County Cricket: Bears Blast Off

While England’s Test squad signed off from their counties, including virtually any seam bowler able to run unaided, we experienced the first week of Twenty20 in 2022. With most sides completing three fixtures, Birmingham Bears, Middlesex and – after I confidently ruled them out of any success – Somerset so far boast a 100% record. 

In the North division, the Birmingham Bears lead the way. Their 125-run demolition of Northants contrasted with a tight three-run margin against Derbyshire. In the former game, Irish opener Paul Stirling slammed 119 off 51 balls, including five consecutive sixes from James Sales. Surprisingly it was only his second T20 century in his long career. 

Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, having earned an international call-up after a stellar start to the Championship, proved he can score runs with the white ball, too. His 48-ball 72 at Old Trafford looked to have steered the White Roses to a last-gasp victory over the Reds only for Richard Gleeson to trap him LBW with the very last ball for an unlikely tie. In a fruitful week, Gleeson also took 5-33 against Worcestershire, while globe-trotting all-rounder Liam Livingstone contributed in all three Lancashire matches. 

The highest team score of the week was Northamptonshire’s 223-4 against Durham. Australian Chris Lynn marked his Steelbacks Blast debut with a 46-ball 83, sharing a rapid opening stand of 149 with Ben Curran. Durham’s Ben Raine suffered the ignominy of being forced out of the attack as punishment for bowling three deliveries over shoulder height. Harsh but fair…. 

In the South, Somerset established a super start, including two crushing defeats of Hampshire and Kent. The latter, champions in 2021, lost all three contests this week, despite the efforts of skipper Sam Billings. Somerset’s most successful performers were batter Riley Roussouw and pace bowler Josh Davey. Middlesex also have an unblemished record, with Max Holden and Toby Roland-Jones in consistently fine form. 

Essex haven’t enjoyed the best of weeks, but special credit should go to Matt Critchley. Transferred from Derbyshire in the close season, the 25 year-old leg-spinner demonstrated again why he is such a dangerous all-rounder in this form of cricket. Michael Hogan is much, much older and not normally associated with the Blast, but the Glamorgan seamer turned in the best bowling analysis of the past seven days. A shame that his 5-18 wasn’t quite enough to deny Surrey victory. The two players now meet on Thursday. 

Team of the Week: Stirling (War/Bears), M Rizwan (Sus +), Holden (Mid), Rossouw (Som), Brook (Yor), Livingstone (Lan), Critchley (Ess), Roland-Jones (Mid), Gleeson (Lan), Hogan (Gla), Davey (Som)

Greedy Essex win final two trophies in five days

It’s been a long week. While I’ve been relaxing in the Algarve, two trophies have been decided. And both went to Essex, which is just plain greedy. It all began in Edgbaston on Saturday….

The Vitality Blast served up two exciting encounters on Finals Day. Firstly, Moeen Ali’s miserly bowling helped Worcestershire to the final, where Essex left it to the final ball of the match to take their maiden T20 title. Simon Harmer claimed 4-19 then 3-16 to cap an immaculate Finals Day performance.

He was also the leading wicket-taker in the Championship’s top division as his county travelled to Taunton for the decider against long-time leaders Somerset who had to win to fly the pennant for the first time in their history. It was bound to be a ‘result wicket’, destined to finish early. That was assuming friendly weather, which the season’s climax thoroughly merited. It wasn’t to be. Only 72 overs were possible in the first three days, which made Tom Abell’s team with a near-impossible challenge. On Day four, we had to take twenty wickets for a pittance. Well, the spinners Leach and Van der Merwe did half the job before, in desperation, Abell forfeited their second innings. They had to bowl Essex out in just an hour, while Essex required only 63 to win. The openers made the game safe but, while they could easily have whacked the runs to seal the Championship with a tenth victory, they settled on a draw just seventeen short.

It was devastating to me and the county faithful to miss out by such a tight margin, runners-up for the third time in four seasons, but how must Marcus Trescothick feel? At least he received the ovation he deserved when making a contrived shuffle to the middle as a sub fielder, his final contribution to the county in a staggering 26-year career. It was a nice touch by the Essex players to join in the applause.

As for the supporting cast, they also fell victims to the rain. Hampshire finished in third place, Keith Barker taking five Kent wickets. At The Oval, centuries by Scott Borthwick and Ollie Pope frustrated Nottinghamshire’s flimsy hopes of a first triumph of the four-day season. Edgbaston saw play only on day one, time for Tom Kohler-Cadmore to amass an unbeaten 165.

