Tag: County Championship

Match Drawn at Edgbaston

A look at day four in the county championship and a photo gallery.

Today was the fourth and final day of the first round of County Championship 2026 fixtures. This post looks at events in the match between Warwickshire and Surrey.

A GREAT PARTNERSHIP

Surrey resumed today on 169-3, still 47 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat. There were some close calls early in the day, but both Jamie Smith and Dan Lawrence batted very well, and by lunch, with the fourth wicket pair still in residence, the draw was already looking the likeliest outcome. The pair went on to break a record that had stood since 1906, for the biggest fourth wicket partnership for Surrey against Warwickshire. By the time Chris Woakes took a catch off Rob Yates to dismiss Smith for 132 the score had climbed to 366, and any result other than a draw looked very unlikely indeed. By the tea interval the score had risen to 390-4, and it was just a question of when hands would finally be shaken. In the event it took another hour and 57 more runs before the moment arrived. Dan Lawrence was undefeated on 161, and at the other end Ben Foakes who had saved Surrey from a disastrous start on day one was unbeaten on 36. Surrey had scored 288-1 on this final day. The pitch, lively on day one, seemed very flat indeed by the end of day four. Nevertheless both sides have reasons to be pleased. For Warwickshire there was Dan Mousley’s first championship hundred, especially significant in that while their bowling depth was obvious for all to see some had had questions about the batting, and 50+ scores from a number of their other players. For Surrey there were three individual tons (Foakes, Smith, Lawrence), a new career best score from Tom Lawes, and considerable resilience demonstrated on two occasions, first recovering from 65-6 to post 328 in the first innings, and then batting very well to secure the draw after what they themselves admitted had been a poor bowling display. I would expect both these sides to be near the top come the end of the season – both have considerable bowling resources, and as both showed in this match, they can bat more than adequately. |Essex and Sussex have each recorded victories in their opening games, Somerset and Nottinghamshire drew their match, and rounding out division one Yorkshire and Glamorgan are still playing, though a draw looks likely there.

PHOTOGRAPHY

My usual sign off…

A green shieldbug on a green leaf…
…and close up
A small blue butterfly on a buddleia leaf near the Eastgate Bridge over the Gaywood River, King’s Lynn (two pics).

Warwickshire Take 216 Run First Innings Lead

A look at the latest developments in Warwickshire v Surrey and a photo gallery.

Today is day three of the opening round of county championship fixtures for the 2026 season. This post looks at what has been happening between Warwickshire and Surrey.

THE DAYS EVENTS

Sam Hain was the first to fall on day three, trapped LBW by Matt Fisher for 94. Mousley continued his impressive play of the previous day until he fell for 144, caught by Rory Burns off James Taylor. That was 394-4. Warwickshire skipper Ed Barnard looked in magnificent form until Burns caught him off Fisher for 25. Aussie Beau Webster became the fifth Warwickshire player to top 50 in the innings before being pinned LBW by Tom Lawes. Numbers 7,8 and 9 in the Warwickshire order, Kai Smith, Chris Woakes and Jordan Thompson, all fell to 18 year old left arm spin bowling all rounder Ralphie Albert, Smith to a catch by Foakes, Woakes clean bowled and Thompson caught by Fisher. Thompson’s dismissal ended the innings, with Ethan Bamber having been LBW to Taylor for 11. Warwickshire thus ended on 544, a first innings advantage of 216. Albert’s figures were 20.3-1-80-3, splendid in such a huge total. The only Surrey bowler to be more economical than Albert was Australian veteran Sean Abbott, whose right arm seam yielded 25-4-74-1.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Maiden County Ton for Mousley

A look at goings on on day two of Warwickshire v Surrey and a photo gallery.

Today is the second day of the county championship season. This post looks at events at Edgbaston where Warwickshire and Surrey are playing.

