A look at developments in the county championship, with close looks at Somerset v Nottinghamshire and Kent v Surrey.
The third round of the county championship continues to progress. Essex have already polished off Lancashire by an innings and 124 runs, and Middlesex are close to completing victory over Yorkshire. Other matches are rather closer. This post looks closely at two of the games in progress.
SOMERSET V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Somerset took a huge first innings lead over Nottinghamshire – when the eighth Somerset wicket fell the lead looked like being manageable, but then Craig Overton and Migael Pretorius batted very well, Pretorius making 77 from number 10, and Overton being stranded on 95 after a poor shot from Bashir to end the Somerset innings. Nottinghamshire are looking untroubled in their own second innings, but they are only just in credit even so.
KENT V SURREY
This is the game I am now following, and Surrey are in total control – a massive second wicket stand between Dominic Sibley and Dan Lawrence saw them into a first innings lead with nine wickets still standing, and some more aggressive later play, especially from Jamie Smith, Cam Steel and Jordan Clark saw them reach tea at 543-7, an advantage of 299, at which point, as predicted by me they declared to have a go at Kent’s second innings in the evening. Dan Worrall has just accounted for Crawley, the second time in the match he has dismissed that worthy, and Kent are currently 16-1, still 283 adrift.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Yesterday morning was a ‘just a cuppa’ for autistic adults at King’s Lynn library. This lego archiecture was constrained by how little lego was actually available for us.
A look at what is going on in round three of the county championship, with the main focus on Somerset v Nottinghamshire
The third round of the 2024 County Championship got underway yesterday. The Duke ball made its first appearance of the season after the Kookaburra had been in use for the first two rounds, and in the main it did lead to a sharp uptick in the rate at which wickets fell (Hampshire have embarrassingly failed to make use of it against Warwickshire – the latter are well past 400 and still batting). My attention at the moment is focussed on…
SOMERSET V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
When it was time for play to start yesterday many matches were delayed by bad weather. Of the games that did start on time I opted for the one at Taunton. Kasey Aldridge, who had such a fine game against Surrey in round two, was missing from the Somerset line up, but otherwise they looked strong. This impression was confirmed when they dismissed Nottinghamshire for a paltry 193, with every bowler contributing (probably the least impressive was overseas signing Migael Pretorius, who was flattered by being given the wickets of two tail enders after not challenging the middle or upper order unduly). Nottinghamshire were unimpressive with the ball as well, though just before the close Aussie Matt Renshaw donated his wicket. The morning session today (most of which I missed due to a commitment at the library) was probably Nottinghamshire’s least bad out of the four, with three wickets going down, but nightwatcher Josh Davey batted right through the session (a feat also achieved by another nightwatcher this morning, Sam Cook, for Essex against Lancashire). Somerset moved into credit with six first innings wickets standing almost on the stroke of the interval. Since the resumption there has been little to suggest Nottinghamshire are getting back into this, and Somerset are currently 209-4, 16 runs ahead.
ELSEWHERE
Essex are in complete control against Lancashire, already well into the lead with nine first innings wickets standing. Warwickshire continue to pile on the runs against Hampshire although they are now nine wickets down. Surrey have had the better of such action as there has been at Canterbury, claiming six Kent wickets so far. The other match of big interest to me seems to be going well for visitors Gloucestershire – they amassed 417 at Hove and have already taken a Sussex wicket with not a huge number on the board against them.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Mama duck supervising a substantial brood.
While I have been preparing this for publication both nightwatchers referred to have been dismissed, Davey for 45 and Sam Cook just one run short of what would have been his maiden first class 50.
With precisely three weeks to go until the start of the English season I offer up an XI of county stalwarts who played in my lifetime. I also have a splendid photo gallery.
