Category: Cricket

A Result Unique to Cricket

A look at the draw in cricket (some other sports also use that term for a result but none use it in the way cricket does), with two very different examples from the most recent round of county championship fixtures. Also a large photo gallery.

While cricket is not the only sport to use the word ‘draw’, the way that word is used in cricket is different from in any other sport. In cricket the draw covers any situation in which neither team has been able to win within the allotted time. Ties are rare in cricket because to be a tie the side batting second has to lose its final wicket with the scores level – if times runs out with scores level, as happened in the “We flippin’ murdered ’em” test match between Zimbabwe and England, when then coach David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, exasperated by Zimbabwe getting away with bowling deliberately wide because the umpires obtusely stuck to test match rules regarding wides, flipped his lid in the immediate aftermath of the result being confirmed. This post looks at two very different draws from the last round of county championship fixtures by way of illustrating the sheer range of match situations that can come under the heading of ‘drawn’ in the game of cricket.

EDGBASTON – THE ULTIMATE IN STALEMATES

Warwickshire hosted Surrey, winners of the last three county championships, in this round of fixtures, and as far I am concerned the surface the Edgbaston ground staff offered up for the occasion tells its own story about Warwickshire’s level of ambition for this match: they wanted a high scoring draw, from which each side would accrue a respectable haul of points, since they did not believe they could beat Surrey. Rory Burns won the toss for Surrey but then put Warwickshire in to bat. Warwickshire batted for the first five sessions of the match, piling up 665-5 declared. By the end of the third of the four scheduled days Surrey were nine down, with Ben Foakes and Matther Fisher together at the crease. Had Warwickshire got the final wicket early on the fourth morning they may have been able to make life hard for Surrey in the follow-on. In the event, even with the half hour extension permitted when a side is nine down at the lunch interval, Warwickshire did not get the wicket at all that morning. By the time Fisher was finally last out for 40 Foakes had gone to a career best 174 not out, and Surrey had topped 500, having batted 178 overs. They had not quite done enough to avoid the follow on, which Warwickshire enforced as they had to. The Surrey second innings was barely underway by tea time, at which point Jupiter Pluvius, clearly as unimpressed by the pitch and the farce of a match that resulted as I was, intervened, enabling a game that had pretty much been DOA to be officially put out of its misery. I hope that Warwickshire get a points deduction for preparing such a surface – it was blatantly unfit for a four day game, since it would have taken eight days at a minimum to generate a result on it.

CHELMSFORD – ALIVE TO THE LAST POSSIBLE BALL

When Essex resumed overnight on 64-4, 456 adrift of a gargantuan victory target this match did not look like being a great one. However, the overnight pair of Critchley and Pepper held the fort until the stroke of tea when Pepper was out. Two more wickets immediately post tea, Thain and Critchley, left it up to South African Simon Harmer, mainly noted for being the best off spinner currently playing county cricket, but also a very useful lower order batter to shepherd the tail if Essex were to escape with a draw. When Rajitha was out just in to the last hour (and we were dealing in time by then because a combination of Essex being committed to defence and spinners bowling for Yorkshire meant that way more than the scheduled minimum number of overs was being bowled) Jamie Porter, with a career batting average of six, joined Harmer for the last stand. The last over of the match, which Yorkshire just managed to sneak in, getting it underway at 17:59 on day four, one minute before the scheduled close, Dom Bess’ 38th of the innings, the 133rd in all, and the 106th that Yorkshire bowled on that final day began with Porter on strike, but the Essex number 11 managed a single, just the second run of his innings, off the first ball thereof which meant that Harmer was back on strike. Harmer played out the remaining five balls, and Essex, 273-9 and still 247 short of the winning target had held out for the draw in a very exciting finish. Yorkshire might have been less cautious about their second innings declaration, but when they had Essex four down overnight it looked as though they had more than made up for any overcaution about that declaration, and Essex deserve credit for the way they fought through to that draw.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

County Championship Round Six

A look at developments in the three county championship matches that made it to a final day, including a strong recommendation for a points deduction for Warwickshire. Also a points deduction.

Three of the matches in the current round of the county championship made it to day four, today. I will mention all three. The game I am listening to is Sussex against Worcestershire at Hove, but I am going to start with another match that commanded my attention earlier in the round.