YESTERDAY EVENING

Surrey continued the fightback I reported on yesterday, eventually reaching 328, of which 128 came from the bat of Ben Foakes. The last wicket fell right on the stroke of time, meaning that Warwickshire did not have to bat in the evening session. They would have been disappointed to let Surrey off the hook from 65-6, but would also have noted that the pitch was definitely easier to bat on than it had been at the start.

TODAY

Today has belonged to Warwickshire. They have moved into a first innings lead for the loss of a mere two wickets. All four batters to have gone to the crease for them so far (Alex Davies, Rob Yates, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain) have topped 50. Mousley reached his first ever county century (he has scored an FC hundred for The Lions, England’s ‘understudy’ squad) just before the light got bad enough for the umpires to take the players off. With Sam Hain unbeaten on 80 at the other end Warwickshire were 330-2, two runs ahead of Surrey’s 328. With the pitch now playing very easily Warwickshire can and should leave Surrey with only a draw to play for – it would be advisable for Warwickshire to give themselves a bowl at Surrey tomorrow evening if they are not already all out by then, but they can certainly afford to bat for two whole sessions tomorrow, and possibly for another hour after tea just to render their lead insuperable.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

The WNAG 4th birthday cake.
Pictures of my new trophy and medal (six in total).
Today’s pictures start here.

Cricket Season Underway

A look at events in Warwickshire v Surrey on the opening day of a new cricket season and a photo gallery from work.

The 2026 first class cricket season got underway at 11am UK time this morning, making use of the fact that today and Monday are both bank holidays to play a round of four-day fixtures on which no day will be a regular working day. This post looks at goings on at Edgbaston where Warwickshire are facing Surrey. One piece of big general championship news is that the powers that be have seen sense and abandoned the experiment of using the Kookaburra ball in English matches as the failure it was.

EARLY STRUGGLES

Warwickshire won the toss and put Surrey in to bat. Surrey survived a tough morning largely through Dominic Sibley who batted through at one end. They should have made it through the session for the loss of three wickets, but a loose shot from Dan Lawrence right on the stroke of the interval handed Ethan Bamber his third scalp of the morning and sent Surrey in for lunch at 61-4. Almost as soon as the afternoon session started there was more trouble for Surrey, as Sibley was caught by Rob Yates off Chris Woakes and then Woakes clean bowled teenager Ralphie Albert to make it 65-6…

THE REVIVAL

At that point Ben Foakes, a world class wicket keeping all rounder who should be a regular in the England test side, was joined by Tom Lawes, a talented young seam bowler who can bat. This pair batted through the afternoon session, Lawes reaching a new career best 78 not out by the interval, while Foakes was on 55 not out, and the score had risen to 198-6. Foakes is a very experienced campaigner, and is likely to pass the career landmark of 10,000 first class runs before the end of the season. Play is just resuming for the evening as I type this.

PHOTOGRAPHS

First, a standalone from last night, the fourth birthday of the West Norfolk Autism Group (WNAG):

Me at the fourth birthday celebrations of WNAG, which took place at Strikes in Gaywood yesterday evening. The trophy I am holding aloft is for a win at ten pin bowling, while the gold medal around my neck is for a triumph at scrabble. The WNAG T shirt is on over my jumper because it was not warm enough to be in just a T shirt and I felt that on this occasion that T shirt had to be on display.

My remaining pictures come from work…

We start with some items of militaria which will be going under the hammer at the end of April.
This lot made almost double the high estimate in our March auction…
…partly because of this image of the reverse and the accompanying confirmation that I was able to offer that the blob of gum is original.
This is one of 70 postcard lots in the April sale – I have not images the others yet.

Spectacular Saturday

A look at some sporting action on a packed Saturday and a photo gallery.

There has been a lot of excellent sport today. This post is my take on the best of the day.