I present an XI of county stalwarts from my lifetime. I have allowed myself one overseas player only, and when it came to the home players the accent was on folk who were IMO treated shabbily by the England selectors. There will be a very brief honourable mentions section at the end. I also have a splendid photo gallery for you – the last couple of days have been genuinely springlike.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
Daryl Mitchell (Worcestershire, right handed opening batter, occasional medium pacer). While the current pairing at the top of the England order of Duckett and Crawley seems to be functioning fairly well there was a long period after the retirement of Andrew Strauss when England could not find an opener to score consistent runs as Alastair Cook’s partner. Somehow, in spite of scoring almost 14,000 FC runs at an average of 38 Mr Mitchell’s name never came to the attention of the selectors (nb the Daryl Mitchell who plays for NZ is a middle order batter and is eight years younger than the Worcestershire opener).
Chris Dent (Gloucestershire, left handed opening batter). Another, like Mitchell, who was superbly consistent (just over 11,000 FC runs at an average of 37, and no attention from the England selectors.
Graeme Hick (Worcestershire, right handed batter, occasional off spinner). The only batter ever to score triple centuries in three different decades (1980s, 19902, 2000s). His test returns were decidedly modest (he averaged 31 at that level and only managed five centuries in quite a number of matches), but he was an absolute destroyer of county bowling (Ollie Pope, the current England number three, is at risk of ending his career with a similar record of having destroyed county bowling and not quite done the business at test level, although he has time to rectify that, and has already done more at test level than Hick managed in his career – nevertheless, the wrong way round disparity between the record of Pope of Surrey and that of Pope of England is cause for concern).
James Hildreth (Somerset, right handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer). It borders on ludicrous that a player who scored 18,000 FC runs at 44 finished his career without an international cap, but such was the fate of Somerset stroke maker James Hildreth.
David Sales (Northamptonshire, right handed batter). A 17 year old announces himself at first class level by scoring 210* on debut – surely a case if ever there was one for fast tracking, but no. Sales, who added a triple century and a 276* to that debut knock along the way and tallied almost 14,000 FC runs at an average of just over 39 would end his career uncapped by his country.
+Ben Foakes (Essex, Surrey, right handed batter, wicket keeper). The best keeper around in the men’s game today (the likes of Eleanor Threlkeld and Rhianna Southby are also superb practitioners of the stumpers art), and a fine middle order batter (Surrey habitually use him at number five, followed by a cluster of all rounders and bowlers). However, after a tour in which England suffered the fate of every recent visiting side from any country to India – namely got well beaten, there are already murmurs about England dropping him for the home summer. In this side, with a genuine all rounder, a bowling all rounder and a batter who bowls in the next three slots this wicket keeping all rounder is unlikely to find himself having to attempt to nurse along genuine tail enders as he did in each of the fourth and fifth tests of the recent tour.
Darren Stevens (Leicestershire, Kent, right handed batter, right arm medium pacer). In his Leicestershire days he was treated as a specialist batter and his record in that department did not merit an England call up. He was already past 30 years of age when his move to Kent saw him morph into a genuine all rounder, and his age always counted against him in terms of England selection, even when he kept on going and going into his middle 40s with no sign of his skills declining.
Richard Hadlee (Nottinghamshire, right arm fast bowler, left handed batter). I have deliberately chosen an overseas player who served one county for a number of years rather than one of the more modern foreign mercenaries who never develop any loyalties but play instead for whoever will pay them. The fact that he would be in any rational person’s top two or three overseas players of the period under consideration (1980s forward basically, given my age) gives him a strong case anyway. While batting was unquestionable the second string to the bow of one the greatest fast bowlers of all time, 12,000 FC runs at an average of 31 is definitely enough to class him as a bowling all rounder, as is the fact that in 1984 he achieved the season’s double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first class matches, the first time anyone had achieved the feat since the reduction of the FC season in 1969 to make way for the John Player League, and achieved only once since then, by Franklyn Stephenson, also of Nottinghamshire. Of course in the 2020s 14 game FC season anyone achieveing this feat would be doing something on a par with George Hirst’s ‘double double’ – 2,000 runs and 200 wickets in first class matches for the season – of 1906.
