No Super Over Rescue this time for England

It’s been almost two months since my last cricket blog. Following the crushing conclusion to the English county season and the high drama of the Ashes, there hasn’t been an awful lot to write about. Yes, a handful of Twenty20s and The Hundred’s draft – something nobody understands for something nobody wants – but little to get the heart pounding. Until now.

India have become the first nation to win four successive Tests by an innings. OK, so the final two were against Bangladesh lacking their best player, but the first two in the sequence were against South Africa, even if the Proteas are not as strong as they were a few years ago. Virat Kohli continues to break records of his own and the last victory was clinched with all wickets taken by seamers (India?!). In Brisbane, Australia handed Pakistan their thirteenth consecutive defeat on their shores, and just for a change their runs weren’t primarily provided by Steve Smith.

Which brings us back to England. Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes may well be practising their bowing and scraping in advance of their likely New Year knighthoods but Joe Root’s may have to wait awhile after falling victim  to another of the week’s innings outcomes at The Bay Oval.

New Zealand may have suffered two excruciatingly tight limited-overs losses to England in recent months but in proper cricket they were undone by poor batting and an inability to dismiss the Black Caps’ seventh-wicket pairing for more than eighty overs. A first innings of 353 didn’t look too shabby but that was ery nearly matched by the combined scores of BJ Watling (a career-best 205) and spinner Mitchell Santner (a maiden Test century) who shared a stand of 261. England bowlers toiled for only two wickets on day three before Watling and Santner cranked it up on the fourth, the latter rounding off a superb six hours by dismissing both openers and nightwatchman Leach with the ball.

England desperately dug in for the draw, with Santner bowling nineteen maidens, but Neil Wagner’s lively 5-44 was the decisive factor.  It’s only a two-Test series which won’t count for the World Test Championship, in which NZ currently occupy second place, but it was a humbling experience for new coach Chris Silverwood. It was nice to see Dominic Sibley win his first cap after such a commanding season with Warwickshire, and he did outscore his captain, but that was all. He should get another chance, as might Ollie Pope.

Jofra Archer got no support from the pitch, nor from the crowd. Racist abuse should not be tolerated in any situation but it seems a bit rich to complain when bowlers are constantly spitting vile abuse at the opposition and getting away with it. Sledging = abuse, isn’t it? I hope they throw the book at the small-minded bozo who yelled at Archer across the boundary but it shouldn’t distract from the fact that England were well beaten. Next week Trent Boult will probably be absent through injury but with Matt Henry or Lockie Ferguson waiting in the wings, England will face further disciplined seam and swing bowling, and they will do well to win the series. They don’t have Super Overs in Tests….

Warwickshire Woes, Derbyshire in Despair

Yorkshire advanced to third, having fought back after their first-week defeat to cruise to victory over Warwickshire. Their success in recent seasons has been in spite of various stars being absent on international duty. This week, their strength in depth was demonstrated still further when the inexperienced seamer Ben Coad garnered another ten wickets. That’s eighteen already for the Harrogate man, at under 14 apiece.

Edgbaston director of sport Ashley Giles is already talking nervously of “no quick fixes” and “transition period” after Warwickshire suffered their second successive innings reverse. The batsmen were woeful again, especially under floodlights when the cloud cover was particularly heavy. In the second innings, Coad and Willey had them at 7-5, and only Patel’s 49 not out prevented an even greater humiliation. Their bowling has been the county’s strength for quite a while but with Chris Woakes now an established England player, even the attack looks a bit creaky. Most of the side are aged thirty or more and, while experience counts for a lot, some new blood looks essential to achieve a better balance.

At The Oval, 42 year-old Shivnarine Chanderpaul compiled his 74th first-class century, 182, for Lancashire. However, on the fourth day the Surrey pair of Borthwick and Sangakkara put on 256 for the second wicket to save the game. It was also interesting to see Lancashire’s limited-overs spin specialists Parry and Kerrigan working well in harness in the Championship. Surrey now stand top, three points ahead of Hampshire, who had the edge in a draw against champions Middlesex. There were no hundreds, but Roussouw (99) and Carberry (98) came close!

Somerset’s traditional weak start to the season was maintained, beaten by newly-promoted Essex by eight wickets. Wickets fell regularly on the first two days, with Somerset on top after the first innings. However, Neil Wagner’s bowling and Alastair Cook’s decisive 110 combined to wrap up an eight-wicket triumph.