THE STALEST OF STALEMATES

Points deductions are sometimes made for badly prepared pitches. This usually happens when a result has happened very early, by design of the host county. It happened once after a drawn game, when even though that result saw them crowned champions Essex moaned about a Taunton pitch taking spin. The pitch at Edgbaston is IMO far more worthy of a points deduction than any of these ‘result’ surfaces. There has been so little for bowlers that a draw is now almost certain. We are well into the penultimate session of the match, and a mere 14 wickets have fallen to date. Warwickshire, put in by Surrey (a decision that even Rory Burns who made it probably now recognizes as a terrible one), amassed 665-5 declared with career bests for Ed Barnard and Zen Malik (a maiden first class ton for the latter). Surrey have just lost their 10th wicket after 178.2 overs with their score on 504, a deficit of 161, which means that Warwickshire can enforce the follow-on (and to do anything else in this situation should ensure that the current captain never has that role again). Ben Foakes became the third player to notch a career best on this surface, amassing 174 not out, and equally damning of this pitch, Surrey number 11 Matthew Fisher lasted 145 balls for 40 before finally being last out. I therefore have no hesitation in saying that Warwickshire should be hit with a 25 point deduction for having prepared a surface that offered no chance of a result in four days (I will eat my hat if Warwickshire do manage to bowl Surrey out a second time). The Warwickshire captain has done the right thing and enforced the follow-on. It is unlikely to change the result, but for Warwickshire to go in again would have absolutely killed any prospect of anything other than a draw.

A POTENTIAL NAIL BITER

Although this game held out the most hope of any at the start of the day, which is why I chose to tune into it, my expectations were not high – Sussex definitely appeared to have the upper hand. However a great innings by Jake Libby and some stubborn resistance from Brett D’Oliveira (an innings of 29 that lasted a long time) have made it a very intriguing position. Set 361 to win Worcestershire are now 281-6, having lost only two wickets on the day. Sussex’s best bowler so far has been the Johannesburg born Greek seamer Aristides Karvelas. Oliver Edward Robinson has been economical but not terribly threatening. From being heavily in Sussex’s favour with Worcestershire four down fairly cheaply overnight it has become almost a 50/50 proposition. My earlier comment about Karvelas was prescient – he has just claimed the wicket of Matthew Waite, caught by James Coles at third slip for 14 to make it 286-7, with Libby 167 not out. Fynn Hudson-Prentice may just have settled it for Sussex – he has just had Libby caught by Clark at second slip for 167 to make it 286-8.

ESSEX v YORKSHIRE

This one looked all over bar the shouting overnight – set an outlandish 520 to win Essex were 64-4 overnight. However, Matt Critchley and Michael Pepper have resisted stoutly, and have yet to parted. Essex are now 195-4 and have a decent chance of securing the draw.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Cricket Snippets

Some bits from the world of cricket including a highly innovative piece of problem solving by UAE Women and their coach. Also a photo gallery.

I am listening to coverage of Hampshire v Essex in the Women’s One Day Cup, and I will mention that game in the course of this post, which will also look at goings on in the county championship. I will start however with…

CHAPEAU TO UAE WOMEN

Yesterday, in Bangkok, Thailand there was great piece of cricket thinking by the coach of the United Arab Emirates women’s team. They were playing a regional qualifier against Qatar Women, with only one side from their group progressing to the full qualifiers. It was thus a game that given their 32 place ranking advantage they needed to win. They had reached 192-0 after 16 of their 20 overs, but the weather was threatening, and with a big score on the board they wanted to be sure of at least five overs at Qatar before the weather decisively closed in. Declarations are not allowed in limited overs cricket, a rule that has been in place since 1978 when Somerset (men’s team) attempted to game a poorly thought out qualification system by declaring an away match against Worcestershire after batting for just one over. This would, by the rules of the competition, preserve their wicket taking rate, the criteria by which teams with the same number of points at the group stage were to be split, and thereby ensure their qualification. The UAE coach in this match checked with the match referee regarding ‘Retired Out’ as an option, and with confirmation that there was nothing in the laws to prevent everyone from ‘retiring out’, both UAE openers, including the skipper who had 113 to her name, retired out, and then so instantly did another eight UAE batters to end their innings. The official score was recorded as 192 all out from 16.1 overs, with all ten wickets being retired out, all to the first ball of the 17th over. The UAE women then managed to bowl 11 overs at Qatar, which was sufficient to dismiss this opposition for an total of 29 to win by 163 runs. Personally I reckon UAE Women and their coach deserve unqualified praise for finding a solution to a problem created by the blanket ban on declarations in limited overs cricket (note their method is both quicker and safer than finding ways to get out cheaply – if the fielding side work out what you are about then the ball will have to hit the stumps for this to work, as they will not appeal, and catches will probably go to ground). Situations where one is willing for one’s own innings to get at the opposition will not often arise, but unless declarations are once again allowed in limited overs match (and the near universal use of Net Run Rate to split sides who finish a group stage with the same points tally largely prevents utterly cynical Brian Rose type declarations, as doing so would be disastrous for your own net RR – the only time one might be considered is if a side has already well and truly qualified and they decide they want their current opponents rather than some other side to come through with them) I can see further instances of mass ‘retired out’ innings happening. Stuart Surridge, the Surrey captain of the 1950s who could fairly be labelled the most successful county captain of all time – five seasons in charge, five county championships won – was noted for extremely aggressive declarations. I shall quote two: once against a Somerset line up whose batting was headed by Harold Gimblett, noted for explosive innings at the top of the order, he gave them five and a quarter hours to attempt a target of 297, and was rewarded with a victory by 32 runs; the second was against Worcestershire near the end of the 1954 season – Worcestershire had been all out for 27 batting first, Surrey were 92-3 in reply when Surridge declared as he wanted another go at Worcestershire that evening, and Worcestershire lost two wickets in the short passage of play before the close, and the following day spinners Laker and Lock completed the rout, rolling the midlands county for 40 to secure a win by an innings and 25 runs and with it a third successive title.