*Phil Carrick (Yorkshire, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter, captain). He captained Yorkshire at a time when that job was the biggest poison chalice in cricket. He also took 1,081 FC wickets at 29.82, and scored 10,300 FC runs at 22.00 – a handy person to be coming in at number nine.
Steve Watkin (Glamorgan, right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). Many bowlers with far worse test averages than Watkin’s 27.72 got much more recognition than the tall Welsh seamer, who finished with three international caps. He was a workhorse for Glamorgan, at or near the top of the national bowling averages season after season. He did eventually gain the reward of being part of Glamorgan’s third (and to date last) ever championship winning side in 1996.
Jamie Porter (Essex, right arm medium fast bowler, right handed batter). Generally speaking if you want to see a champion side look at the bowling -Yorkshire in the 1900s and 1930s were a much stronger bowling side than theyb were with the bat, and they dominated both decades, Surrey owned the 1950s , again with a bowling dominant side. Similarly Essex dominated the second half of the 2010s, and there were three main reasons for this – Porter and Sam Cook with the new ball and Simon Harmer’s off spin. Porter is now approaching his 31st birthday, which probably means that he will remain uncapped by England, which given that he has 466 FC wickets at 23.75 looks nearly as bizarre as does Hildreth remaining uncapped.
This side has a powerful top five, plenty of scope for runs from the middle and lower middle order, with Foakes and Stevens genuinely front line batters, Hadlee almost so and even Carrick better than most number nines would be in that department. The bowling, with Hadlee’s pace, two very different types of high quality medium-fast in Porter and Watkin, Carrick’s spin and Steven’s medium pace should not struggle to take 20 wickets either. Though I have acknowledged the bowling capacities of some of the batters, I do not see any of them, with the possible exception of Hick on a fourth day pitch, being needed.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Those who read my county all time XIs back in 2020 would have noted from them that if I choose an overseas player I nearly always go for a bowler, and that being the case along with my desire to pick a long serving county player narrowed the potential choices down to two – Hadlee, who I actually opted for, and Malcolm Marshall (Hampshire). There is little to choose between two such outstanding cricketers, and I would be happy to see Marshall at number eight as well.
The spinner was a difficult choice, because with Hick in the ranks I preferred either a left armer or a leggie as my primary spinner. No English leggie has had a really good record in recent years (and Matt Parkinson, the nearest thing to such and animal, would have meant a genuine nine, ten, jack), and not many left armers have been that special either (and the two most obvious candidates, Tufnell and Panesar would cause the same worry as Parkinson batting wise). I could have found another English pacer, and picked Warne as overseas player, but I did not think his period at Hampshire was extensive enough to qualify.
Had I not been concentrating my attention on those who were badly treated by selectors then Marcus Trescothick (Somerset) would have had Chris Dent’s slot. Two men of Kent, Mark Benson (one England cap in 1986) and David Fulton (uncapped by England) were in with a shout for Mitchell’s slot.
Two other opening bowlers to be ignored by England in spite of excellent FC records were Ben Coad (Yorkshire) and Ben Sanderson (Northamptonshire).
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Early bird catches the worm(s)! This little blackbird was clearly having a successful morning.
A look at the mess Middlesex are currently in – facing relegation and in trouble with the ECB.
Middlesex, winner of more county championships than anyone else bar Yorkshire and Surrey, are in terrible state right now, facing relegation to the second division and in deep financial trouble. This post explores their situation.
FINANCIAL MALPRACTICE
Middlesex have been adjudged by the ECB to have become overly financially dependent on that organization. The following punishments have been meted out:
“The ECB will henceforth reduce payments to Middlesex by £150,000, of which £100,000 will be suspended until 31 October 2025. The points deduction, equivalent to the maximum points for one win in each of the County Championship, the One Day Cup and the T20 Blast, is also suspended until 31 October 2025.”
The above quote comes from an espn story about the situation which can be read here.