Essex now meet neighbours Middlesex at Lord’s, Somerset travel to Old Trafford, Hampshire host Yorkshire and Warwickshire must turn things around against high-flying Surrey.

In Division Two, it’s very tight at the top. Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Kent each made it two wins out of two, making hay while the sun shone across the land. At Derby, there was a genuine nailbiting finish. After Lancs reject Luis Reece and Billy Godleman struck a Deryshire record 333 for the first wicket, Northants set about the target of 326 in 65 overs. When Richard Levi was thumping boundaries at will, success seemed assured but when he was caught behind on 99 still 50 short, the result was in doubt. In the end, it took a Rory Kleinveldt six to clinch victory off the penultimate ball. After last year’s terrible season, this narrow loss must have been particularly galling. Hopefully they can concentrate on the positives, as they say.

Nottinghamshire rubbed Durham’s noses in the doo-doo at Chester-le-Street. Keaton Jennings (102 not out) ran out of partners in the second outing, leaving Greg Smith and Jake Libby to steer the visitors towards the inevitable win.

Kent were also good travellers, outscoring Sussex at Hove. Sam Northeast returned from injury to thump 173 not out while that man Darren Stevens scored another two 50s and a five-for. Like Chanderpaul, he proves that 40 is not the age barrier it is often made out to be.

Supporting players Worcestershire and Gloucestershire also recorded 16-point win bonuses. John Hastings and Tom Kohler-Cadmore shone in the former county’s eight-wicket defeat of Glamorgan, who looked completely out of their depth for a second consecutive week. At Bristol, Liam Norwell took ten wickets for 99 runs in the innings drubbing of Leicestershire.

Leicester’s fixture against Glamorgan next weekend is already looking like a battle of the wooden spoon contenders. Meanwhile, the Worcestershire-Northants encounter is the pick of the matches.


Team of the Week:
Reece, Godleman (both Der), Sangakkara (Sur), Northeast (Ken), Chanderpaul (Lan), Eckersley (Lei +), Stevens (Ken), Fletcher (Not) Wagner (Ess), Norwell (Glo), Coad (Yor)

Yorkshire Take the Roses Crown

The weather had an East-West split this week. Unusually, it was the West which enjoyed the sunshine while the East suffered unseasonal rain and cold winds. This had an effect on the cricket results, too, but the top of Division One has a Northern look about it.

Yorkshire bounced back to deliver a decisive 175-run victory over their Roses rivals and go level on points with Lancashire. However, the Reds remain on top having won more games. In fact only two points separate the top four, with Middlesex making a move.

It was a great all-round show by Adil Rashid, while Tim Bresnan’s 2016 debut after a calf injury was also successful, contributing 98 runs and six wickets. It was a shame for Neil Wagner, who added another eight to his Championship scalp tally.

Middlesex thrashed Hampshire by an innings at Northwood, but required a fourth day fine weather window to finish off the job. Adam Voges shared two sizeable partnerships, the first of 279 with Dawid Malan, then a further 174 with ‘keeper John Simpson, before declaring on 467-3. Tim Murtagh and Toby Roland-Jones then left the visitors reeling and following on more than 300 behind. James Fuller bagged a five-for and only Adams managed more than 33 in the futile run chase.

For two delightful days, Somerset sat in third place having squeaked home by a solitary wicket against Surrey at Taunton. Old enemy Gareth Batty achieved an impressive 7-32 to establish a first innings lead of 162. They may regret not enforcing the follow-on because Jack Leach and the Overton twins set up an exciting final day. Trescothick and Allenby each struck 50s but tailenders Leach and Groenewald were the batting stars. They survived almost fifteen overs to score the required 31 runs. Phew! A victory on the board at last!

Nottinghamshire and Durham shared the spoils at Trent Bridge where the batsmen were well on top. Brendan Taylor became the first Notts player to strike two hundreds in the same match since 2003, while stand-in stumper Riki Wessels slammed 159 not out. However, Durham’s Steve Borthwick combined an unbeaten 188 with eight leg-spin wickets and the forecast rain spoilt any remote hope of a contrived final day finish..

In Division Two, it’s three southern counties competing for the promotion places. Awful weather at Canterbury meant neither Kent nor Leicestershire could garner many bonus points let alone the 16 for a win. That enabled Gloucestershire to leap into second spot by beating Worcestershire in a high-scoring encounter.

