INTRODUCTION

In this post I cover the outcomes of yesterday’s matches and make halfway predictions on today’s matches.

YESTERDAY’S MATCHES

I made predictions about two games yesterday:

• Middlesex v Sussex – Sussex 298 (48 overs), Middlesex 176 all out (33-3 overs), Sussex won by 122 runs.
  Luke Wright’s magnificent innings seemed to have taken this game right away from Middlesex, and so it proved. Middlesex’s effort was surprisingly spineless. Eskinazi top scored with 42. Mir Hamza had 3-43, George Garton 2-35, and left-arm spinner Danny Briggs 2-11 from five overs.
• Kent v Pakistan – Pakistan 358-7 from 50 overs, Kent 258 all out (44.1 overs) Pakistan won by 100 runs.
  Kent fared respectably faced with a huge total from Pakistan but were never in the contest. Alex Blake made 89, but did not have enough support, the next best effort being 49 from Ollie Robinson. Yasir Shah took three wickets but also got smashed for 90 runs in his ten overs. Fakhar Zaman, Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali all took two wickets, and the first Ashraf was outstandingly economical as well (just 16 conceded in five overs).

Thus I called both correctly, meaning that my overall record now stands at 23/36…

TODAY’S PREDICTIONS

Unfortunately Leicestershire’s incompetence has denied me the opportunity to make on prediction as that match is already over – I will cover it at the end of this section. Here are the remainder:

• Worcestershire v Warwickshire – Warwickshire 315-5 from 50 overs
  Sam Hain’s 161 was the backbone of a decent total for Warwickshire (offspinning allrounder Liam Banks was second with 44). However, Worcetsershire have made some big totals already this season and I back them to chase this one down. There were no notable bowling efforts from Worcestershire.
  
• Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire – Yorkshire 213 all out from 42.2 overs
  A poor total for Yorkshire, and I fully expect Nottinghamshire to cruise home with time to spare. 63 for Adam Lyth and 39 from Harry Brook were the best batting efforts. Jake Ball with 3-32 was the most successful bowler.
• Gloucestershire v Somerset – Somerset 242-9 from 50 overs
  Not a huge total for Somerset, but given their bowlers and their record thus far I fully expect them to defend it. Lewis Gregory top scored with 52 (if the Somerset bowlers do what I expect he will be serious candidate for player of the match), and there were forties from Azhar Ali and Tom Abell. Benny Howell with 3-45 and Tom Smith with 2-36 were the pick of the Gloucestershire bowlers.
• Glamorgan v Surrey – Glamorgan 323-7 from 50 overs.
  A big total for Glamorgan, and one that shoukld be enough even for them to be able to defend it. Billy Root, younger brother of England test skipper Joe Root, made 113 not out and Marchant De Lange 58 not out. Morne Morkel took 3-47 for Surrey.
• Essex v Hampshire – Essex 341-6 from 50 overs
  A fine total by Essex, and one that they should defend without too much trouble. The leading Essex scores were 89 a piece from Ravi Bopara and Ryan Ten Doeschate (the latter’s coming off just 53 balls), while Tom Westley hit 48. In amongst Essex’s revenge for their county championship humiliation by Hampshire at the start odf the season bits ‘n’ pieces man Liam Dawson took 2-39 from his 10 overs.
• Durham v Derbyshire – Derbyshire 255-8 from 50 overs
  A so-so effort from Derbyshire, and the fact that Critchley (49 not out) and Lace (48) were the top scorers leads to me to suspect that Durham will chase these down. No one had stand out figures among the Durham bowlers, although Liam Trevaskis was once again the most economical with 1-21 from five overs. 

So my predicitions are Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Glamorgan, Essex and Durham, which leaves the one I was denied an opportunity to predict:

Lancashire v Leicestershire – Leicestershire 80 all out from 37 overs, Lancashire 83-1 from 19 overs, Lancashire won by nine wickets with 186 balls.
A disgraceful show from Leicestershire. Harry Dearden made 20 and Ben Mike 18, and those were the only double figure scores for Leicestershire, while Saqib Mahmood took 5-14 to continue a good season fo him, Liam Hurt, whose profile on cricinfo remains very incomplete, though I can reveal from Lancashire’s own records that he is a 24 year old right arm seamer, took 2-24. Although Jennings contrived to lose his wicket to Dieter Klein, Steven Croft (37 not out) and Haseeb Hameed (29 not out) took Lancashire to a ridiculously easy victory. Leicestershire should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for this capitulation. 

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…