Middlesex have been treated rather more kindly than were Durham a few years back when that county was guilty of offences of a similar nature.
ON FIELD WOES
Middlesex are facing relegation, which with their very limited capacity for attracting new players given the punishments hanging over them will be hard to come back from. They are struggling with both bat and ball – their two former test match openers Stoneman and Robson have both had poor seasons with the bat, and the middle order is inexperienced, while their bowling attack is toothless – they barely even have an 80mph bowler in their ranks, never mind a 90mph one. Josh de Caires, the off spinner, has had two good matches with the ball recently, but Middlesex lost both times, as the opponents had a better spinner available to them – Liam Dawson and Simon Harmer respectively. Indian leg spinner Kuldeep Yadav is there for the tail end of the season, but at the moment the only question in their current match is whether the Manchester weather has done enough to save them from defeat. Kent, currently just behind Middlesex and in the second relegation slot (Northamptonshire are pretty much beyond redemption at the bottom of the table) are going to get at least a draw from their game against Nottinghamshire, fourth from bottom, and may well manage to win it, which would put Middlesex in real jeopardy, not only in the R zone, but adrift of third bottom by a double figure points margin.
How have Middlesex, with the advantage of having a base at the most famous ground in England, got themselves into such a horrendous mess?
PHOTOGRAPHS
I have lots of photos to share…
Nearly full grown cygnet doing a cormorant impression.The butterfly, a woodland species that seems to be faring well this year, is a pleasant sight, its chosen resting spot less so!
A look at a resistance act by Glamorgan that has rewritten the first class record books and a substantial photo gallery.
As the 2023 County Championship heads towards a break for the Vitality Blast (which kicked off yesterday, overlapping with this round of matches), the match between Sussex and Glamorgan is heading towards a draw, but today’s action has seen several Glamorgan records go and one all time first class record. The Glamorgan innings is still ongoing at the moment.
THE MORNING SESSION
Kiran Carlson was sixth out, having reached a career best 192, and when Chris Cooke also fell in the morning session it looked like Sussex would have a gettable target. However, Michael Neser and Timm van der Gugten saw Glamorgan through to lunch with no further loss.
THE AFTERNOON SESSION
It has been since lunch that the assault on the record books has been happening, spearheaded by Neser, supported first by Van der Gugten, then by James Harris and now by number 11 Jamie McIlroy. As I write this Neser has completed his maiden Glamorgan century and brought Glamorgan’s score past 700. The first class record came when Glamorgan reached 675, 552 more than the first innings score, relegating Barbados (175 and 726-7), Middlesex (83 and 634) and Pakistan (106 and 657-8) to joint second in this category with a 551 differential, though Pakistan still hold the test record, theirs having happened against West Indies. Glamorgan have beaten their previous record against Sussex, though their overall record, against Leicestershire last season is probably out of their reach at 795. There are some mitigating factors for Sussex – Ollie Robinson has an ankle problem and has not been on the field during this innings, and regular skipper Pujara has a stiff neck and is likewise off the field, Tom Alsop leading the side in his absence. Nonetheless, Glamorgan’s response to facing a deficit of 358 on first innings has been utterly extraordinary. Sussex will be recording a fifth successive draw after coach Farbrace had said they would always go for a win.
A look at the events in Surrey v Kent, particularly the transformation wrought by the Surrey lower order, plus a huge photo gallery.
In this last round of championship fixtures before a break for the Vitality Blast T20 tournament Surrey are playing neighbours Kent, and day two is entering its closing stages. Surrey are about where they would want to be, but not in the way they would have expected.