At 31-5, the home team were in a bad way but Tom Kohler-Cadmore (169) and Jack Shantry’s run-a-ball 106 helped them to a very respectable 439. Graeme van Buuren’s unbeaten 172 enabled Gloucs to declare 75 behind, then Craig Miles’ 5-54 set up an exciting fourth day chase. Michael Klinger was well up for it but it was Jack Taylor’s fireworks at the death which clinched the victory, achieved with a six. It was a bitter-sweet week for Taylor as he faces a second bowling ban because of a dodgy action. However, with innings like this, he surely merits a place as a specialist batsman.

Sussex took maximum points from their ten-wicket mauling of Derbyshire at Hove. Without the runs from the visitors’ Shiv Thakor it would have been even more one-sided. Centuries from Ed Joyce and Luke Wells, then the swing and seam of Steve Magoffin and Ollie Robinson, were too just too much.

In the remaining Championship fixture, Essex and Northants amassed more than 1000 first-innings runs between them. Mickelburgh, Foster and Ten Doeschate each racked up hundreds, with Monty Panesar’s already distant hopes of an England recall demolished under the onslaught. With Northants 56-4 at stumps on day 3, another Essex triumph would have been inevitable were it not for the rain which restricted play to just six overs.

So now we have a fortnight’s break for a blast of twenty- and fifty-over cricket, not to mention England going for a Test whitewash of Sri Lanka. Just as the Championship was boiling up nicely. There were lots of fine performances this week, including some in the T20, and several failed to make my Eleven, which reads as follows:

Duckett (Nor), Malan (Mid), Borthwick (Dur), van Buuren (Glo), B Taylor (Not), Wessels (Not +), Rashid (Yor), Bresnan (Yor), Batty (Sur), Wagner (Lan), Leach (Som)

Wagner Runs Rings Around Notts

Week 2 of the domestic season brought decent weather. Instead it was batting dominance which produced just two results out of six. Runs flowed particularly freely at the top of the order.

In Division One, Stuart Robson broke a Middlesex record with his match aggregate of 337 runs. However, Jonathan Trott’s unbeaten 219 and a fine all-round performance by the redoubtable Keith Barker were instrumental in negating Robson’s total. Warwickshire ‘keeper Tim Ambrose will also remember the game, not for catches or runs, but for his maiden first-class wicket as the game petered out into a draw.

There were big scores in Yorkshire’s first Championship fixture of the season, too. In the first innings, no fewer than three players reached three figures. Adam Lyth made 111, then Jonny Bairstow struck a brilliant 246 and even Liam Plunkett weighed in with a rapid-fire 126. Ryan Sidebottom’s victims included his thousandth in senior cricket! Hampshire were not to be out-done, though. In reply, James Vince and Sean Ervine also hit hundreds and a draw was inevitable. Hants came out worst, however, as yet another fast bowler was afflicted by injury. Fidel Edwards contrived to break an ankle in a mid-match warm-up, unfortunate in the extreme.

Last week’s winners Nottinghamshire came a cropper against newly-promoted Lancashire. While Anderson and Broad were unusually on opposite sides of a first-class game, it was New Zealander Neil Wagner who stole the headlines. He claimed an eye-catchingly symmetrical 11-111, and the Notts batting fell apart.

In Division Two, Leicestershire enjoyed a rare victory on their first appearance in 2016 destroying Glamorgan at Cardiff. Wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien top-scored with 93 and claimed 8 catches, New recruit Paul Horton opened with two half-centuries and Clint McKay contributed eight wickets, leaving Robert Croft aghast.

Nevertheless Essex head the table despite failing to beat Sussex at Hove. Alastair Cook compiled a patient second innings century but I can’t help think he should have been a bit bolder as his team failed to attack a reachable target of 329 on the final day. Veteran all-rounder Graham Napier was in fine form, but the home side’s opener aggregated 211 runs in the match..

It was even more of a batting paradise at Bristol where only 22 wickets fell. Even Gloucestershire’s nightwatchman Liam Norwell scored 102, mostly in the company of Chris Dent. However, Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen and Chesney Hughes helped themselves to more than 400 runs between them.

Let’s hope for more even contests between bat and ball next week when County Championship highlights include Leicestershire challenging Kent, now lacking their retired hero Robert Key, Durham hosting Middlesex and Yorkshire visiting Warwickshire.

Team of the Week:
S.Robson (Mid), Nash (Sus), Hughes (Der), Trott (War), Bairstow (Yor), Ervine (Ham), N O’Brien (Lei +), Napier (Ess), Plunkett (Yor), McKay (Lei), Wagner (Lan)