Great week for Middlesex and Surrey

The open nature of the County Championship was again much in evidence after the latest round of matches. Non-playing Somerset slipped to fifth but aren’t out of the running. Nor, it can be said, are Hampshire, in eighth place!

However, Middlesex’s crushing defeat of Durham, only their fourth of the season, extended their lead at the top to 26 points. Nicks Gubbins and Compton shared a second-wicket stand of 247, then Ollie Rayner was the star bowler (4-17 and 5-85) as the visitors crumbled twice. No Durham batsmen managed even a half-century.

Yorkshire have a game in hand but failed to beat their Roses rivals at Old Trafford in a high-scoring match. Alex Lees scored 199 runs for the away team but Lancashire opener Haseeb Hameed is on a hot streak right now. He picked up a couple of centuries, ably supported by Tom Smith, leaving Yorkshire, bolstered by Root and Bairstow, no time to meet the formidable target.

Surrey are also flying right now, leaping to third after seeing off Warwickshire by 226 runs with a solid all-round performance. Sam Curran’s 62 and match stats of 6-76 were probably the key contributions, along with Kumar Sangakkara’s 135 runs.

Hampshire won the battle of the bottom two by 176 runs, leaving Nottinghamshire in serious trouble. Wheater struck 102 early on but Scottish teenager Brad Wheal’s second innings 6-51 proved decisive.

In Division Two, Essex also collected win number four, making mincemeat of Derbyshire who have yet to record a single Championship success. Nick Browne pursued his penchant for big scores, making an unbeaten 229, before Ravi Bopara and Graham Napier led the way with the ball. The home team’s ex-Essex opener, now Derby captain, Ben Godleman did manage a hundred but all in vain.

At Northampton, Ned Eckersley scored his third successive century, and team-mates Cosgrove and Pettini also reached three figures for Leicestershire. However, Rob Newton was instrumental in depriving the opposition of a crucial victory, aggregating 224 without losing his wicket.

Sussex collected maximum points in their demolition of Gloucestershire at Hove. Luke Wells and Ben Brown stroked hundreds for the home side but Michael Klinger couldn’t follow his first-innings 129 with another big score and they failed to make Sussex bat again. Worcestershire’s promotion challenge faltered at home to Glamorgan, who delighted in a rare win. Bragg and Morgan scored the all-important runs and Mark Wallace bagged nine catches behind the stumps. A shame for Worcester’s Joe Leach, who was the stand-out all-rounder on display.

It wasn’t Worcestershire’s day, either, in the Royal London Cup quarter-finals. Somerset massacred them by nine wickets with several overs to spare at Taunton. Mahela Jayawardene rewarded his county’s patience with a beautifully-judged 117 not out. They will now take a trip to Edgbaston, after Warwickshire beat Essex by 70 runs. Jonathan Trott’s 101 set them on their way before his spinners finished the job.

It was a closer finish in the Yorkshire-Kent encounter at Canterbury, but the England trio of Willey, Plunkett and Adil Rashid wiped out the tail when Kent looked set for victory in their chase. However, you couldn’t have witnessed a more exciting climax than the one served up by Surrey at Northants. The home side had Surrey nine men down with 14 balls remaining and 27 required. That they succeeded was almost entirely down to the brilliance of Sangakkara, who farmed the strike, hitting a six and four in the final over. Had he not been dropped on seven, things may have been rather different!


Team of the Week: Browne (Ess), Newton (Nor), Hameed (Lan), Sangakkara (Sur), Bragg (Gla), Brown (Sus +), Franklin (Mid), Leach (Wor), Napier (Ess), Rayner (Mid), Wheal (Ham)

Double delight for Durham and Derbyshire

Durham went 14 1/2 points clear at the top of the Championship, twice bowling former title contenders Sussex out for under 120. Onions, Claydon and Urshad claimed all but one of the wickets between them. At the other end of the table, Derbyshire put 2012 runners-up Somerset in even graver danger of relegation while granting themselves a lifeline. Groenewald and Palladino made a mockery of Trescothick's decision to bat on a dewy first morning at Taunton but credit to the home side for at least making a game of it second time out. Another 23 byes past Craig Kieswetter and a defiant 74 not out from Shivnarine Chanderpaul were enough to take Derby to the finishing line by two wickets on a tense Thursday afternoon.

Ollie Rayner had a game to savour as Middlesex gave neighbours Surrey another thumping at The Oval. The tall spinner took 15 wickets in the match and had a hand in all ten first innings dismissals: 8 while bowling and catching the other two! Surrey's own offie, Gary Keedy also claimed nine wickets, but finished on the losing side. If he does so again to Somerset next week, it looks like curtains for them in the top tier. However, their opponents are also enduring a nightmare season, so anything could happen. In the other Division One fixture, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire played out a draw. Samit Patel made a century and bemoaned his treatment by England selectors. Maybe he has a point but he's beginning to look like yesterday's man despite being only 28.

In Division Two, leaders Lancashire sat it out while Northants and Essex were out for crucial points behind them. The former made little impression on a batsman-friendly Southampton pitch. Jimmy Adams returned to form with 218 but the opposition's young Robert Keogh went three better, more than doubling his entire first-class aggregate in the process! Meanwhile, rising Essex star Reece Topley boosted his Lions credentials by taking 6-29 and 5-56 in his side's eight-wicket victory over Worcestershire. With a game in hand, they can yet spoil Northants' promotion bid in the final furlong.

Glamorgan's Aussie paceman Michael Hogan took 6-65 against Kent, but the lowly visitors to Cardiff were too strong overall in a low-scoring match. The best individual all-round performance of the week, if not the whole season, came from Gloucestershire's Will Gidman. First he demolished the Leicestershire batting with 6-15 in 14 overs. He then thumped 146 to give his county a lead of 399 before returning with the ball to take 4-28 and wrap up a 24-pointer before day three was complete.

They could yet finish in the top two, but need both Northants and Essex to slip up badly in the run-in. At least Gloucestershire have done better than I predicted, and more outstanding efforts from Klinger, Gidman et al could make it a special summer for them. However their next fixture is at home to Lancashire, which is a daunting prospect.