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.
A look at some of the absurd scoring permitted by the use of the Kookaburra ball in the English county championship, with particular reference to Surrey v Durham. Also a photo gallery.
If any good is going to come out of a round of championship matches that is producing a series of ridiculous scores it will be that the resultant fiesta for Frindalls* will finally deal the death blow to the nonsense of the Kookaburra ball being used in English county championship matches. This post looks at the match I have been following, which has seen the most absurd scoring of the lot.
SURREY v DURHAM
Durham won the toss and chose to bowl first, paying more attention to the fact that The Oval is generally a good ground for bowling first than the fact that this round of matches is being played with Kookaburra balls. It was soon apparent that that the latter was by far the more important. Burns and Sibley started with a stand of 95 before Burns and Ryan Patel fell in quick succession. Then Sam Curran played a superb innings, scoring 108 and helping the third wicket to put on 170. That was a mere curtain raiser for the fourth wicket stand between Dominic Sibley and Dan Lawrence. By the close of play yesterday their stand was worth 129 and Surrey at 407-3 looked in total control. By lunch time today they had motored on to 597-3 – 190-0 in the session. At 612, having just beaten his career best Lawrence fell for 178. That brought Will Jacks to the crease, and he was soon scoring rapidly without really appearing to be trying to do so. Sibley passed 300, and thoughts of the all time Surrey record individual score were passing through minds (357 not out by Bobby Abel against Somerset in 1899). The score had reached 745 when Sibley was caught by Colin Ackerman off Will Rhodes for 305, the seventh highest ever individual score for Surrey and easily a record for Surrey v Durham (Mark Butcher with 191 had been the previous holder). Jacks became the fourth centurion of the innings, taking a mere 85 balls to reach the mark. In the run up to tea Surrey lost several wickets, and when Lawes was eighth out the interval was taken, with the score 803-8. Surrey, perhaps aware of the records still in the offing or perhaps in a show of contempt for the use of the Kookaburra, batted on after the interval. A six by Will Jacks took the score to 814-8, Surrey’s highest ever first class score and the highest first class score ever amassed against Durham, beating the 810-4 by Warwickshire when Brian Lara scored 501 not out. Jacks also hit the following ball for six and then got out to the next, and finally at 820-9 Surrey called halt to the slaughter. George Drissell, a 26 year old off spinner who had failed to make the grade at Gloucestershire, had 1-247 from 45 overs, the most expensive innings figures in County Championship history (the all time record is Arthur Mailey’s 4-362 for New South Wales against Victoria, while the record in England is left arm wrist spinner Chuck Fleetwood-Smith’s 1-298 when England piled up 903-7, also at this ground, against Australia in 1938).
SOUTHAMPTON STUPIDITY
Adam Hose, once of Warwickshire and now of Worcestershire, does not have a stellar first class record. Even after the ridiculous events at the Utilita Bowl yesterday he has an FC average of below 30. This guy, who is barely even in the average FC batter class, plundered 266 off just 253 balls. With Jake Libby, a solid opener, also topping 200 Worcestershire declared around teatime today on 679-7. There have been many other big scores around the country. The only match to be progressing on something approaching normal county championship lines is at Chesterfield, where Lancashire amassed 367 and Derbyshire are 259-9 in reply.
*William Howard ‘Bill’ Frindall was Test Match Special’s statistician for about the first quarter-century of my cricket listening life.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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.
Jack Hobbs (Surrey, right handed opening bat, occasional right arm medium pacer).
John Edrich (Surrey, left handed opening bat)
Ken Barrington (Surrey, right handed batter, occasional leg spinner)
Graham Thorpe (Surrey, left handed batter, occasional right arm medium pacer)
Peter May (Surrey, right handed batter).
+Ben Foakes (Surrey, right handed batter, wicket keeper)
*Sammy Woods (Somerset, right handed batter, right arm fast bowler, captain)
‘Farmer’ White (Somerset, left arm orthodox spinner, right handed batter)
Joel Garner (Somerset, West Indies, right arm fast bowler, right handed batter)
Jim Laker (Surrey, off spinner, right handed batter)
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).
A look at the state of play as the current round of championship matches approaches a conclusion, and a large photo gallery.
The current round of county championship fixtures is drawing to a conclusion. Some games are already over, either through definite results being achieved or through weather induced abandonments. This post has a look round some of the grounds.