HAMPSHIRE v ESSEX

Hampshire batted first, and with skipper Georgia Adams leading the way with 110 not out, her fourth list A century, but her first in Hampshire colours, and wicket keeper (surely soon to be called up by England) Rhianna Southby scoring 61 they totalled 273-5 from their 50 overs. Essex at 35-0 in the seventh over are just about keeping themselves in touch with the target so far. Linsey Smith, left arm orthodox spin, has just broken the opening partnership by bowling MacLeod for 25 to make it 47-1 in the tenth over.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

At Edgbaston, in the match that I listened to the first two days of, Surrey are reduced to playing for a draw. Warwickshire resumed yesterday on 364-4, and scored 301 more runs for the loss of a single wicket over the first two sessions of yesterday before declaring at tea time on 665-5 – and that after Rory Burns had won the toss and put them in to bat! The only Surrey player with any cause for pride in what was surely a humbling experience for them as a whole was wicket keeper Ben Foakes who did not let through a single bye in that vast total. Surrey are struggling in reply – they are 217-5. Rob Yates, who earlier scored 86 opening the batting has taken three wickets with his off spin. Ed Barnard who produced his highest score as a professional cricketer (beating a 173* in a list A innings) has added a wicket with right arm medium-fast bowling. Another multi-dimensional player, Aussie Beau Webster, who failed with the bat this time round but is a genuine all rounder, also has a wicket though I cannot tell you whether it was with off spin or with the medium pace he also bowls. In the other match I am keeping tabs on, Glamorgan are in complete control against Kent. They scored 549-9 declared, with Ben Kellaway notching 181 not out, his maiden first class ton, and after dismissing Kent for 212 sent them straight back in again – no nonsense about batting them right out of things to rest the bowlers – and currently have them 66-4 in their second innings, an effective -271-4. While there is no such thing as ‘never’ in cricket (I refer to you the account that began the main body of this post) it is at the least highly improbable that Kent are getting back into this one.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Full moon between two wires, from a post supper walk last night.
A College of West Anglia building illuminated by the late evening sun while the moon shines above it.

County Championship Action

A look at happenings in the latest round of county championship matches, which got underway yesterday morning. Also a photo gallery.

This season’s sixth round of championship fixtures got underway yesterday morning. As an indication of changing times it was on May 9 1895 that WG Grace’s first class season got under way. After that late start to the season the fixtures came thick and fast, and precisely three weeks after his season had begun the good doctor notched up his 1,000th run of the campaign. This post looks at what happened yesterday.

