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) 

Smith and Mills give the Blast a Lift-off

Across the Atlantic, the Twenty20 World \Cup began with some fanfare but, until the USA shocked Pakistan, the action on then pitch has been underwhelming. Wonderful to see the likes of Oman, Nepal and Papua New Guinea, though. Back in Blighty, the Vitality Blast has launched well below the radar. Competing with the World Cup, this year’s tournament robs counties of the world’s big names but gives regulars and experienced biff-bang merchants the opportunity to make headlines. 

The first week threw up only a handful of 200-plus scores, two of them by Surrey, the only side with three consecutive victories. Despite the arrival of Jason Roy and Tom Curran, it was Jamie Smith who starred with the bat, crunching 87 and 76 against Somerset and Glamorgan, respectively. Glamorgan skipper Sam Northeast was the only other player to strike two fifties and Essex’s Michael Pepper the sole centurion, thumping a 44-ball 101 to defeat Middlesex at Chelmsford. His other innings were 7 and a golden duck, but that’s T20 for you! 

Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and Durham are the dunces of the week, losing all their fixtures. The latter have been bowled out twice for a combined total of 176, with Michael Jones’ 29 against the Bears their highest individual score. Former England star Alex Hales hasn’t exactly set Trent Bridge alight, but Sussex paceman Tymal Mills has delivered a couple of four-wicket performances and 39-year-old Ravi Bopara has once again been an inspirational all-rounder for Northamptonshire. 

It has been seven years since Mason Crane made his two T20 international appearances against South Africa but this week his leg-spin has been consistently on the money for Glamorgan., claiming six scalps without being thumped all around the grounds. 

On a personal note, my highlight of the Blast to date was Somerset replicating the 2023 Final success against Essex at Taunton. Fine strokeplay by Smeed, Abell and Lewis Gregory ensured the target was reached in the final over, Craig Overton applying the coup de grace with a boundary 

Team of the Week:- Wells (Lan), Bell-Drummond (Ken), Northeast (Gla), Pepper (Ess), Cox (Ess), J Smith (Sur), Bopara (Nor), Cooke (Gla +), Mike (Lei), Crane (Gla), Mills (Sus)

Bairstow Keeps England on Top

The record books say England won 2-0. However, had the inclement London weather not intervened on the fifth day, it would very likely have finished 3-0, whatever Angelo Mathews may claim.

To their credit Sri Lanka did make a contest of the Lord’s Test. With England at 84-4 and 226-6, they had the upper hand, only for Jonny Bairstow to find solid company at the crease in Chris Woakes. Their stand of 144 restored England’s usual status as favourites.

It was reassuring to see the visitors’ openers finally compile a decent partnership, both Karanuratne and Silva making half-centuries. But then they all collapsed under the magic spell of England’s seamers, Woakes the best and fastest of them.

Alex Hales proceeded to 94 before again missing out on a maiden Test century, trapped lbw to Mathews’ medium pace, and England were able to declare safe in the knowledge that Sri Lanka would not achieve the 362-run target. The weather forecast backed them up and in the event the rain ruled out any chance of a positive result.

It wasn’t a great series for batsmen. Only four hundreds were scored, and Chandimal’s 126 at Chester-le-Street the sole ton for Sri Lanka. Half of those four came from the England wicketkeeper, who compensated for the occasional glaring lapse behind the stumps by dominating the series batting statistics. Only Alec Stewart has struck a higher score by an England ‘keeper, and it can only be a matter of time – perhaps a month or two – before the 25 year-old Yorkshireman breaks that particular record, too.

Neither Root, Compton nor Vince performed well at Lord’s and the latter two are vulnerable to replacement for the Pakistan series. It has to be said that while Sri Lanka inevitably miss the big three batting superstars, England are relying heavily on the experienced bowling pair Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Finn remains an enigma, but Chris Woakes enhanced his reputation as more than just a decent county all-rounder and thoughtful one-day death bowler. Herath apart, it wasn’t a month for spinners, but that could change in the limited-overs competitions.

Chris Jordan hasn’t convinced me but has enjoyed a reasonable start to the 2016 season. Tymal Mills’ conversion from rough, ready and expensive paceman to part-time T20 specialist is complete after his selection for the Twenty20 international. That match doesn’t mean anything other than his potential England debut. The 50-over stuff is more intriguing, and offers England another opportunity to show what their younger, more exciting players can do. Let’s see if they succeed.