CRICKET

Hampshire held out for half an hour, adding 12 runs along the way, before James Fuller nicked a ball from Rahul Chahar through to Ben Foakes to be out for 33. Hampshire thus lost by 20 runs, with the Indian leggie, who had never previously taken a five-for in first class cricket, finishing with 8-51. Poor batting accounted for most of the dismissals. It seemed at this stage that Hampshire were going to be relegated, since Yorkshire v Durham was headed for a draw. Then Durham started losing wickets at an alarming rate, and their apparent policy of batting time and not bothering much about runs came back to bite them. Durham actually managed to bat for 44.5 overs in that second innings of theirs. The problem was they only managed 85 runs, which when they were facing a deficit of 129 (346 plays 475 on first innings) was not nearly enough to save them. They lost by an innings and 44 runs, which meant that they ended the season with 144 points, one fewer than Hampshire. It was the second time in a decade that Hampshire had seemed down only for Durham to go down instead of them – in 2016 Hampshire actually ended the season in a relegation position, but financial misdeeds by Durham led to the northern county being relegated and hit with a heavy points deduction for the 2017 season. Although there was first class cricket being played deep into the afternoon, with Middlesex v Gloucestershire seeing the last action of the 2025 English season my focus was elsewhere by then.

RUGBY

At 4PM the final of the women’s rugby world cup got underway at a packed Twickenham. England, on home territory, faced off against Canada, who had beaten New Zealand to claim their place in the final. Canada struck the first blow, with Asia Hogan-Rochester scoring a try on five minutes. The conversion was missed. Three minutes later a magnificent run by Ellie Kildunne saw the outgoing World Player of the Year score under the posts, and Zoe Harrison was unerring with the conversion to put England ahead. England crossed twice more before half time, with Harrison converting both, and although Canada scored a penalty the half time score was 21-8. Amy Cokayne thought she had England’s fourth try and her second, but the score was disallowed for an infringement. England and Canada each scored once, with neither try being converted to make it 26-13. Then Alex Matthews scored her second of the game and Harrison converted, and with under ten minutes left on the clock England were 20 points clear and the match was as good as done. In the dying minutes Sadia Kabeya was named player of the match, which given the utter dominance of England’s pack, of which she was a key part, was no great surprise. The final score remained 33-13. The attendance was confirmed as 81,885, not only a record for a women’s rugby match by a huge margin, but a record for any day of women’s rugby, beating the previous mark, set at a ‘sevens’ event in Paris by over 20,000. Sophie de Goede of Canada was named as the new Player of the Year.

GOLF

This year’s Ryder Cup got underway yesterday at Bethpage Black course on Long Island, New York. Europe were the holders, and by the end of yesterday they had won both the foursomes and fourballs session and were ahead by 5.5 points to 2.5. They also won today’s foursomes, by 3 points to 1 to extend their lead to 8.5-3.5. The fourballs are currently underway, with Europe bossing the top match, marginally behind in the second and the the third and fourth matches currently level. Europe are already assured of a lead going into Sunday’s 12 singles matches, and the key number for them is 14 points out of 28, since as holders they retain the cup in the event of a tie.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

This Egret was at the edge of the Great Ouse, between the pontoon jetty and the lower Purfleet.
A ‘compare and contrast’ picture – on the left is a ‘retro’ new build, and on the right an original.
A shieldbug of some species or other on a green leaf (next pic is a close up)

Nottinghamshire County Champions

Nottinghamshire sealing the County Championship in style, a game at Southampton that has become very interesting and some details about the relegation scrap. Also a photo gallery.

Nottinghamshire are officially confirmed as county champions. This post looks at just what is going on.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE v WARIWCKSHIRE

