365 Sporting Days

6 matches today and as I look down the list I can see that 5 of them were decided by the Duckworth Lewis Stern Method. I tend to write these matches up in the order they’re posted on the BBC, which means my torture can come last. One of the benefits of the D/L method is that the result isn’t blatantly obvious at first look.

Yorkshire 308 for 2 v Derbyshire 224 for 3

Steven Patterson won the toss for Yorkshire and elected to bat. Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Adam Lyth opened and out in 157 for the first wicket. Lyth had batted for 91 minutes, faced 60 balls and scored 78. His opening partner scored 79 at a slower rate and was out with the score on 167. David Willey came in at 3, Harry Brook at 4 and the pair put on 141 before rain stopped play and finished Yorkshire’s innings. Willey hit 72 from 49 balls and Brook 59 from 40, that must’ve been some entertaining batting! 308 in 40 overs was some going.

Derbyshire were set 225 to win in 22 overs, they had a horror start as they fell to 10 for 2, then along came their Captain Fantastic, Billy Godleman he had 87. 116 and 106 to his name and added another century. He batted for 107 minutes and scored 107 from 62 balls, hitting 8 Fours and 6 Sixes. He’s in the form of his life!

Leus du Plooy came in at 4 and helped put on 135 for the 3rd wicket, he made 75 from 37 balls, out doing the 2 big hitters from the first innings, his strike rate was 202.70. There was some urgency in the Derbyshire innings as Matt Critchley scored 33 from 23 balls. They needed 2 form the last ball but managed just the one and Yorkshire were involved in their second tied match in the competition.

• Billy Godleman – 107* from 62 Balls – Strike Rate 172.58

Warwickshire 244 for 8 v Durham 211 for 3

Cameron Bancroft won the toss for Durham and put Warwickshire in to bat. Warwickshire had their full 50 overs to bat, while 3 batsmen made 50 or over 244 was unlikely to prove sufficient. Sam Hain in at 3 made 50 from 73 balls, Tim Ambrose 62 from 89 and Chris Woakes 50 from 45 balls, the only runs scorer with a strike rate of over 100.

Rain had it’s say at Edgbaston and Durham were set a target of 211 in 36 overs. Durham had 3 batsmen in the runs in common with Warwickshire, but all 3 had strike rates of over 100. Graham Clark, opening, made 66 from 62 balls. Alex Lees, who’s enjoying a revival at Durham made 78 from 69 balls. Gareth Harte batting at 5 scored 51 from 49 balls. That all adds up to Durham winning this truncated match in 33.4 overs.

Durham have won 3 of their 4 matches, Warwickshire are yet to find a win, they were however involved in Yorkshire’s first tied match giving them their solitary point.

Nottinghamshire 433 for 7 v Leicestershire 259 All Out

Paul Horton won the toss for Leicestershire and put Notts in to bat. Notts had scored over 1000 runs in their first 3 matches. Joe Clarke and Chris Nash put on 108 for the first wicket and set the tone for the innings. The top 6 batsmen all scored 50 or over and the lowest strike rate was 105.66. Ben Duckett top scored with 86 from 81 balls, with captain Steven Mullaney close behind him with 81, but from 41 balls! Mullaney’s 10 Fours contributed to the 44 scored by that top 6. Notts 433 is the highest score so far in the tournament.

Leics started well in reply, they were 152 for 2 when rain stopped play, they were set a revised total of 347 from 37 overs. Harry Dearden top scored with 74 from 70 balls, his opening partner made 59 from 43 balls.

The rain break did Leics no favours and they were bowled out in 33.2 overs for 259 giving Notts their 4th win by 87 runs.

Northamptonshire 234 All Out v Worcestershire 254 for 9

Alex Wakely won the toss for Northants and put Worcs in to bat. Worcs lost 3 quick wickets and four themselves on 23 for 3; Hamish Rutherford who opened needed someone to stay with him. Captain Brett D’Oliveira batted for just under an hour and formed a partnership of 84 with Rutherford. Ben Cox managed 37 minutes and Josh Tongue 39, they gave Rutherford the time to score his second century in the competition, he batted for 3 hours and made 126 from 134 balls. This was the only match not affected by rain, Worcestershire batted for their full 50 overs.

Northants had lost both their openers by the 7th over and were 41 for 2. Josh Cobb with 44 and Alex Wakely with 46 steadied the innings but both were out by the 32nd over and their team were 130 for 4. Blessing Muzarabani (I’ve been dying to type his name!) was the last to lose his wicket for 4 and Northants were bowled out for 234, giving Worcs a narrow win by 20 runs.

• Hamish Rutherford – 126 from 134 Balls – Strike Rate 94.03

Hampshire 331 for 8 v Gloucestershire 246 All Out

Chris Dent won the toss for Gloucs and put Hampshire in to bat. In this match we have the innings of the tournament so far, that wasn’t Tom Alsop who was out for a Duck having faced just 7 balls. The star of this set of games and actually of the whole lot so far ids James Vince, he came in at 3 batted for 193 minutes, he faced 154 balls and scored a huge 190! He was out on the 5th ball of the 50th over, leaving Mason Crane to face 1 ball, from which he scored a 4.

In reply Gloucs found themselves on 38 for 3. Hants used 7 bowlers and they shared the wickets between them. Gloucs middle order put on 149 between them but they fell well short as they were all out for 246, giving Hants a win by 71 runs by the D/L method.

• James Vince – 190 from 154 Balls Strike Rate 123.38

James Vince has a great idea to replace the toss – from Who’s Who – Instead of the coin toss have a catching competition between two nominated players from each team.

Somerset 353 for 5 v Essex 154 for 6

Ryan ten Doeschate won the toss and put Somerset in to bat. I’ve been watching out for Azhar Ali in this tournament, and it’s typical that today, against my team he scored runs! After Tom Banton was out for 1 putting Somerset on 3 for 1, Azhar and Peter Trego put on 217 for the second wicket. Azhar made 110 from 93 balls and Trego 141 from 101 balls. Great stuff, other than the fact those runs were scored against my team. James Hildreth batting at 5 hit a quick 40 from 18 balls, a strike rate of 222.22. The only bright light for the Essex bowlers came from Peter Siddle, he too 4 for 60 in his 8 overs. Interestingly Simon Harmer, Essex’s front line spinner bowled 3 overs and shipped 34 runs, at an average of 11.33.

This match was an on/off one with the rain stopping play more than once. Essex were 24 for 2 as Alastair’s less than perfect start to the summer saw him back in the pavilion with just 15 runs to his name, Paul Walter had been out for 1. Tom Westley made 32 from 26 balls but Essex were off the pace throughout. Dan Lawrence hit 51 from 33 balls and Ryan ten Doeshate 35 from 14 balls. In the 17 overs Essex had at their disposal they scored 154, losing the match by 36 runs.

• Azhar Ali – 110 from 93 Balls – Strike Rate 118 .28
• Peter Trego – 141 from 101 Balls – Strike Rate 139.60