ESSEX v WORCESTERSHIRE
This match did not make it as far as the lunch interval, but did make it further than looked like being the case at one point. Worcestershire resumed on 185-6, still 110 short of victory. Jamie Porter bowled superbly, and at 202-9, with 93 required to win it looked done and dusted. Ethan Brookes batted superbly, with number 11 Jacob Duffy blocking every ball he was left to face, and the target started to come down. Brookes was in sight of a century and the deficit was down to 28 when Porter took a low return catch to claim the final wicket, his sixth scalp of the innings and eighth of the match. Brookes stood there, but eventually the umpires told him to go and the match was confirmed as over. The final margin was 28 runs, and Brookes, in a match where almost everyone had found batting a challenge had scored 88, almost half of them in sixes. While Porter was the best bowler on either side in this match the key contribution for Essex was Paul Walter’s second innings century, which helped Essex to top 300 in that innings and left Worcestershire a target that was just too tough for them. Brookes is definitely one to watch for the future, as is young Essex all rounder Noah Thain. Paul Walter has been a revelation this season after Essex moved him up to open – while his 104 in this match was his first century of the season he had mad big contributions in both Essex’s previous matches.
THREE WAY BATTLE AT LORD’S
Middlesex have had by the far the better of things against Glamorgan, but the third participant there, the weather, may be having the final say – the players were taken off for bad light just before tea with Middlesex only 39 runs from victory with nine wickets standing, and since then the threatened rain has actually materialized which may well have saved Glamorgan.
THE WHITE FEATHER
This week’s cowards are Gloucestershire, who, in full control against Kent, batted on and on until their lead was 410 and there was almost zero possibility of them bowling Kent out a second time.
A DELAYED START
Nottinghamshire must have been worried that they would not get the chance to attempt to take the last four Warwickshire wickets to seal an innings victory but that game has just got underway. Five overs have been bowled since the resumption, 31 more are possible and Nottinghamshire still need four wickets. There is an even more delayed start scheduled – Lancashire v Leicestershire will get underway at 4:30PM with Leicestershire needing seven wickets to win it.
CONFIRMED DRAWS
Yorkshire v Durham and Derbyshire v Northamptonshire have been confirmed as draws, Sussex v Surrey and Somerset v Hampshire are surely destined to go the same way.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Today being damp has brought the snails out in force…
A ‘public libraries’ 50p in circulation, currently in my wallet.Ann uncirculated version from an FDC in my possession……and one in a presentation box, also in my possession
A look at the match between Essex and Worcestershire that is now approaching a conclusion and a photo gallery.
Another round of County Championship matches got underway on Friday. I missed the first two sessions of Friday, the beginning of Saturday and the post tea session of Saturday due to various commitments, but have been following the action when able to. My focus this round has been on Essex v Worcestershire, and it has been a fine match.
A PITCH ON WHICH NO ONE IS REALLY ‘IN’
The pitch at Chelmsford has been offering something to the bowlers all the way through this match. There were no individual 50+ scores in the first two innings (Essex 179, Worcestershire 202). By the time I had to leave at tea yesterday Paul Walter had reached the first 50 of the match and was looking as near to settled as any batter had managed on that surface. I was to find out when I checked on what had happened on my return that he had completed a century and that youngster Noah Thain (a native of Cambridgeshire, which has produced some mighty cricketers over the years, most notably Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward both of Surrey) was closing in on a 50 of his own. This morning Thain completed his half century, his first such score in first class cricket. He did not add many more, going for 54, but the Essex tail wagged more than a little, Harmer and especially Snater who got to within sight of a 50 of his own batting well for the home team. In the end Essex had amassed 317, at least 100 above par for this surface. It was expected that there would be time for two overs of the Worcestershire second innings before the lunch interval, but Porter dismissed Jake Libby with the second ball of the innings, and in the end that wicket extended the first over to a sufficient extent that Worcestershire did not have to face another before lunch. Through the afternoon session Essex kept picking up wickets. Kashif Ali did manage to become the first Worcestershire batter to reach an individual 50 but had not advanced his score from that point when Harmer, on for an exploratory over before the tea interval, got him. Brett D’Oliveira and Matthew Waite then defied the bowlers for a time, but just as I started this post D’Oliveira was caught by Walter off Porter. As things stand at the moment Worcestershire are 171-6, needing 124 more to win. Though Essex, thanks largely to Walter with that century, are heavy favourites this match has been an absorbing contest, helped to be so by the fact that batters have had to work hard for their runs and bowlers have got full rewards for doing the right things. Kasun Rajitha, the first Sri Lankan to play for Essex, took a five-for in the first Worcestershire innings. Sam Cook has been rested for this game on the advice of the ECB, which tells me that an England cap is coming for him, as it should be given his first class record (318 wickets in FC cricket at 19.77 a piece).
PHOTOGRAPHS
This gallery starts with two pictures from Friday, then a number from yesterday, and a few from today to round things out (I have several other galleries ready to go should I choose to use them)…
I spotted this red admiral on the walk home from Boal Quay Car Park after the seal trip on Friday.An example of why I like having dandelions growing in my back yard.
aspiblog 