Officially the title was sealed beyond dispute when Nottinghamshire passed 300 inside 110 overs against Warwickshire yesterday. I was at work and missed the moment, but I heard the clip of Dave Bracegirdle’s commentary. It is a great triumph for Haseeb Hameed as captain, and he has been excellent this season both in that capacity, where his decision making has attracted considerable admiration from many commentators, and in his role as opening batter where has contributed four centuries to the cause. Head coach Peter Moores, who has now overseen triumphs at three separate counties, and bowling coach Kevin Shine, who has been namechecked by a number of his grateful charges, also deserve credit. From reaching that 300 Nottinghamshire went on to 374, a first innings lead of 116. They then bowled Warwickshire out for 133 in their second innings (last night they started superbly, reducing Warwickshire to 7-3, with both openers and night watcher Ethan Bamber back in the hutch, and they clearly did not let up today). They completed the job without the loss of a wicket, and it was Hameed who set the seal on their season with a boundary to bring up the winning runs. Scorecard here. There had been a good moment at the start of the Warwickshire second innings when their opener Alex Davies, who overlapped with Hameed in their Lancashire days made a point of removing one batting glove and walking over to shake Hameed’s hand to congratulate him on his success. Nottinghamshire as of now have 225 points, their over rate has not been bad enough to be punished, and the Trent Bridge pitch will not be docked points either, so they will be champions by a big margin. Exactly how big will be decided at Southampton…

HAMPSHIRE v SURREY

Hampshire have largely had the better of this match, with Surrey weakened by a combination of the ECB and the illness which has temporarily deprived them of Jordan Clark. However 17 year old Ralphie Albert on his first class debut scored a fighting 63 to help Surrey to 281 in their second innings, leaving Hampshire to score 181 to win. At 61-0 it was looking comfortable, but then things started to happen. By the tea interval Hampshire were six wickets down, four to Indian leg spinner Rahul Chahar and two to part time off spinner Dan Lawrence. Since the interval Chahar has been donated his fifth scalp of the innings, that of his compatriot Washington Sundar who played a wild drive, edged and was well taken at slip by Rory Burns. Hampshire as I type are 118-7 needing 63 to win. The eyes of Durham (especially them given the situation at Headingley and in the table) and Yorkshire will be on this – if the collapse continues and Surrey win the two northern counties will merely need a draw for both of them to stay up and Hampshire to go down, while a win for Hampshire would mean that Durham would have to engineer a win to stay up, sending Yorkshire down. Scott Currie has just fallen LBW, giving Chahar his sixth scalp and making it 121-8, 60 still needed.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign-off…

This Painted Lady was a candidate for the feature image at the time I photographed it (yesterday morning)…
…it was displaced in the pecking order by this remarkable insect find (yesterday early evening on the walk home from QEH, where I had chosen to get off the bus back from Fakenham)
This annoyed me, as I had to walk round behind it (and the cab was empty, so in any meaningful sense of the word it was parked) due to the road being too busy and dangerous to walk round the front.
A red bodied cranefly on a green leaf (three pictures)
A less spectacular crane fly standing out strongly from the white wall against which it was resting.

Nottinghamshire’s Grip on the County Championship Strengthens

A look at developments on day one of the final round of fixtures in the 2025 County Championship and a photo gallery.

Today is the opening day of the last round of matches in the 2025 county championship. Surrey are playing at Southampton against relegation threatened Hampshire (it has finally been confirmed with one match to play that they system will not be changing next year, so promotion and relegation will be happening), while Nottinghamshire are at home to Warwickshire. Nottinghamshire started the day needing 11 points from their match to make certain of the title (as I make clear in this post they should already be safe). This post looks at what has happened so far.

AT SOUTHAMPTON

Surrey won the toss, chose to bat and batted horribly. They lost wickets early, and never really stopped the rot, ending up all out for a miserable 147, 103 runs short of even a first batting bonus point, thereby reducing the ask for Nottinghamshire from 11 points to six. Hampshire’s reply to date has been a microcosm of their season with the bat – all of the top three got in, and all got out when seemingly well set. Only Ali Orr, who fell to a catch down the leg side by Foakes deserves even a hint of sympathy – both Nick Gubbins and Fletcha Middleton played poor shots, giving part time spinner Dan Lawrence their wickets. Surrey’s awful effort with the bat means that Hampshire are still in control, currently 120-3 in reply to that measly 147 by Surrey. Surrey, with a number of players unavailable by order of the ECB gave a first class debut to 17 year old Ralphie Albert, one of whose grandfathers, snooker legend Jimmy White, knew a thing or two about scores of 147. Ralphie Albert, apparently no relation of Hampshire’s Toby Albert, bats right handed and bowls left arm orthodox spin.