BURNS’ BUNGLE

Surrey are taking on Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Yesterday, on a lovely sunny day, Rory Burns the Surrey skipper won the toss, and with overhead conditions suggesting that it was a time to bat and no hint of demons in the pitch he opted to put Warwickshire in to bat. Not only were wickets slow in coming (while runs were not so), both the first two, those of openers Alex Davies and Rob Yates, for 45 and 86 respectively, would have had the batters very annoyed with themselves. Davies, having started very impressively, charged down the pitch at part time off spinner Dan Lawrence, missed his stroke and was bowled. Yates, looking nailed on for a century, had an uncharacteristic swing at one from Tom Lawes and succeeded only in nicking it behind where Foakes, as ever, was unerring. Sam Hain got to 26 before he was caught by Lawrence off Clark. Then Lawrence, whose 20 overs of off spin on day one of a championship match form Exhibit A in the case against Burns’ decision to bowl first, took the only really well earned wicket of the day, producing a fine delivery to bowl Aussie all rounder Beau Webster for 15. New Zealander Tom Latham was looking utterly secure, and moved past three figures with no hint of difficult. He was joined after the dismissal of Webster by Ed Barnard, treated by his former county Worcestershire as a bowler who bats, but now at Warwickshire regarded as a genuine all rounder who is if anything more batter than bowler. This pair were still in residence at stumps, with the score 364-4, and Latham closing in on 150. They are still together as I type, just over a quarter of an hour into day two, with three runs added to the overnight total as they settle in. Ed Barnard has moved to 50 since I typed this section, Latham has passed 150 and Warwickshire are 394-4. Dan Lawrence is about to have his first bowl of day two at 11:37AM.

ELSEWHERE

The most inconsistent day yesterday was that of Sussex, who started with an opening stand of 80, then lost five wickets for one run, and six for eight runs, then recovered to post 284, with off spinner Jack Carson registering a maiden first class hundred and first class debutant James Hayes contributing an unbeaten 33 from number 11 as the tenth wicket stand yielded 73. For Glamorgan, in action against Kent at Canterbury Ben Callaway, an all rounder who bowls both off spin and left arm orthodox spin, was 91 not out, closing in on what will be his maiden first class century. He has just reached the landmark while my photo gallery was uploading. Essex, seeking to recover from a setback against Somerset (see here), are not going well against Yorkshire at Chelmsford. They bowled the visitors out for 216, a decent effort, but are currently 35-4 in reply.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This picture and the nest show the new library/ community hub;s current stage of development.

Highlights from the County Championship

A back at the round of county championship fixtures that took place over the bank holiday weekend, a look at the points system and a photo gallery.

The most recent round of county championship fixtures took place between Friday 2 and Monday 5 May. It was an excellent round of fixtures overall, with the only clear cut dud game, the one at the Utilita Bowl where both hosts Hampshire and visitors Durham seem to have decided almost from moment one that a high scoring draw and consequent boost to a few people’s batting averages was all that was available. In the rest of this post I will look at the games I actually followed some of, and will end with something about the current points system in the county championship.

SOMERSET v ESSEX

Somerset came into this round without a win so far this season, and for a long time it did not look like that would be changing. Somerset had surrendered tamely for 145 in response to Essex’s first innings 206. When Essex led by over 300 with only four wickets down in their second innings it was looking horribly one-sided. Although it did not look like it at the time the injury sustained by Jordan Cox in his anxiety to get to three figures (at that stage the previous highest score of the game was the 41 made Noah Thain in the Essex first innings) was a turning point in the match. Cox completed his ton, and immediately retired hurt. From that point five wickets crashed for seven runs, which precluded any return to the crease on Cox’s part. A total of 321 still looked beyond Somerset’s capabilities. At 78-5 the only question seemed to be whether or not there would be a fourth day – with not seeming the more likely answer. However Lewis Gregory now joined James Rew, and redeemed a less than stellar effort with the ball by launching a counter attack. The sixth wicket pair put on a century stand before Gregory was out. Craig Overton now came in and supported Rew to such good purpose that they were still together at the close. On the fourth morning the pair continued their good work, and the Essex bowling, normally among the best in the country, became somewhat ragged, with even the usually metronomic Sam Cook struggling to locate the right areas and regular fourth innings destroyer Harmer not quite looking at his best. A Somerset win had looked very distant when play started, but as Rew and Overton kept going and going it went from deeply improbable through unlikely and on to possible, then probable and finally, as Rew moved past three figures, a near certainty. When Rew finally fell for a magnificent 116 a mere nine more were needed for the win, and Josh Davey, by no means a mug with the bat, was joining Overton. It was Overton, appropriately enough, who struck the final blow, a six that simultaneously propelled Somerset to victory and him past the 50 mark. Somerset have a long history of involvement in bizarre matches (e.g. Headingley 1901 – Somerset 87, Yorkshire 325, Somerset 630, Yorkshire 113, Somerset won by 279 runs after trailing by 238 on first innings), but not even they have been involved in many games to equal this one.