REGULAR WICKETS AND THEN…
Kent had been restricted to 278 in the first innings, and when Surrey reached the 100 with only one wicket gone things seemed to be going well for them, but then Kent had their best period of the game, and by the time Surrey reached 200 they were six wickets down. With a seventh wicket falling not very long after the 200 was reached Kent may have expected a significant advantage, especially with number eight Sean Abbott being Surrey’s senior remaining batter. However, Surrey moved close to parity in a stand between Abbott and Tom Lawes, and then surged clear as Abbott and Gus Atkinson cut loose. Abbott was ninth out for 78, and then with last man Daniel Worrall at the other end, Atkinson blasted three sixes in the space of a single over to complete a 42 ball half century. Surrey had tallied 362 for a first innings lead of 84. Kent are currently 20-0 in their second innings, but Crawley has already enjoyed one moment of good fortune – a massive lash out drive at the second ball of the innings met fresh air – had there been a fraction of contact then, as has happened so often in Crawley’s career the slips would have been in business. The other opener, Ben Compton, has just gone as I type this, caught by Pope after Will Jacks missed it but fortunately sent it upwards, enabling Pope to atone for the mistake. Surrey thus lead by 64 with Kent having nine second innings wickets standing.
A look t the many challenges and changes the County Championship has faced and survived in its long history. Also a large photo gallery.
Today would be the second day of the second round of county championship matches of the 2023 season, except that there is so much rain around the country that no matches are currently playing as I type this, hence I am listening to commentary on today’s IPL game. In this post I look back at the many challenges that the county championship has overcome.
A TURBULENT PRE-BIRTH
Although matches between teams bearing the names of counties have been happening for over three centuries (teams dubbed ‘Kent’ and ‘Surrey’ did battle in 1708), it wasn’t until the mid 1860s that anyone had the idea of ranking county sides, and not until 1891 that a properly organized county championship took place (so many sometimes conflicting authorities assessed counties between 1864 and 1890 that there are no fewer than seven different listings of ‘Champion Counties’ from that period. In 1845 The All England XI played it’s first match, and was to continue to exist as a travelling XI playhing matches against the odds (opposition sides of more than 11 players – 15, 18 and 22 were common numbers) for some 30 years. A split led to the formation of the United All England XI, and subsequent to that the United North of England and United South of England XIs were established. At one point it seemed that English cricket might suffer a rugby type split, with the professionals playing games against the odds in their travelling XIs and the amateurs playing 11 v 11 matches, but such was averted – the key figure of WG Grace threw his lot in the with the MCC, though he also continued to turn out for the United South of England XI – his price for supporting the establishment and thereby ensuring that English cricket would continue to be run from Lord’s and would not split was that he be allowed to make a mockery of the principles of amateurism. In the end the travelling XIs withered on the vine, and by the early 1880s the last of them had ceased to exist. Matches against odds lasted longer – England tours of Australia featured such matches for many years to come.
PROFESSIONAL LIMITED OVERS CRICKET
From 1891-1962, although the there were many changes in how the championship was calculated and who played in it (just eight counties played the first few, six more were promoted to first class status in 1895, Worcestershire in 1899, Northamptonshire in 1905 and Glamorgan in 1921), the championship stood alone. Between the 1962 and 1963 seasons two major decisions were made: the distinction between amateur and professional was abolished (there were precious few amateurs left, and even fewer whose amateur credentials would have stood up to any sort of scrutiny) and henceforth all first class cricketers would be professionals, and the first professional limited overs competition, the Gillette Cup was launched, starting in 1963. In 1969 the John Player League, matches of 40 overs per side, to be played on Sundays (the shorter allocation of overs meant the games could start in the afternoon) was introduced, and the county championship programme was reduced to 20 matches per season (28 had been standard). It was increased back to 22 and then 24. Then, four day championship cricket was introduced, Durham were given first class status, and a for a few years 17 four day matches (each of the 18 counties playing the other 17 once) became the standard. England continued to struggle, and after much controversy and debate, two more big changes happened in the year 2000, in the wake of England sinking to the bottom of the world test rankings: The County Championship was split into two divisions with promotion and relegation, and ECB central contracts were introduced, giving England control over the top players. England’s fortunes rose rapidly. Overall, although Duncan Fletcher’s policy of effectively using a central contract to bar holders of such from playing county cricket took things too far both these moves have been successful.
