INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest piece in my “100 cricketers” series, in which we look at the three big name batters from the ninth XI. The introductory post to the series can be found here, and the most recent post in which the ninth XI is introduced is here. Before getting to the main body of the piece, it is time for a…

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE

Two of the six county championship matches have been settled and a third is on the cusp of producing a result. 

• Sussex v Leicestershire – Leics 232 and 252-3 beat Sussex 212 and 308 by seven wickets
  Paul Horton, Hasan Azad and veteran Aussie Mark Cosgrove all made runs as Leicesterhsire ended up making light work of what had looked like being a fairly tough run chase. The feature of this match was the 80 made by Philip Salt in the Sussex second innings – if he can go on to a few centuries in the near future the England selectors may just take note.
• Hampshire v Essex – Hamsphire 525-8 declared beat Essex 164 and 274 by an innings and 87 runs.
  A century by veteran Ravi Bopara kept this game going longer than some expected, but Hampshire had been in control most of the way, and once they got through Bopara the rest came quickly, with Adam Wheater absent hurt for the second time for the match. South African Kolpak signing Kyle Abbott took five wickets for Hampshire, to back Fidel Edwards who had done likewise in the first Essex innings.
• Derbyshire v Durham – Derbyshire 197 and 334, Durham 171 and 207-8
  Many will be glad that Durham seem to be headed for defeat in their first match after they chose to award the captaincy of their side to a proven cheat in Cameron Bancroft. 
• Somerset v Kent – Somerset 171 and 243 beat Kent 209 and 131 by 74 runs
  This result is just in, and it did not look likely this morning, but a last wicket stand between 21 year-old George Bartlett (63) and Jack Brooks (35) gave Somerset something to bowl, Lewis Gregory ripped out three quick wickets before lunch (he went on to finish with 5-18) and Kent never looked like getting to the target. This match turned on the morning session of today, with Kent having had the better of the previous play by far. I commented on this post on Toby’s Sporting Views that if Somerset could eke out a further 50 this morning they would give themselves a chance, they actually managed 70, and ended up winning comfortably.
  
• Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire – Nottinghamshire 408 and 329-5D, Yorkshire 291 and 181-2
  This one looks set to end in a draw (although a dramatic Yorkshire collapse remains possible). Nottinghamshire’s overnight declaration with Joe Clarke 97 not out, following his first innings 112 provided an early talking point. My view, expressed on this site yesterday and on twitter this morning is that Notts were right to give themselves a full day in which to bowl the Yorkies out a second time – the needs of the team have to come first. Joe Root is currently 87 not out for Yorkshire and Gary Ballance is 52 not out.
•  Northamptonshire v Middlesex – Northants 445, Middlesex 271 and 294-4
  This one looks like petering out as well. Full credit to Middlesex captain Dawid Malan who is 151 not out in their second innings, and would appear to have saved his side. 

It is now time for the main part of this post, starting with…

ANDREW STRAUSS

112 and 83 on test debut, centuries on his debuts against two further countries (and he nearly made four), a Compton-Miller Medal winning performance in the 2009 Ashes and captaining England to Ashes success down under in 2010-11. Exactly 100 test match appearances brought him 7,037 test runs at 40.91. 

STEPHEN FLEMING

111 test matches yielded him 7,172 runs at 40.06, he also scored 8,037 ODI runs at 32.40. In addition to his attacking batting he was a fine captain of New Zealand. He is a worthy captain of this XI.

MARTIN CROWE

77 test matches yielded him 5,444 runs at 45.36, with a highest score of 299, made against Sri Lanka when New Zealand were initially in a lot of trouble. He was one of the finest batters ever to come out of New Zealand, although the likes of Stewart Dempster (average 65.72 in his very brief test career), Bert Sutcliffe (holder of the two highest first class scores by New Zealanders – 385 and 355, the 385 coming out of an innings total of 500, while his opponents, Canterbury,  managed 382 off the bat in their two innings combined) and Glenn Turner (the only Kiwi to have scored 100 first class hundreds) would all have their advocates. His first test century came against England in 1983-4 and helped to save his side after they had been over 200 adrift on first innings. 

HOT OFF THE PRESS – DERBYSHIRE SECURE VICTORY OVER DURHAM

I mentioned in my county championship update section that Derbyshire were closing on victory over Durham. They have now completed the job, the result being:

Derbyshire 197 and 334 beat Durham 171 and 235 by 125 runs
Openers Harte and Lees made half centuries, but apart from them only Burnham (32) and Trevaskis, the 19 year-old slow left-armer (27 not out) who I have marked as one to watch offered any significant resistance as the wickets were shared round. 

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…