365 Sporting Days

It’s here! Cricket is available pretty much all year round on the TV if you have the right channels and I’ve made use of most of those showing cricket via Sky. But, today, the real thing started, the County Championship got underway in England. That is the start of the season on April 5th, that was bound to bring some weather casualties, but it’s also brought some runs. I’ve been trying to Tweet the good performances today, but thought a quick round up might be in order, with some highlights if applicable, a mention for batsmen scoring over 50 and bowlers taking 5 or more wickets. (with photos where possible, albeit in the wrong colour clothing and with the wrong badge too)

There were 3 matches planned in each Division –

• Somerset v Kent
• Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire
• Hampshire v Essex

• Sussex v Leicestershire
• Northamptonshire v Middlesex
• Derbyshire v Durham

The match at Taunton saw not a single ball bowled, a frustrating first day back in Division 1 for Kent, the other 5 matches all saw pretty much a full day. There was only one toss across the 5 matches, Derbyshire won their toss and elected to bat, in the other 4 games the visitors elected to bowl.

Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire – Nottinghamshire 303 for 4

• Ben Slater – Opening at 1 – scored 76 runs from 163 balls in 192 minutes
• Joe Clarke – on his Notts debut batting at 4 scored 109* from 181 balls in 240 minutes

Hampshire v Essex – Hampshire 324 for 5

• Aiden Markram – on debut for Hampshire, batting at 3 scored 63 from 96 balls in 130 minutes
• Sam Northeast – (my favourite player outside of Essex) batting at 3, scored 94* from 181 balls in 240 minutes
• Rilee Rossouw – batting at 5 made 76 from 66 balls in 84 minutes

So, not a day for the bowlers in Division 1, things went slightly differently in Division 2.

Sussex v Leicestershire – Sussex All Out 173, Leicestershire 131 for 5 –

It figures that a bowler features here. Tom Taylor took 6 for 47 in 16 overs, a very good day at the office for him!

Derbyshire v Durham – Derbyshire 197 All Out, Durham 41 for 3

• Harvey Hosein – batting at 6 for Derbyshire scored 78 from 172 balls in 237 minutes before being run out.
• The wickets were shared around so no 5fers

There were 5 MCC University matches going on today too, with the highlight of the day for me happening in the match between Loughborough University v Lancashire

• Haseeb Hameed – batting at 3 made 202 from 313 balls in 358 minutes.

Although this isn’t a County game it was a memorable day for Hameed he’s had a torrid time with the bat since he broke a finger in India, I’m sure I won’t be alone in hoping this kick starts a successful summer for him! As Sam Northeast is batting against my team Essex, I’d love to see him get his century in the morning then being out 🙂