EVEN SHORTER FORM CRICKET
In 2003 the ECB introduced yet another competition, with innings of just 20 overs per side. Players took a while to get to grips with the approach required by this format, but it proved extremely popular.
15 years later, the ECB decided that yet another competition was needed, and opted for a quirky new format of innings comprising 100 balls each bowled in sets of five, with players allowed to bowl two sets back to back, but no more. This competition was called The Hundred, and one of its effects was to push the County Championship, now a mere 14 matches per season, further towards the margins of the season as it now ‘owns’ August, with a One Day Cup of much reduced stature taking place alongside it. The Hundred has brought much greater prominence to women’s cricket, but I do regret the ever increasing concentration of County Championship matches at the beginning and end of each season, with few games happening in high summer. However I have no worries about the future of the County Championship – it was born facing challenges, and has faced challenges at many points of its life so far, and it is still here.
An XI in which each player represented a different county. Also a large photo gallery.
With the second round of county championship 2023 fixtures starting tomorrow I set myself a little challenge for today’s blog…
THE BRIEF
The rules I set myself for this particular XI were: every player must represent a different county and all players must be England qualified. I do not for one instant claim that this team contains the 11 best cricketers produced by the counties down the years, or even that every chosen player would be described as their county’s all time number one, though all are unequivocal greats of the game.
THE XI IN BATTING ORDER
*WG Grace (Gloucestershire, right handed opening batter, right arm bowler of various types, excellent close fielder, captain). Cricket’s first superstar, absolutely dominant in his absolute pomp in the 1870s, and still capable of outstanding performances for many years after his pomp – his third and last first class triple century was scored in 1896 at the age of 48, while his last FC century was scored on his 56th birthday.
Jack Hobbs (Surrey, right handed opening batter, outstanding cover fielder, occasional medium pacer). The Master. Almost half of his vast tally of first class hundreds were scored after he had turned 40.
Johnny Tyldesley (Lancashire, right handed batter). One of the best bad wicket batters ever to play the game. In the first decade of the 20th century only two professionals were sufficiently accomplished willow wielders to be picked for England purely on the strength of their skill in that department, the other being David Denton of Yorkshire.
Philip Mead (Hampshire, left handed batter). Most runs and most centuries for a single team of anyone (48,809 and 135), 4th leading run scorer overall in FC history and 4th leading centurion as well.
Patsy Hendren (Middlesex, right handed batter, superb fielder). The second leading scorer of first class centuries (170) and third leading scorer of FC runs (57,611) in history. 74 of his centuries were scored at Lord’s, the most at single ground by anyone.
George Hirst (Yorkshire, right handed middle order batter, left arm fast medium bowler, outstanding mid off fielder). He achieved the season’s double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets 14 times, including ten times in a row. In 1904 and 1905 he had 2,000 runs to go with his 100 wickets, and in 1906, uniquely in first class history he managed the ‘double double’ – 2,385 runs and 208 wickets. This included the only ever instance of a cricketer scoring centuries in each of his sides’ innings and taking five-fors in each of the opposition’s. His Yorkshire skipper, Lord Hawke, reckoned him the greatest of all county cricketers. It was a common tactic in his day for bowlers to rub the ball in the dirt to remove the shine and make it easier to grip. Hirst, one of the pioneers of swing and cut, was also the first to make a point of shining the new ball so that it would do more.
+Les Ames (Kent, right handed batter, wicket keeper). Over 100 FC centuries, and over 1,100 FC dismissals, including an all time record 418 stumpings. His approach to batting, exemplified by the fact that he twice won the Lawrence trophy for the fastest first class hundred of the season makes him an ideal number seven in a very strong line up.
Vallance Jupp (Sussex, Northamptonshire, right handed batter, off spinner). It was after he moved north from Sussex and qualified by residence for his new county that his career took off. In the 1920s he did the double in each of eight successive seasons.
