365 Sporting Days

Good Friday and 8 games were played around the country, the match I was at – Essex v Middlesex had a really good crowd. We have member parking and it was full by 9:30 for an 11am start, then we had queues to get into the ground. Isn’t it funny what can happen when you put a match on a day that people can attend. Accepting that the glorious weather contributed!

What did the toss bring today and who were the star men?

Warwickshire 270 for 8 v Yorkshire 270 for 9

Steven Patterson won the toss for Yorkshire and put Warwickshire in to bat, by my criteria (100 or over for a batsman, 5 or over for a bowler) there were no star men in this match. However after Warwicks made 270 for 8 in their 50 overs, Yorkshire made 270 for 9 in theirs, a Tied Match! Which is very unusual! Jonny Tattersall (WK) batting at 6 for Yorkshire scored 79 and Tim Bresnan batting at 7 made 89, they put on 138 for the 6th wicket, noteworthy but not for my list.

Nottinghamshire 417 for 7 v Lancashire 406 for 9

Steven Mullaney won the toss for Notts and elected to bat, with Ben Slater and Joe Clarke opening, they had a first wicket partnership of 197, Clarke had scored 139 of those runs. Slater and Tom Moores (WK) both scored 74 helping Notts to 417 for 7 on their 50 overs.

Lancs found themselves on 13 for 1 then 113 for 3 in chasing what was a big total. Steven Croft who came in at 3 made 110 from 84 balls and was in a partnership of 142 for the 4th wicket. with his captain Dane Vilas who himself made 166 from 100 balls. The effect of that partnership was a total of 406 for 9 with a couple of 20 plus contributions. Notts won by just 11 runs, hence the Trent Bridge crowd saw 823 runs! Amongst this Lancs innings James Pattinson took 5 wickets for 61 in his 10 overs.

• Joe Clarke (Notts) – 139 from 99 Balls – Strike Rate 140.4
• Steven Croft (Lancs) – 110 from 84 Balls – Strike Rate 134.14
• Dane Vilas (Lancs) – 166 from 100 Balls – Strike Rate 166.0
• James Pattinson (Notts) – 5 for 61

Durham 234 for 4 v Leicestershire 233 for 9

Paul Horton won the toss for Leicestershire and elected to bat, that didn’t work out too well for them, they made 233 for 9 in their 50 overs, Tom Taylor top scored with 59. Durham who controversially appointed Cameron Bancroft as their captain this summer got their moneys worth from the Australian today, he scored 118 from 117 balls, getting 50 % of the runs needed himself. Durham cruised to 234 for 4 in 45.3 overs, giving Durham the win by 6 wickets.

• Cameron Bancroft – 118 from 117 Balls – Strike Rate 100.85

Derbyshire 268 for 6 v Northants 215 All Out

Billy Godleman won the toss for Derbyshire and elected to bat. Godleman opened with Luis Reece who was out for a duck in the first over, the captain top scored with 87 with his being the last wicket to fall as Derbyshire finish their 50 overs on 268 for 6. Northants had a fairly disastrous innings, falling to 113 for 8 before a 9th wicket stand of 70, they were bowled out for 215. Derbyshire won by 53 runs.

Somerset 358 for 9 v Kent 94 All Out

Adam Rouse won the toss for Kent and put Somerset in to bat, that was a choice that most definitely didn’t work. Tom Banton (WK) opened the batting with Pakistan cricketer Azhar Ali, Azhar was out for 3, but Banton went on to score 107 from 79 balls. Lewis Gregory made 51 and Craig Overton 66, with a few scores in the 20’s Somerset made 358 for 9 in their 50 overs.

You can see by the scores above that Kent fared badly with the bat, Alex Blake top scored with 24 as they were bowled out for 94. Craig Overton took 5 for 18 on 7 overs. Kent lasted for a mere 27 overs. Somerset won by 264 runs.

• Tom Banton – 107 from 79 Balls – Strike Rate 135.44
• Craig Overton – 5 for 1

Hampshire 293 for 3 v Glamorgan 292 for 9

Chris Cook won the toss for Glamorgan and elected to bat, they fell to 28 for 3, Billy Root and David Lloyd put on 100 for the 4th wicket. Both Lloyd and Graham Wagg made 68 with Glamorgan reaching 292 for 9. In response Hampshire made the 293 required for the win losing only 3 wickets. Top Alsop who opened was not out 130 from 115 Balls and James Vince at 3 made 95. Hampshire won by 7 wickets within 41.5 overs.

• Tom Alsop – 130 from 115 Balls – Strike Rate 113.04

Essex 278 for 8 v Middlesex 366 for 8

Ryan ten Doeschate won the toss and put Middlesex in to bat (a few photos from this one as I was there). While Dawid Malan didn’t reach his century, being run out, he anchored the Middlesex innings, making 95. Other than for the 1st, 3rd and 8th wicket each pair made 50 at least, which took them to 366 for 8.

In reply only achieved that for the second wicket as Varun Chopra who scored 127 from 127 balls and Tom Westley who made 77 put on 158 for that wicket. Once Westley was out caught and bowled Nathan Sowter the Essex batsman really didn’t look like making the required total. Sowter took 6 for 62 in 9.2 overs after a shaky start. Middlesex won by 38 runs.

• Varun Chopra – 127 from 127 Balls – Strike Rate 100
• Nathan Sowter – 6 for 62.

Sussex 278 for 8 v Surrey 274 for 9

Rory Burns won the toss for Surrey and elected to bat; they’d had the disaster innings of 88 All out in round 1. They fared better at Hove, after opener Jason Roy was out for 9 with the score on 20 for 1 they finished on 278 for 8 after their 50 overs. With Pakistan bowler Mir Hamza taking 4 for 43.

David Wiese coming in at 6 for Sussex made 92 from 81 balls helping Sussex to 274 for 8 and win by 2 wickets.

So, there was a mix of results in this round, winning the toss went right for some, wrong for others. But all in all this was a good day for County Cricket!