365 Sporting Days

Yesterday was a Bank Holiday Monday, there were no Royal London Cup games. Today is a Tuesday, a work day, today there were 5 Royal London Cup games. Go figure! Again I was lucky enough to be at one, cue photos of players in red shirts!

Durham 229 All Out v Lancashire 230 for 7

Dane Vilas won the toss for Lancashire and put Durham in to bat. Durham were 19 for 2 in the 7th over. Looking down the scorecard we do have a Star Man in Alex Lees, who’s found his firm at Durham , he made 115 from 127 balls, the next highest score was Ben Raine with 29. That was highly unlikely to produce a winning score!

However Lancashire took their time to get to the 230 they needed, they lost Keaton Jennings to a run out on the 5th ball of the first over after he’d made one run. I can only imagine what sort of mix up that must’ve been! Steven Croft was the anchor in an innings that also saw batsmen struggling; he made 99 from 122 balls, a strike rate of 81.15. However there was enough in the way of back up to see Lancashire through to the win with 4 balls to spare. A win for Lancashire by 3 wickets.

• Alex Lees – 115 from 127 Balls – Strike Rate 90.55

Derbyshire 289 for 5 v Warwickshire 288 for 7

Harvey Hosein won the toss for Derbyshire and put Warwicks in to bat. I’m getting about obsessed with strike rates (SR) at the moment and this is a game where that stat tells the story of the game. Warwicks lost only 7 wickets in their 50 overs, but they had 7 batsmen with an SR of under 100, the 2 who were over that made just 30 between them. Alex Thomson top scored with 68 from 78 balls as Warwicks made 288 for 7.

In reply Derbyshire had a first wicket stand of 61, before Wayne Madsen in at 3 top scored with 119 from 104 balls. 4 of the 7 batsmen who featured had SR’s of over 100 and Derbyshire won the game with 3.3 overs to spare. A win for Derbyshire by 5 wickets

• Wayne Madsen – 119 from 104 Balls – Strike Rate 114.42

Surrey 254 All Out v Hampshire 307 All Out

Rory Burns won the toss for Surrey and put Hampshire in to bat. Tom Alsop was out fr a Duck as Hants fell to 11 for 1. Aiden Markram his opening partner made 88 from 90 balls and steadied the ship with Sam Northeast after James Vince was out for 28. Markram was part of a partnership of 77 with Liam Dawson who went on to score 108 from 93 balls. Hampshire scored 307 and were bowled out in 49.2 overs.

Surrey haven’t enjoyed a great tournament so far, they had a good start with a partnership of 66 for the first wicket. Mark Stoneman top scored with 70 from 68 balls, but that opening partnership of 66 was the highest of the innings and Surrey were bowled out for 254 in 46.2 overs. A win for Hants by 53 runs.

• Liam Dawson – 108 from 93 Balls – Strike Rate 116.13

Gloucestershire 257 All Out v Glamorgan 331 for 7

Chris Cooke won the toss for Glamorgan and elected to bat. That proved tp be a good decision both for him personally and for his team. Cooke in at 3, scored 161 from 127 balls batting for 157 minutes. He made the biggest score of the day and shared the biggest partnership of 234 with Billy Root, who made 98. He’s another player who’s moved and found success so far this season. That sort fo partnership will generally be a match winning one I imagine. Glamorgan made 331 for 7 from their 50 overs.

Gloucestershire’s scorecard in reply doesn’t make for good reading if you’re form that neck of the woods, they were 96 for 6 by the 26th over. A partnership of 48 between Jack Taylor and Ryan Higgins spared some blushes; Taylor top scored with 75 batting at 7 but that wasn’t enough to save Gloucs as they were bowled out for 254 in the 49th over. A win for Glamorgan by 74 runs.

• Chris Cooke – 161 from 127 Balls – Strike Rate 126.77

Essex 283 for 7 v Sussex 287 for 9

This is one I have to make sure I don’t write a match report on! That’ll come later. Ryan ten Doeschate won the toss and elected to bat. Varun Chopra was back opening with Alastair Cook and the pair put on 73 for the 1st wicket, with Chopra going in the 13th over and Cook in the 14th.

Tom Westley in at 3 and Dan Lawrence at 4 put on 104, but that took them 118 balls , it all just felt too slow; Westley top scored with 61 from 65 balls and Essex were 177 for 3 when he was out in the 33rd over. I’m going to return to Strike Rates (SR) again here. Essex made just 106 runs in the remaining overs with only the final pair getting into a SR that was over 100. What should’ve been well over 300 turned into just 283.

Sussex have a couple of danger men in their line up, but one of them. Luke Wright was dismissed for just 30 with a great catch from Varun Chopra. Sussex were 94 for 6 in the 18th over, that seemed pretty great as an Essex fan. However Laurie Evans and Will Beer put on 121 for the 7th wicket. Evans was unhappy with the catch that sent him back to the pavilion with 68 to his name, but he was given out. Beer surpassed his previous best of 45 to finish on 75. Danny Briggs played a very important role for Sussex hitting 37 from 26 balls. The game slipped away from Essex with a couple of poor overs and Sussex won the match by a wicket with a ball to spare.