nick Gubbins, who spent four hours over his unbeaten 50, frustrated their old rivals’ bid for a deserved success, aided by a second-string bowling line-up. It was an extraordinary climax at the remaining top-tier game. Bottom sides Middlesex and Northamptonshire met at Merchant Taylor’s School and the result went down to the very last ball. Sam Whiteman’s 114 helped the away team to a 322-run lead but, despite Eskenazi’s early retirement through injury, Sam Robson, John Simpson and Toby Roland-Jones took Middlesex to the brink of victory. When Robson reached three figures, he became – remarkably – the county’s first centurion of the summer but, needing three from the final delivery, he and De Caires could only scramble two. The scores were level and a draw resulted. 

In Division Two, Durham are making it look easy. They crushed Gloucestershire by nine wickets. Alex Lees’ 195 outscored the whole of Gloucester’s second innings. Leicestershire remain second after a rain-affected draw at Cardiff. With a positive outcome impossible, Glamorgan’s Michael Neser thumped 176 not out, then Leicester’s Rishi Patel went three better, sealing a contract extension. 

There were runs galore in a very tight encounter at Hove. Set a target of 380 by Sussex on the fourth afternoon, Derbyshire could have been forgiven for resorting to innocuous batting practice. To their credit, they were far more positive. Leus du Plooy led by example but once he was sixth out for 128, Sussex sensed a chance to win. They captured two more wickets and stumps were drawn with Derbyshire nineteen runs short of success. 

At New Road, Yorkshire’s openers Lyth and Bean put on 177 but the county had to struggle for a fourth batting bonus point. Ben Coad claimed 5-33 as Worcestershire slipped to 242 all out. Rain severely disrupted their second innings, robbing the White Roses’ chance of an innings victory.

 After the Blast’s Finals Day, the four-dayers return next week. Amongst others, Durham face Derbyshire while in Division One Surrey must fancy their hop across the Thames to Middlesex, Essex host Kent and Warwickshire welcome Lancashire to Edgbaston. Personally, I hope Somerset press on against Northants – preferably with a T20 title under their belt. Ha-ha! 

Team of the Week:- Yates (War), Lees (Dur), Coles (Sus), Lawrence (Ess), Du Plooy (Der), Rew (Som +), Neser (Gla), Walter (Ess), Bailey (Lan), Hannon-Dalby (War), Coad (Yor)

County Cricket: Surrey Crippled, Bell-Drummond Tripled

This week’s County Championships fixtures produced a satisfying mixture of shocks, record performances and heart-pounding finishes. Before this week, both Surrey and Lancashire were unbeaten and, at The Oval, you’d expect the former to retain that sequence against the latter. Thanks to a last-wicket stand of 130 between Sean Abbott and Dan Worrall, a first-innings lead was duly established. On day three, the Surrey seamers picked up regular wickets, leaving their batters a comfortable target of 208. However, Tom Bailey ran through the formidable top-order, including Tom Latham first ball, and Will Williams finished the job. 

With the counties behind them also lacking consistency, Surrey are still looking good to retain their title. Essex advanced to second at the expense of Warwickshire at Chelmsford. Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence put on 227 for the third wicket before bowlers Porter and Harmer left the opponents facing the follow-on. Late flurries from Bess and Lintott forced the Essex openers to bat again but victory was achieved inside sixteen overs. 

Hampshire made short work of Middlesex at Southampton, where Liam Dawson became the first Hampshire all-rounder to score a century and take ten wickets in the same match. The Londoners have only one batting bonus point on the board all season, a disturbing state of affairs. Kent also won by an innings, at the expense of bottom side Northamptonshire. Last week, Daniel Bell-Drummond was by far the leading T20 run scorer and this time he repeated the feat in red-ball cricket. He joined the select few Kent batsmen to strike a triple-century, moments before his tail-end partner was last man out. 

At Taunton, Somerset made a dreadful start to their fixture against Nottinghamshire, for whom Brett Hutton took 5-34. However, Matt Henry began the turnaround with 6-59, his work continued by George Bartlett and teen sensation James Rew whose tons took the second innings total beyond 500. Notts had well over a day to compile 492 to win but they failed to survive even a few hours. Somerset’s pace attack was ruthless, Josh Davey’s 4-17 the most eye-catching figures. The enormous winning margin of 399 runs was Somerset’s second largest runs victory in their Championship history.

 

In Division Two, leaders Durham were frustrated in their push for a fifth triumph of the season. Their contest at Leicestershire yielded six centuries, two of them from the Durham opener Alex Lees but the most crucial turned out to come from Leicester’s Aussie Peter Handscomb. While all around him floundered, he avoided the temptation to dig in, instead peppering the boundary twenty-one times on the way to an unbeaten 136 and dominating a match-saving ninth wicket partnership lasting twenty overs.

Leicester’s superior batting bonus points helped them leapfrog Sussex, who also required a desperate rearguard action to avoid defeat at the hands of Glamorgan. With nine wickets down, Oli Carter and Henry Shipley somehow managed to last more than twenty-one overs, the latter making only two scoring shots (both boundaries) from the 56 deliveries faced. 

Bowlers struggled, too, at Headingley. The first-innings totals surpassed a thousand runs, including centuries by Bean, Hill and Revis (Yorkshire) and Oliver Price (Gloucestershire) and a draw was inevitable. It was the same outcome at Worcester, where winless Derbyshire looked likely to break their duck after skipper Luis Du Plooy shared partnerships of over 250 with each of Wayne Madsen and Anuj Dal. However, their bowlers were less successful, as Garth Roderick (123) and Ed Pollock (56 in almost four hours) anchored a dogged last-day dig-in to attain a draw. 

Back to T20 mode now, where Worcestershire have much more chance of silverware… 

Team of the Week:- Muyeye (Ken), Lees (Dur), Bell-Drummond (Ken), Du Plooy (Der), Robinson (Dur +), Handscomb (Lei), Dawson (Ham), Abbott (Sur), McAndrew (Sus), Williams (Lan), Henry (Som)