OTHER MATCHES

Lancashire v Gloucestershire bore all the hallmarks of a dull draw deep into day three, when in response to a Lancashire score of 450 Gloucestershire were steadily moving into a lead. However, once they had the lead Gloucestershire did attack, led by Oliver Price, who before this innings had never topped 150 in a first class match. Now he made it 250, a mark that only one previous Gloucestershire batter, Walter Hammond, had ever reached against Lancashire. Gloucestershire ended the third day on 589-8, a score at which they promptly declared. Lancashire were at one point four wickets down and level in terms of runs, but in the end they did enough to draw the match.

Glamorgan against Derbyshire got very tense in the closing stages. When Derbyshire were 248-5 chasing a target of 338 it looked all over, but a clatter of wickets suddenly left Derbyshire clinging on by their finger tips. In the end the match was drawn, with Derbyshire surviving the final over with their score 308-9. This innings featured a maiden first class five-wicket haul for Ben Kellaway, who like Aussie women’s player Jemma Barsby cam bowl both off spin and left arm orthodox spin. Kellaway had earlier played a big innings for Glamorgan as well.

Middlesex and Kent also had an incredible finish. In their case the draw was off the table, but win for either side or a tie were possible deep into the closing stages. The fortunes of wat swayed hither and thither with first one side and then the other looking favourites. In the end Middlesex skipper Toby Roland-Jones got his side over the line for a two wicket win. This was harsh on Daniel Bell-Drummond who had scored a double century in the Kent second innings to put Middlesex under pressure.

THE POINTS SYSTEM

As it currently stands a win is worth 16 points, a draw is worth 8 points and there are 8 bonus points available, 5 for batting (250 = 1, 300 = 2, 350 = 3, 400 = 4, 450 = 5) and 3 for bowling (3, 6 and 9 wickets). These bonus points are awarded specifically in the first 110 overs of each side’s first innings. The big problem is the valuation put on the draw, because a draw with a full ration of bonus points nets 16 points, making it almost as valuable as a win with a low bonus point tally. Although the round that has just gone was a good one overall, there was the game I mentioned in passing at the Utilita Bowl where both sides settled early for a high scoring draw, and there have been several notably cowardly declarations earlier in the season where sides have built their leads to an absurd extent and ultimately declared so late in the game that only rank incompetence by their opponents could result in victory. I would either reduce the award for drawing a game to 6 points, or if keeping the draw at eight points boost the award for winning a match to 20 points, to make sure achieving victory even with a small bonus point count is definitely more desirable than a high scoring draw. Matches like the abomination at the Utilita Bowl are a poor advert for what is actually a great competition – witness the four matches that I looked at in more detail in the course of this post.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This is in Grimston – my bus home from work yesterday was diverted from its usual route.

James and Sons April Auction

A look back at James and Sons’ April Auction, a brief mention of County Championship action and a photo gallery.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had its April auction, 1,000 stamp and postal history lots across the two days. On day one I was at work, one floor above where the auction was taking place, but had left bids on two lots, the fate of which would decide my approach to day two where I would be following from home.

A MODESTLY SUCCESSFUL AUCTION

The opening day of the auction went well overall for the company, and well for me personally – I got both lots I had left bids on, and both sufficiently cheaply that I was still in a position to bid on more items on day two. Lot 193 was the first of my lots:

Lot 398 was five pages of Russian steam locomotive stamps:

DAY TWO

This could have been a very quiet day, but fortunately it wasn’t completely so. The biggest success of the day was lot 762, which went for £140. My first bid of the day was on lot 701, and I was successful:

Lot 728 was my next success…

Lots 785 and 840 also went to me…

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

Another round of County Championship fixtures got underway today. Due to a meeting this morning I missed the first session of play, and I will be missing most of tomorrow as it is the West Norfolk Autism Group’s annual outing to Pensthorpe. However I have got to enjoy Somerset having superb afternoon and evening against Essex at Taunton. Essex were 115-2 at the high water mark of their innings, but since then it has been one-way traffic – they are now 180-9 with Noah Thain having just gone for 41, caught Rew bowled Pretorius. I am not entirely sure about Kasun Rajitha;s batting credentials, though the fact that he is below Sam Cook, sometimes adhesive (as indeed he was today) but unquestionably a tail ender, tells one something, but Jamie Porter is an absolutely blown in the glass genuine number 11.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

These coasters (seven images in total) are an early birthday present from my boss.
The Trevithick/ Pen-y-Darren £2

Lancashire v Hampshire

A look back at today’s Women’s One Day cup match between Lancashire and Hampshire and a photo gallery.