Harold Larwood (Nottinghamshire, right arm fast bowler, right handed lower order batter). Australians are wont to point out that outside the 1932-3 Ashes (where he claimed 33 cheap wickets) his test stats were ordinary, but his record for his county was outstanding.
William Mycroft (Derbyshire, left arm fast bowler, right handed tail end batter). Over 800 FC wickets at 12.09 a piece.
Eric Hollies (Warwickshire, leg spinner, right handed tail end batter). More wickets taken than runs scored in first class history. Although he did not get to play a huge amount of test cricket he did play his part in that format’s most famous ever duck “…Bradman bowled Hollies 0…bowled Hollies 0…”, which took the little Aussie’s batting average down from 101.29 to 99.94.
The XI has a formidably strong line batting line up (a run packed top five, genuine multidimensional players at six, seven and eight and a number nine who was good enough with the bat to have a test match 98 to his credit. The bowling, with Larwood, Mycroft and Hirst to bowl pace/ seam/ swing, two great and contrasting spinners in Jupp and Hollies and the redoubtable WG as sixth bowling option is if anything even more formidably strong than the batting and it would take a mighty XI to beat this one.
INVITING COMMENTS
This section is usually devoted to honourable mentions, but these would be too numerous to list in this post. I merely remind people of the criteria (ultra harsh judges would disqualify Mead because of his early attempt to make the grade at Surrey) and make my invariable point in this situations: if you have a favourite you want included please consider how their presence would alter the balance of the XI, and if they play for the same county as a current member of the XI with a different skill set how do you replace that person?
A look back at the most recent round of county championship fixtures.
Another round of County Championship fixtures reached its conclusion yesterday, and this post looks at some of these matches.
STOKES’ INNINGS
Newly appointed England test skipper Ben Stokes was playing his first match since that announcement, turning out for Durham against Worcestershire. By the time Stokes got to the crease in the Durham 1st innings the score was 360-4 and Worcestershire had already bowled about 100 overs. Stokes proceeded to blast 161 off 88 balls including taking 34 (6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4) off a single over from Josh Baker. This prompted a player turned pundit known in certain circles as FIGJAM (an acronym for F*** I’m Good – Just Ask Me) to jump on his hobby horse calling for the franchising of county cricket. He was roundly taken to task for this, and subsequent developments confirmed that his slating of the Worcestershire bowlers was misguided to put it kindly – Durham declined to enforce the follow on, declared their second innings at 170-1, and Worcestershire saved the match quite comfortably, 21 year old Jack Haynes batting through the final day for a maiden first class century (120*). Stokes bowled 30 overs across the two Worcestershire innings without taking a wicket.
FOUR CONTRASTING MATCHES
I followed parts of four of the matches via the live commentaries available on the bbc website (open a browser, enter http://www.bbc.co.uk/cricket in the address bar, then click the button for live commentaries and select your match). Initially I opted for Surrey v Northants, which ended just over a day early, following a clinical performance by Surrey. Surrey racked up 401 in their only innings, Burns scoring a century and Sam Curran, Jordan Clark and Gus Atkinson all scoring useful runs as well. It was only a good innings by Luke Procter (83*) that enabled Northamptonshire to score 194 in their first innings, and Surrey rightly enforced the follow on. The second Northamptonshire innings improved slightly on the first, but Surrey won by an innings and six runs.
My next port of call was Hampshire v Gloucestershire, where Hampshire won in spite of some curious captaincy by James Vince. Having scored 342 in their first innings Hampshire bowled Gloucestershire out 179, an advantage of 163, which in a four day match is sufficient to be able to enforce the follow on. However, even though this opportunity was combined with a further opportunity to bowl an awkward mini-session at the Gloucestershire second innings and then return refreshed after a night’s rest, Vince took the coward’s option of batting again. He then selfishly tried to protect himself from batting that evening by sending in two nightwatchers, the first of them with nine overs still to be bowled. He still had to go in before the close of play anyway. Hampshire eventually achieved a lead of 367 and Gloucestershire set off in pursuit. There were times when it looked like Vince’s bizarre captaincy was going to be punished, but in the end Gloucestershire came up almost 100 short and Vince got away with it.
