365 Sporting Days

4 matches today on the day the weather decided to be more April like than Summer like. That saw all 4 matches decided by the mystery that is the Duckworth Lewis method, I’m not expecting many Star Men from today’s proceedings.

4 matches today on the day the weather decided to be more April like than Summer like. That saw all 4 matches decided by the mystery that is the Duckworth Lewis method, I’m not expecting many Star Men from today’s proceedings.

Worcestershire 152 for 6 v Durham 114 for 4

Brett D’Oliveira won the toss for Worcestershire and put Durham in to bat. Their innings only lasted for 27.2 overs before rain had its say. New Road isn’t the best place for rain fall, the ground can resemble a pond at times. But for today play was able to restart. Alex Lees scored 52 of Durham’s 114 runs and was not out when the rain intervened.

Worcestershire were set 152 runs to win in 24 overs. Worcs made that 152 in 22.2 overs, they managed to lose 6 wickets in doing so however. There was a clear sense of urgency to the innings, 5 batsmen had a strike rate of 100 and over. Hamish Rutherford top scored with 33 from 22 balls. A win for Worcestershire by 4 wickets D/L method.

Leicestershire 312 for 8 v Derbyshire 266 for 3

Billy Godleman won the toss for Derbyshire and put Leicestershire in to bat. There were spots of rain in Essex when I went out to grab some lunch, the middle of the country clearly had more than a few drops. However Leics batted for the full 50 overs. They were 82 for 3 after 16.5 overs; Colin Ackerman came in at 4, he batted for just under 2 hours, faced 112 balls and made 119 runs. 5 batsmen scored 23 or over helping Leics to their 312 for 8.

The bad weather in the area meant Derbyshire were set a revised total of 266 from 39 overs. Things didn’t get off to the best of starts for the home team when Luis Reece was run out for 17, Leics were 30 for 1. Having read a match report it seems this was what I like to call a comedy run out, where both players ended up standing at the same end, Reece was the unlucky man.

Billy Godleman who survived that run out and Wayne Madsen who came in at 3 put on 105 before Madsen was trapped LBW by Ackerman, he’d made 60. Godleman had scored 116 in a losing cause against Notts, this time round he scored 106 from 115 balls. He formed a second partnership with Leus du Plooy of 125 before being run out with 3 balls to spare and 6 runs needed. du Plooy was well settled and hit a 4 and ran 2 to steer his team to the win, he finished not out on 73 from 52 balls,

• Colin Ackerman – 119 from 112 Balls – Strike Rate 106.25
• Billy Godleman – 106 from 115 Balls – Strike Rate 92.17

Lancashire 164 for 2 v Northamptonshire 269 All Out

Dane Vilas won the toss for Lancashire and out Northamptonshire in to bat. The first 2 matches above hadn’t produced a bowler for my Star Man list, this one certainly did. Saqib Mahmood, came through the Lancashire Academy, he took 6 for 37 in his 10 overs, things weren’t looking good for Northants as they fell to 26 for 3. Ricardo Vasconcelos scored 50 forming a partnership of 76 with Rob Keogh who made 66, that 66 didn’t include a single boundary! He was part of a second decent partnership (89) with the West Indies captain Jason Holder. Holder scored 72 from 58 balls which must have entertained those watching, he hit seven 4’s and two 6’s.

Northants batted through their 50 overs, their total of 269 seeming rather low, especially when good old Duckworth Lewis was going to decide the game.

Lancashire made a good start with a partnership of 130 for the first wicket, Keaton Jennings had made 63 before he was run out. Haseeb his opening partner made 65 from 80 balls before he was caught by Adam Rossington from the bowling of Luke Proctor. Glenn Maxwell (Australian in practice) hit 20 from 16 balls and Dane Vilas 10 from 3. 28.4 overs in and Lancs were 164 for 2, at this point Duckworth Lewis kicked in and they won by 45 runs.

• Saqib Mahmood (Lancs) – 6 for 37

Sussex 62 for 4 v Somerset 283 for 8

Ben Brown won the toss for Somerset and elected to bat. Azhar Ali opening made 68, Tom Banton his opening partner was out for 7 and Peter Trego for a Duck. Azhar formed a partnership of 101 with James Hildreth who finished his innings as the top scorer for Somerset with 81 from 92 balls. To Abell contributed 44 and Lewis Gregory 50, Somerset batted for their 50 overs finishing on 283 for 8.

Sussex’s innings was rain affected, it was also losing quick wickets affected, they fell to 48 for 4 in the 13th over. When rain stopped play they were well short of the required runs via the Duckworth-Lewis- Stern method. I had no idea there was a Stern! You learn something new every day! Somerset won by 68 runs (I literally have no idea just how that DLS works!)

Weather affected cricket didn’t make for many notable performances, let’s hope there aren’t too many more in need of that Duckworth-Lewis-Stern thing!