Today Lancashire have been playing Hampshire in the Women’s One Day Cup. I missed the Lancashire innings due to the James and Sons April auction, but I did catch the whole of the chase.

MAGNIFICENT MCCAUGHAN

The match took place at Southport, a small ground (in 1982 Geoff Humpage hit 13 sixes in an innings there, in a match that his side ended up losing by 10 wickets – Warwickshire 523-4 declared (Humpage 254, Kallicharran 230*) and 111 (McFarlane 6-59), Lancashire 414-6 declared (Fowler 128) and 226-0 (Fowler 126 not out, D Lloyd 88 not out). Lancashire scored 292-6 in this 50 overs a side match, Eve Jones scoring 107 and Emma Lamb 86. They fell away a little after a very strong start, something noted by the radio commentators, and were probably a little short in the end. Hampshire’s openers, Bouchier and McCaughan started strongly. It was Bouchier who initially forced the pace, scoring 77 off 69 balls before being stumped by Threlkeld off Morris to make it 138-1. McCaughan then moved up a gear as senior partner, and found good support from Charli Knott. Knott had reached 47 without ever looking in any trouble, but then Emma Lamb pinned her LBW and it was 259-2, McCaughan having by then passed three figures. The target was now only 34 runs away, and 8.3 overs remained to be bowled. Neither McCaughan, who finished with 133 nor out, nor new batter and Hampshire skipper Georgia Adams (20 not out off 18 including a four and six) had any difficulty with a task that had by then become very straightforward. The winning hit came off the last ball of the 47th over, with eight wickets standing. A scorecard can be viewed here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Derbyshire v Middlesex

A look at the final day of Derbyshire v Middlesex in the county championship, a harsh but justified assessment of Derbyshire’s overseas seamer and a photo gallery,

The only live cricket today was the final day of Derbyshire versus Middlesex, and this post looks briefly at the final day’s action.

ALMOST A QUIET MORNING

From the start of play at 11 o’clock until 12:56PM, four minutes before the scheduled lunch break the overnight batters for Middlesex, Stevie Eskinazi and Max Holden batted largely serenely through on a so called ‘hybrid’ pitch. A couple of hard chances went down, but few would have said that a wicketless morning was other than a fair reflection on the balance of play. Then Holden, on 94 and anxious to reach three figures before the interval had a total brain fade, essayed a huge drive at left arm orthodox spinner Jack Morley, missed and was bowled. That brought the injured Leus du Plooy, recently moved south from Derbyshire (Martin Andersson, who went the other way, will have much fonder memories of this match than him) in to bat, with Nathan Fernandes who had been out to the first ball of the innings acting as runner. Immediately there was a calamitous mix up which cost the other set batter, Eskinazi, his wicket for 61, and suddenly the door which had seemed firmly shut and all but bolted was ajar.

THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING

Derbyshire had an excellent afternoon, and had Middlesex six down at tea, but the lead by then was just over 100, and though they had work still to do, Middlesex really were within sight of victory. The two batters resuming for them, Ryan Higgins and Zafar Gohar played sensibly until, with the game virtually safe a couple of moments of silliness occurred. First Gohar, on 44, tried to get to 50 in one blow, did not quite get all of it, but got lucky when the chance was dropped, and then in the very next over Higgins, on 56, offered a chance that was accepted. However, by this stage the main question appeared to be at what point hands would be shaken on the draw, with the smart money being on with 15 overs still scheduled. Gohar got his 50, and new batter Blake Cullen played sensibly, and with the score 307-7, a lead for Middlesex of exactly 150, and 15 overs remaining to be bowled Derbyshire skipper Madsen did indeed accept that Middlesex had done enough, on a pitch that did not offer enough to the bowlers for a result ever to be likely. Middlesex had missed avoiding the follow-on by just eight runs, and had they scored those eight it is wildly unlikely that Derbyshire would have been able to create even the hope of a winning position – Madsen would probably had had to tell his side to go hell for leather until lunch, declare at that interval and then hope they bowled and fielded superbly, but he would probably not have been bold enough to take this approach. One final point: I looked up Derbyshire’s overseas seamer, New Zealander Blair Tickner and discovered that in 83 first class matches before this one he had taken 251 wickets at 34.22. The average would be on the high side for a home bowler, and for an overseas one, with the extra pay they get, it is simply unacceptable. The wicket taking rate of three scalps per match (almost exactly) is on the low side as well, a whole wicket per match below what I would consider acceptable. My own view is that if Tickner, a workaday seamer, was the best Derbyshire could do in this regard, they would have been better not to bother with an overseas signing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

My first cranefly sighting of 2025, in the grassland near the Gaywood River path in North Lynn.

