County Cricket: Topsy-Turvy stuff in Division One

It was a strange week for County Championship results. As if the record Spring temperatures, sunshine levels and dried-up riverbeds and canals weren’t enough, both the top two counties in Division One came a cropper and the bottom team actually won by a country mile. The batsmen striking the highest individual scores by far did so in a losing cause and a host of wicketkeepers also reaped a harvest of runs. 

Nottinghamshire had been looking good at the top but, at Chester-le-Street, after Haseeb Hameed caried his bat for 206, their attack struggled to make headway against Durham. Gay, Clark and Ollie Robinson each reached three figures as the side lodged a new record high of 664 all out. Were it not for Joe Clarke’s sparkling 119, Notts would have lost by an innings and Durham still needed Colin Ackermann to deliver a quick fifty to achieve victory. 

There were no centuries at Edgbaston, but Warwickshire succumbed to Hampshire by 89 runs. Five-fors from Kyle Abbott and James Fuller were the decisive performances.  Warwickshire’s loss was Surrey’s gain, as the reigning champs whacked Yorkshire by an innings to close the gap behind Notts to just three points. Jonny Bairstow crashed 89 and 77 for the White Roses but his opposite number Ben Foakes also chipped in with 86 and some fine catches. Jordan Clark was the pick of Surrey’s bowlers, taking a combined 7-76. 

By the River Severn, Worcestershire earned not only their first batting bonus points of the season, but also their maiden triumph, defeating Essex with remarkable ease inside three days. Apart from day one, bowlers on both sides were dominant, but it was the victors’ Matthew Waite who stole the headlines with a first-innings 73 and a career-best 6-19 to complete Essex’s misery. Garth Roderick also deserves an honourable mention. The opener failed with the bat but contributed nine catches behind the stumps. 

Somerset made it back-to-back wins, but Sussex didn’t make it easy for them at Taunton. Following recent top-order batting woes, the home county gambled by promoting captain Luke Gregory and fast bowler Josh Davey to open. It seemed to work. Dropped to seven, Archie Vaughan duly scored 80 and, when three wickets tumbled in the hunt for a 150-run target, Gregory led from the front with an unbeaten 89, including the winning single.

 

The next round of fixtures includes a tricky outing to a Bairstow-less Yorkshire for Nottinghamshire, Surrey hosting a wounded Essex and the West Midlands derby in Worcester.

 

Leicestershire cemented the position at the head of Division Two by seeing off Middlesex by seven wickets. It was a low-scoring affair, Peter Handscomb’s 87 the sole half-century, and all Leicester’s bowlers chipped in with wickets. Ian Holland’s 5-35 got them off to a great start and they kept their noses on front thereafter.

 

Derbyshire remain in second place, but they had to fight hard to cling on for a draw against Lancashire at Old Trafford. Luke Wells put the home team firmly in the driving seat with scores of 141 and 50 then, with 42-year-old Jimmy Anderson his old mean self, Lancs had Derby on the rack at 216-8 with around ten overs remaining. However, new ball in hand, not even the former England star could break the ninth-wicket partnership of Anuj Dal and Jack Morley. The latter padded away the off-spin of Tom Hartley, surviving 36 balls for no runs, while Dal was similarly resilient under pressure. 

It was a tense finish at Bristol too, where Gloucestershire kept their heads to beat Kent by three wickets. Batting at eight, Kent’s Grant Stewart blasted a barely credible 182 to lift his side’s total to a decent 424 before Cameron Green (128) and James Bracey (127) shared a fifth-wicket stand of 222 out of 516. A draw was the most likely outcome but three quick wickets by Ben Charlesworth left Gloucester with a gettable target of 162. It was Green again who skilfully held the fort with an unbeaten 67b to seal the success. 

Meanwhile, Glamorgan’s second consecutive win has elevated them from bottom to third. Marnus Labuschagne’s arrival was not the greatest (marked by a seven-ball duck) but Ben Kellaway’ fine form with the bat continued, top-scoring in the first innings with 93. The Glammie seamers provided solid support and Northamptonshire were despatched by eight wickets, consigning them to the dreaded basement slot. 