Then I switched over to Lancashire v Warwickshire, where three wickets for Matt Parkinson had opened up an outside possibility of a win for the home side. In the event Briggs (28*) and Benjamin (22*) did enough for hands to be shaken an hour before the scheduled close. In view of the tall scoring that has generally been the norm so far this championship season Parkinson’s cumulative bowling figures for the season of 17-397 at 23.36 a piece (very close to his overall career record of 119 at 23.35) are excellent, and to me constitute an ironclad claim to a test spot.
Cheteshwar Pujara has been scoring huge runs for Sussex this season, and their match against Middlesex was no exception. Sussex set Middlesex a tough target of 370 in 77 overs, and Middlesex to their credit went for it, Sam Robson leading the way with 149. By the time I joined the coverage Max Holden and Martin Andersson were together with Middlesex just under 100 away from the target and ahead of the run rate. They stayed together to see the chase through and Middlesex got home with seven wickets and three overs to spare – a tremendous final day run chase by them. Incidentally as a further illustration of how good Parkinson has been this season, Sussex had a former England leg spinner in their bowling attack, Mason Crane, and on a fourth day pitch all he could produce was 16-0-81-0, whereas Parkinson’s figures at Old Trafford were 3-64 from 34 overs.
These matches all had great moments, and all showed in their different ways a county game that contrary to the rantings of certain former international players is in fine health.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
This 1886 map is on the wall of a meeting room at the Big C centre on Railway Road, which I recently visited.
An account of Warwickshire completing the red ball double by adding the Bob Willis Trophy to the County Championship.
At 11:40AM today, just 1 hour and ten minutes into the fourth of five scheduled days, and with weather interruptions shortening two of the previous three days Warwickshire completed victory over Lancashire by the crushing margin of an innings and 199 runs to add the Bob Willis Trophy to this years County Championship. This post looks back at the match.
A 440 RUN LEAD
On day 1 Lancashire were rolled for 78 (and it might have been worse – at low water mark they were 12-6) and Warwickshire replied with 120-0 (seehere). On day two Warwickshire steam rollered on, leaving 400 behind them as Rob Yates (for the fifth time this season) and Will Rhodes (for the first time of the season) each topped three figures. The sole bright spot for Lancashire lay in the bowling of Parkinson who emerged from the carnage with figures of 3-71. On day three, which through a combination of work and major weather interventions I missed the whole of, Warwickshire extended their innings to 518, Parkinson claiming a fourth wicket along the way. His figures in FC cricket are now 102 wickets at 23.35, comfortably the cheapest average of any current English spinner have 100 or more FC wickets. While Leach has an unquestionable claim on the no1 spinners position for the Ashes, Parkinson should also be in the party, along with Liam Patterson-White of Nottinghamshire. Lancashire then stumbled to 171-6 in their second innings.
THE LAST RITES
There was some overnight rain in London, but these days Thomas Lord’s third ground is one of the best draining cricket venues in the world, and play started bang on time. Although the Lancashire batters provided a little entertainment there was never any doubt about the eventual result. In the end it was Liam Norwell who had the distinction of claiming the final wicket, Tom Bailey top edging an attempted pull and Michael Burgess doing well get under the catch. It was his third wicket of the innings, a distinction he shared with left arm tweaker Danny Briggs, while Miles, Johal the debutant and Bresnan each had one wicket. Balderson scored 65 for Lancashire. The first Bob Willis Trophy final between Somerset and Essex last year was drawn, with the trophy going to Essex for being ahead on first innings. This year, Warwickshire, for whom ‘big Bob‘ played for many years became the first county to win this match outright, and they did so mightily impressively.
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