A Day of Results

An account of Hampshire v Surrey in the Women’s One Day Cup and a look around in the grounds in the men’s county championship, plus a photo gallery.

Today is day three of the current round of county championship matches, and there is now only one match remaining to be decided. For the most of the day my attention was devoted to Hampshire Women v Surrey Women in the Women’s One Day Cup, and I will write about that match in detail before providing very brief descriptions of happenings elsewhere.

HAMPSHIRE OUTDO SURREY

Hampshire’s opening pair, McCaughan and Bouchier, gave their side a very strong start. Bouchier was particularly impressive for her 61. At 116-0 in the 22nd over Hampshire looked headed for a big total, but Surrey came back well after that, and in the end the total was 259-8, which looked it should be chaseable. Kalea Moore and Alice Capsey each took two wickets, but the best bowler for Surrey was Danielle Gregory, whose leg spin yielded a return of 10-0-32-1. Rebecca Tyson, making her first appearance in a game at this level, made her first interventions early in the Surrey reply, taking catches to account for both openers, Bryony Smith for 6 and Danni Wyatt-Hodge for 2. The bowlers off whom these catches were taken were Lauren Bell and Freya Davies, both tall, and both with long blonde hair. Capsey, the Surrey number three, dug in, but wickets continued to fall regularly at the other end. Dunkley was bowled by Bell for 4, Alice Davidson-Richards fell LBW to Linsey Smith for 19, the left arm spinner’s first victim, and Paige Scholfield was run out for 15, at which point it was 98-5. Alice Monaghan was the first Surrey player other than Capsey to play an innings of substance, playing the more aggressive role while Capsey was anchoring things. A sharp return catch by Smith ended Monaghan’s innings at 40, and in her very next over Smith took another fine return catch to get Surrey keeper Kira Chathli for 6. Then came the moment that virtually settled things, with 173 runs on the board, when Capsey, on 57, was caught by Georgia Adams off Freya Davies. That made it eight down and only numbers 9,10 and 11 to attempt to score 87 between them. 19 of these had been amassed when Tyson secured her first wicket, trapping Franklin LBW. Gregory did her best to support Moore, and the final wicket was something of a freak dismissal: Moore hit one back hard at Tyson, who was not able to cling on to what would have been a sensational caught and bowled, but the ball hit the bowler’s end stumps with Gregory out of her ground at that end, so it was a run out.

ELSEWHERE

In the County Championship match I followed for its first two days I had expected today not to be terribly eventful. Surrey extended their first innings lead to 84, Lawrence ending undefeated on 55. Somerset then suffered an epic batting collapse, being 38-7 at one stage (and this was effectively 38-8 with Dickson confirmed as unable to bat due to injury). Migael Pretorius and Lewis Gregory prevented the innings defeat, with the former scoring a half century. Pretorius’ innings was ended by the sort of catch that sets Ben Foakes apart from other wicket keepers, giving James Taylor his first wicket of the season. A few moments later Taylor ended the innings by having Leach caught by Sibley at first slip. That left Surrey needing 36 to win, which they achieved for the loss of two wickets.

Durham had already beaten Worcestershire before the end of yesterday, Worcestershire managing 162 and 81, and Durham 136 and 108-4.

Sussex mounted a bit of a fightback against Nottinghamshire in their match, but were still only able to set Nottinghamshire 148, and they made that target look trifling, winning by nine wickets.

Gloucestershire managed to set Leicestershire 143 in the final innings at Bristol, and there were times when that looked like being enough, but in the end Leicestershire got home two wickets. Dominic Goodman collected nine wickets in the match for Gloucestershire.

With only five matches scheduled for this round that leaves only Derbyshire v Middlesex in action. Middlesex put Derbyshire in, when Derbyshire would have batted first in any case. It was the home team who had judged things better – they racked up 472 batting first. Middlesex were all out for 315 in reply, which meant that 157 (150 is the Rubicon point in this context) that Derbyshire were able to enforce the follow-on, which it being late on day three meaning that there was insufficient time to build a big lead and then put Middlesex back in, they duly did. They have taken one early wicket, but Holden (16*) and Eskinazi (19*) are looking reasonably comfortable at present, with the score 35-1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Surrey v Somerset

A look at developments in the match currently taking place between Surrey and Somerset at The Oval, a composite Surrey/ Somerset XI and two photo galleries,

This post will feature a look at goings on in the match between Surrey and Somerset at The Oval, two photo galleries (reminder, click on the first photo in a gallery to view that gallery as a gallery and see the pictures at a larger size) and a composite XI (see feature image) for these two counties.