AT NOTTINGHAM

Nottinghamshire started well, and soon had their first bowling point on the board. At 127-5 it looked like a second was on the cards with Surrey missing out on any batting points. However, two all rounders, Ed Barnard and Dan Mousley have baulked Nottinghamshire since then, putting on an unbroken 83. Thus Nottinghamshire still need five more points to win, and the overs situation, seemingly totally irrelevant when the fifth wicket fell, is now just appearing on the horizon – Nottinghamshire have 39 overs left to get the four wickets that would give them a full haul of bowling points, which is still favourable to them, but means that it is not impossible that they will be denied. However whatever happens in the rest of the Warwickshire innings Nottinghamshire will go into bat with their destiny in their own hands, and a chance to settle it in that innings.

PHOTOGRAPHS

A malfunctioning memory card that could only be saved by reformatting it cost me a lot of pictures, but fortune favoured me thereafter and I do have a proper gallery to share…

I was passing through St Peter’s Garden outside the church of St Peter and St Paul, Fakenham when someone spotted the camera and kindly told me about a Peregrine Falcon that was currently eating a pigeon on the far side of the garden. This picture and the next two resulted.

The Battle for the 2025 County Championship

A look at developments in the likely title decider between Surrey and Nottinghamshire at The Oval and a photo gallery.

Today is day three of four in the penultimate round of county championship 2025 matches. All else in the round is overshadowed by the clash at The Oval where leaders and title winners in 2022, 2023 and 2024 Surrey entertain second place Nottinghamshire. A definite result in the match will put the side that achieves it in a well nigh unassailable position with only one match to play.

DAY ONE: AN ISLAND AMID A SEA OF WASHOUTS

On Monday the combatants at The Oval got an entire day of play in, while none of the other eight fixtures across the two divisions saw so much as a single ball bowled. Rain was the main culprit, but some parts of the country were being battered by dangerously high winds as well (in west Norfolk where I live there were gusts strong enough to shake even the sturdiest trees, but as a veteran of the great storm of October 1987 I can absolutely confirm that these were not dangerously high winds). Surrey seemed to have fared pretty well, winning the toss, bowling first and dismissing Nottinghamshire for 231, and losing only one wicket in reply.

DAY TWO: A HUGE DAY FOR NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

I missed most of the action on this day due to being at work, though I got the very closing stages. Although it belonged to Nottinghamshire the single individual who will have the best memories of the day was a Surrey player, Matthew Fisher. Fisher came into this match never having recorded a five-for for his new county (he moved south from Yorkshire during the close season). By the end of yesterday he had two such hauls for them, one in each innings of this match. Nottinghamshire bowled Surrey out for 173, lost early wickets of their own before Liam Patterson-White (58) and Lyndon James (47) shared a big seventh wicket stand. Nottinghamshire, aided by this, ended day two on 219-8, an overall lead of 277.

DAY THREE SO FAR

The morning fell victim to the weather, but play was able to get under way at 1:10PM. I have not been following this match, as England are in action, facing up to Ireland in a T20I in Malahide. I can tell you via cricinfo that Nottinghamshire reached 256 in their second innings, Fisher claiming one further wicket to give him innings figures of 6-73 to follow has 5-61 in the first Nottinghamshire innings. Surrey chasing 315 to win have just started the final innings and are currently 3-0.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A twig that I consider looks somewhat like a claw.
The first of four pictures of this moth which decided to rest on my kitchen wall yesterday evening.
With a £2 coin next to it to give it scale.
The weather today has not been pleasant, though it is looking a little less dull outside as I type.

The County Championship

A look at the situation in the 2025 County Championship with two rounds remaining and a photo gallery.

The county championship of 2025 has two rounds left, the first of which begins this coming Monday, at 10:30AM. This post looks at how it stands.