It was all draws in Division Two, too, which meant that Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire will join Lancashire in the top tier next year. The two sides met at Bristol but could only play seventy-three overs in total. I reckon the home side can’t honestly have expected promotion but good on them. At the end of August, anyone but Leicestershire could have made the top three. Middlesex and Derbyshire slipped back, and Sussex’s season also ended in a dam squib at home to Worcestershire. At a rain-swept Chester-le-Street, BJ Watling struck an unbeaten ton from the Glamorgan attack, and at Leicester, Richard Gleeson took nine wickets for Lancashire.

So the County Championship may have suffered a soggy conclusion but I will grudgingly congratulate Essex for their second pennant in three seasons and second title in a week. At least Somerset proved worthy winners of the One-Day Cup but they’d have traded that for that blasted Championship. While Surrey’s all-star squad slumped in 2019, we have been remarkably consistent. Lewis Gregory’s absence hit us in mid-summer, but those defeats to Yorkshire and Hampshire last week proved decisive. Maybe next year…. 

Final team of the Week: Borthwick (Sur), Kohler-Cadmore (Yor), Moeen Ali (Wor), Watling (Dur), Pope (Sur), Hosein (Der), Van Buuren (Glo), Harmer (Ess), Van der Merwe (Som), Barker (Ham), Gleeson (Lan)

Rain delay keeps Surrey at bay

While England’s ODI side were keeping the scorers busy in the series against Pakistan, the counties were reacquainting themselves with the red ball after a month’s fifty-over action.

The clash between current leaders and reigning champions ended in a tame rain-affected draw. After centuries by Burns and Elgar, Surrey looked set for a healthy first innings lead against Somerset until Lewis Gregory led a late-order counter-attack. He struck five sixes on the way to 129 not out as his side surged to 399 all out and took a couple more wickets as Surrey ensured there were no calamities.

Somerset remain top but Yorkshire and Hampshire both won to close the gap. At Canterbury, Ollie Robinson’s 103 propelled Kent into a winning position after two days before Gary Ballance turned the tables with his 159 and Ben Coad’s final day 6-52 closed the deal. Hampshire sit just a point behind after whacking Warwickshire at Edgbaston by 314 runs. Tom Alsop top-scored while all the bowlers chipped in as the Midlanders suffered their second successive defeat.

Nottinghamshire also endured their second defeat of the season so far. Essex crushed them by eight wickets inside three days at Chelmsford, thanks largely to Simon Harmer’s eight wickets. Nick Browne was the only man to reach 50 in the whole match. 

In Division Two, my wildcard tip for a possible promotion, Durham, made it three losses out of three, going down by five wickets at Worcester. Charlie Morris and Josh Tongue did most of the damage with the ball then, despite Chris Rushworth’s defiant five-for, Worcestershire limped to their meagre target of 81. Lancashire also maintained their 100% record, demolishing Northants by ten wickets at Old Trafford. Against his previous county, late-developer Richard Gleeson claimed five wickets in each innings, and the home side won with almost a day to spare.

At Lord’s Middlesex looked to have a slight edge over Leicestershire but, with Colin Ackermann’s runs and Mohammad Abbas restored to the attack, the visitors easily avoided defeat and were only eighty-odd away from snatching a surprise victory. The other fixture also ended in a draw but history was made when Glamorgan played their first senior game at Newport’s Spytty Park since 1965. Spectators would have admired the Welsh county’s day three recovery from the follow-on, as Selman and Labuschagne took them to 364-1 en route for a match-saving 481-8 declared. Gloucestershire even lost six wickets on the final afternoon but clung on against a none-too-strong attack.

Gloucestershire must fancy their chances this coming week against Durham but in Manchester, at least one of the leading pair must relinquish their 100% start, as Worcestershire travel to Lancashire for what already appears to be a key promotion clash. In the higher division, top plays bottom at Taunton in the form of Somerset v Warwickshire while a Hampshire triumph over Notts could advance them into pole position.

Team of the Week: Burns (Sur), Selman (Gla), Alsop (Ham +), Ballance (Yor), Bracey (Glo), Higgins (Glo), Gregory (Som), Harmer (Ess), Morris (Wor), Gleeson (Lan), Rushworth (Dur)