County Cricket: Notts and Leicester extend their leads

Unlike last week, runs were harder to come by, and wicketkeepers struggled with the bat. Somerset and Glamorgan each notched their third wins in succession, while Division One is looking very tight. 

Following their reverse against Durham, Nottinghamshire bounced back with a 163-run triumph against Yorkshire, their first at Headingley for fourteen years. They didn’t have it all their own way. New Lions recruit George Hill took 5-40 for the home side, before Mohammad Abbas swung things back with a commanding 6-45. Joe Clarke’s second half-century of the match helped Notts set a difficult target of 464 which they rarely looked like approaching. Five wickets from Dillon Pennington and six catches by ‘keeper Kyle Verryenne ended the resistance to deliver nineteen points to the leaders. 

Surrey remain in second place despite failing to beat Essex at The Oval. In fact, rain on the final day may well have saved them from defeat. Centuries by Paul Walter and Charlie Allison had left Surrey chasing over 400 to win on the last day. Michael Pepper stumped both openers off Harmer’s spin, then Jamie Porter claimed five more wickets, including that of Sam Curran, whose return from the IPL yielded two 70+ scores. Another England white-ball specialist, Jason Roy, bagged a sorry pair but the match ended with three Surrey wickets intact. 

Sussex are third, defeating Hampshire by nine wickets inside three days. The only batting partnership of note was the 173 shared by Sussex skipper John Simpson (106 not out) and Fynn Hudson-Prentice, while the off-spinner Jack Carson inflicted much of the damage to Hampshire’s second innings, ending on 5-26. Bowlers were also on top at Durham, where Somerset’s third win on the bounce came against the odds. Mitchell Killeen’s 5-38 on debut placed Durham on the driving seat then, although the visiting seamers restored some balance, Somerset still faced a tricky chase of 265. Thanks to Tom Lammonby and Tom Abell, they succeeded, making runs look almost easy. 

Despite this winning streak, Somerset are only fifth, one point adrift of Warwickshire, whose bid to go second was wrecked by the Worcester rain. Sam Hain found some form at last, twice passing eighty, but it was a welcome return, too, for Chris Woakes and Chris Rushworth. The latter claimed 4-37 and 3-30 as Warwickshire pushed to bowl out their neighbours. However, Waite, Brooks and Taylor proved stubborn, and the weather ended proceedings with Worcestershire on 181-8. 

Leicestershire maintained their unexpected grip on Division Two, thumping Lancashire by an innings and reaching the halfway stage fifty-one points clear at the summit. Test spinner Rehan Ahmed is still only twenty and is now making his mark in the county game as an all-rounder. Batting at three, he compiled an assured 136, putting on 256 with Lewis Hill, then dismissed the Lancs tail-enders to polish off the second innings. Keaton Jennings’ 112 was his side’s only score above 40 and not even Marcus Harris could lift them. 

They are not the basement county, though. Kent’s appalling run has dropped them to an ignominious eighth after a crushing loss to Derbyshire. At least Ben Compton could hold his head high, adding 205 runs to his season’s tally, but Derbyshire’s total of 587-5 declared proved insurmountable. 41-year-old Wayne Madsen notched another ton, but star of the show was opener, Caleb Jewell. The Tasmanian left-hander struck a career-best 232 spanning almost nine hours. 

Like Somerset, Glamorgan made it three in a row, advancing to third in the table by taking Middlesex to the Cardiff cleaners. Sam Northeast and Kiran Carlson each achieved three figures before their attack took twenty wickets, something they rarely managed last year. No Kellaway this week, but left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann popped up from Australia to win the match with 6-53. 

At Northampton, another classy Aussie, Cameron Green, struck his third hundred in five matches for Gloucestershire in a more old-fashioned contest between bat and ball at Wantage Road. Northamptonshire, for whom Saif Zaib accumulated 215 runs, tended to dominate and were putting severe pressure on their visitors until rain took control on the fourth afternoon. With Bracey, Green and Hammond back in the pavilion, Gloucestershire would have been the most relieved. 

So that is it for the County Championship for four weeks. It hands over the spotlight to the Vitality Blast, in which anything can happen. No doubt some big overseas names will dip in and out with mixed results, while homegrown stars will shake things up. Champions Gloucestershire begin their defence at home to Kent while runners-up (grrr) Somerset face former nemesis county Surrey. 

Team of the Week:- Compton (Ken), Jewell (Der), Rehan Ahmed (Lei), Lammonby (Som), Hain (War), Saif Zaib (Nor), Verreynne (Not +), Carson (Sus), Mohammad Abbas (Not), Kuhnemann (Gla), Rushworth (War)  

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)