TIGHT AT THE TOP

Most of the matches in this round were drawn due to weather interruptions. The big exception to this rule were Nottinghamshire, who faced Worcestershire, bottom of division one, and almost certain to finish in that position, though not to be relegated, since the powers that be are mulling potential changes and have refused as yet to confirm or deny whether promotion and relegation will be happening. Nottinghamshire’s win, and Surrey being held to a draw by Warwickshire means that although Surrey are still top their advantage has been cut to single point. These two being locked in battle is a throwback to the late 19th century, when they were the two best sides in the country and had a very fierce rivalry. No one else has a serious chance of taking the title, since there is a 22 point gap back to third place.

THE BOTTOM

Worcestershire are more or less guaranteed to finish bottom of division one. There are five teams fighting to avoid second bottom, with everyone from Essex in fifth down to Durham in ninth close enough together that any one of those sides could end up second bottom, which may or may not mean relegation.

DIVISION TWO

Leicestershire are top, and if promotion and relegation do happen they are certain to be promoted. Glamorgan in second are almost as sure of their position, with a 27 point gap between them and third place. Kent look like this year’s wooden spooners, 28 points adrift of the next worst side.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Advantage Surrey

A look at goings on in the county championship, a link and two photo galleries.

A new round of county championship matches got underway yesterday. Surrey, leaders by four points going into this round, are playing away at relegation threatened Durham. Second place Nottinghamshire meanwhile are at home to third place Somerset. This post looks at what has happened in those two matches.

DURHAM v SURREY

I missed most of yesterday’s play, being at work. However, I can tell you that Durham won the toss and opted to bat, and that they were all out for 153. Dan Worrall claimed four wickets, Sam Curran three and Indian spinner Sai Kishore two. Surrey reached the close of play yesterday on 182-5, 29 ahead already. Thus the task for Durham this morning was to wrap the Surrey first innings up before the lead became unmanageable. Unfortunately for Durham not only did they take the entire morning session (literally – the tenth Surrey wicket fell on the stroke of lunch, just as Durham’s first innings had ended onn the stroke of tea yesterday) to get through Surrey, they also conceded 140 runs in the process. Dan Lawrence scored 88 and Jordan Clark 82. Durham are batting better second time round, but at 127-2 they are still 42 runs in arrears as I type. Emilio Gay is currently 73 not out. The bonus points in this match (awarded during the first 110 overs of each side’s first innings are Durham 3 (a full haul of bowling points, 0 for the miserable batting effort), Surrey 5 (a full 3 for bowling, 2 for batting).

GALLERY ONE

I have opted to split today’s gallery…

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V SOMERSET

All that I know of this match comes via cricinfo. Nottinghamshire won the toss an opted to bowl first. They began well, reducing Somerset to 25-3. However at that point they were baulked by James Rew and Tom Abell, who put on 313 for the fourth wicket, Rew making 166 and Abell 156. There was not a huge amount thereafter, the next biggest contribution being 31 not out from Craig Overton. Somerset tallied 438 in the end, taking 132.3 overs to get there. The bonus points for this innings (awarded only for the first 110 overs of each side’s first innings) were 3 to Somerset for batting and 2 to Nottinghamshire for bowling. Craig Overton got Ben Slater early in the Nottinghamshire reply but Haseeb Hameed and Freddie McCann are currently holding the fort for the midlanders.

KOOKABURRA BALLS

This round is the last of this season (and I hope ever) to be played with Kookaburra balls. There has been plenty of high scoring around as is usual when the Kookaburra is used in England. This leads to make a suggestion, just to help the ECB reach the right conclusion about the ghastly things: when this round of matches is done and dusted each county should ceremonially burn their remaining stock of Kookaburra balls.

GALLERY TWO

Just before I apply my usual closure to this post I have a link to share. A new species of dinosaur has been unearthed in Argentina. The site from which I share this is Argentine, which means that it is written in Spanish, but they do have a translate button that I have made use of. Click here to read the full article.

Time now for my usual sign off…

A new butterfly sighting today – this is one of the smaller ones.