However, it is all very tight from second to eighth, and positions can change in a week. For the Bank Holiday weekend, Glamorgan welcome Middlesex, Kent travel to Derby and Leicestershire hope to continue their winning ways at home to Lancashire. 

Team of the Week:- L Wells (Lan), Hameed (Not), Clarke (Not), Robinson (Dur +), Green (Glo), Bairstow (Yor), Holland (Lei), Stewart (Ken), J Clark (Sur), Waite (Wor), Abbott (Ham)

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) 

County Cricket: Roach and Smith make it three in a row for Surrey

Both Surrey and Warwickshire could have supplanted Essex at the top with a win, but it was the champions who brushed aside their potential rivals by nine wickets at The Oval. Surrey-born Jamie Smith lashed 155 to establish a handsome first-innings lead. It could have been greater were it not for Craig Miles, whose 5-43 gave little sign of the carnage being inflicted around him. Ed Barnard had reached three figures for the visitors first time out but Surrey paceman Kemar Roach ensured there would be no late-order recovery on Sunday afternoon, taking 6-46. Burns, Sibley and Pope finished the job the next morning. 

At Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire beat Lancashire by the same margin. It could have been an innings defeat had it not been for 20-year-old wicketkeeper Matt Hurst’s maiden hundred and century partnership with Tom Hartley. However, the game’s outstanding performer was Notts opener and skipper Haseeb Hameed. It feels like forever since, as a promising Lancashire teenager, he was thrown into the England side where he struggled in ten Tests. This summer, too, he failed to make fifty in his first four fixtures, which makes his unbeaten 247 so extraordinary. His score became the highest ever by a Notts player to carry his bat in a completed innings. Hameed was also not out at the conclusion of the match, every minute of which he was on the field. 

Bad light deprived Worcestershire of a likely victory against Kent at Canterbury in a game overshadowed by the sad death last week of young Josh Baker. The Pears occupied the opening five sessions amassing 618-7, including three centurions. Gareth Roderick set the ball rolling with 117 but the daunting total was ultimately extended by the eighth-wicket pair of Jason Holder and Matthew Waite. Mixing patience with pyrotechnics, each reached three figures, the declaration following Waite’s single to take him to 100. Jack Leaning responded with a magnificent 179 which at least ensured Kent survived to earn a draw. 

It was the same outcome at Southampton, where fourth-day rain ensured neither Hampshire nor Durham claimed the sixteen points. Had there been more sparking sunshine, I doubt the result would have been any different because batsmen were in charge. Orr and Prest helped Hampshire to 503, then Bedingham’s 144 shone for Durham, whilst spinners Dawson and Organ wheeled away for a combined 109 overs. 

On Friday, Hampshire travel to Trent Bridge in search of that elusive first victory, whilst Surrey hope to make it a fourth consecutive success at home to Worcestershire. Essex host Warwickshire, both keen to prevent Surrey running away with the Championship. 

Division Two leaders Sussex suffered a surprise loss against Glamorgan. With heavy rain forecast (correctly, it transpired) in Cardiff for Monday, it was imperative to round things off early, but it was the Welsh side who dominated. It’s not often that Glamorgan take twenty wickets but Mir Hamza and Andy Gorvin claimed thirteen between them. The home side’s batting success rested on the shoulders of Kiran Carlsen and Coin Ingram, whose fifth-wicket stand of 315 broke the county record. 

In the only other fixture, Gloucestershire also celebrate a sizeable winning margin, 256 runs. Miles Hammond’s 112 and Marchant de Lange’s 5-42 had already floored Northamptonshire, only for them to rub their hosts’ noses in the dirt by extending the lead to an imposing 557, thanks in part to Cameron Bancroft’s 130 not out. Gay, Procter and Nazir did their best but could not last until close of play. 

Only Derbyshire sit below Northants on the table and next they meet each other at Derby. Glamorgan host Middlesex, Leicestershire welcome Gloucestershire while Sussex look to get their promotion ambitions back on track at home to winless Yorkshire. 

Team of the Week:- Hameed (Not), Roderick (Wor +), Smith (Sur), Leaning (Ken), Carlson (Gla), Ingram (Gla), Roach (Sur), Waite (Wor), de Lange (Glo), Gorvin (Gla), Miles (War)