THE CURRENT MATCH

The latest round of county championship fixtures got underway yesterday morning, and the obvious fixture to follow was Surrey v Somerset. Surrey won the toss and decided to bowl first. At lunch, when Somerset were 87-0 (albeit with Sean Dickson having been injured and at least temporarily removed from the action) Somerset would have been the happier side. In the afternoon session the Surrey bowlers made things happen with a vengeance, and at 187-7 it was looking like their day. A fightback, to which the injured Dickson contributed by coming in to support Gregory at the end of the innings saw the Somerset innings end too late in the day for the Surrey reply to begin, with a total of 283 on the board. Jordan Clark had five wickets in the innings, and Atkinson, one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year after his sensational start in test cricket last season, had also fared well with the ball. Somerset’s bowling was not at full strength – they had lost Matt Henry, the NZ ace, before the match started, and between the toss and the start of play Craig Overton suffered a back spasm, with Surrey (who would have been entitled to refuse to allow a change to be made after the toss) graciously acceding to Somerset’s request to replace him with Josh Davey. Burns and Sibley made it to lunch still together and with no serious alarms, the score then being 99-0. Barring a brief passage of play in which Burns went for 76 and Pope for 3 things have continued to look pretty comfortable for Surrey. They are currently 173-2, with Sibley 47 not out and Jamie Smith 26 not out. Sibley has just been bowled by Leach for 53 and it is 188-3. Surrey have passed 200 while I have been prepping this post for publication – the score is now 205-3, Smith 39 and Foakes 12.

GALLERY ONE

A SOMERSET/SURREY COMBINED XI

I refer readers to my all time XIs for each county (here and here) which will cover a lot of the players not mentioned in this post and give more details about the members of the XI. As the feature image shows I have made two changes to the Somerset XI since that post was created – golden age amateur Lionel Palairet gives way at number three to James Rew (although I have acknowledged it I consider his wicket keeping something of a red herring in terms of where his actual value lies), and Dom Bess, who I should never have named in the first place, has been replaced by Somerset’s actual great off spinner, Brian Langford. There is also one change to the Surrey XI, Foakes replacing Alec Stewart as keeper and middle order batter.

  1. Jack Hobbs (Surrey, right handed opening bat, occasional right arm medium pacer).
  2. John Edrich (Surrey, left handed opening bat)
  3. Ken Barrington (Surrey, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner)
  4. Graham Thorpe (Surrey, left handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer)
  5. Peter May (Surrey, right handed batter).
  6. +Ben Foakes (Surrey, right handed batter, wicket keeper)
  7. *Sammy Woods (Somerset, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain)
  8. ‘Farmer’ White (Somerset, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter)
  9. Joel Garner (Somerset, West Indies, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)
  10. Jim Laker (Surrey, off spinner, right handed batter)
  11. Tom Richardson (Surrey, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)

I designate Leonard Braund as ‘twelfth’: he has connections to both counties involved, having started at Surrey before moving west, as an all rounder (and he did open for Somerset quite often by the way) he could replace at least ten of the players in this XI without absolutely hamstringing it, and he was noted as an expert slip fielder which at least offers hope that he could perform competently behind the stumps as well.

Aside from Rew, now in the Somerset XI, but not capable of dislodging any of that Surrey 3,4 and 5 from the composite side as yet there are two other players who have emerged since I created the original XIs on which this post draws who have to be mentioned: Jamie Smith, currently England’s chosen test match wicket keeper (though somewhat miscast in that role in my view), who is a quality player, but I who will not name as keeper ahead of Foakes, and who has not yet done enough to claim a front line batting place, and Gus Atkinson, who for all his great start at the highest level has a way to go to be a serious threat to any of Garner, Richardson or Bedser (in the Surrey all time XI). It has been my policy when creating these XIs for counties or composites of two counties to only allow myself one overseas player, which is why Waqar Younis cannot be accommodated (Garner’s great height lends extra variety to the pace attack, which is why I plumped for him).

GALLERY TWO