365 Sporting Days

Just 3 matches to look at today – so this should be a quick write and read!

Worcestershire 124 for 5 v Nottinghamshire 121 for 9

Steven Mullaney won the toss for Notts and elected to bat. In an innings where the highest partnership was 28 that proved to be the wrong decision. Opener Chris Nash scored 51 of the total of 121. There were 4 Ducks, with 3 wickets being taken in one over by Wayne Parnell who took 5 for 24 in 9 overs. Notts had been the only team unbeaten before today, at New Road they were bowled out in just 32 overs.

Worcestershire took just 25 overs to reach the required total, captain Brett D’Oliveira managed to get himself run out for a Duck, with George Rhodes befalling the same fate with just 5 runs to his name. Tom Fell top scored with 48 and Worcs won by 5 wickets

• Wayne Parnell – 5 for 24 in 9 overs

Northamptonshire 351 All Out v Yorkshire 175 for 5

A weather affected match at the County Ground, Alex Wakely won the toss for Northants and elected to bat. Ricardo Vasconcelos opened with Richard Levi and the pair put on 118 for the first wicket. Vasconcelos batting with Josh Cobb was then involved in a partnership of 114, scoring 112 from 97 balls. This was a decent innings with the batsmen from 2 to 6 all scoring 25 and above at strike rates over 100. The last 5 wickets fell for 42 runs, but, 351 should have been a difficult score to chase.

However, Duckworth, Lewis, Stern came into play and Yorkshire were set 175 to win in 25 overs. Strike Rate was going to be king in that kind of chase and Yorkshire made sure they kept the pace high. Tom Koehler-Cadmore was the rock in the innings he batted for over 80 balls, over 13 of the 24.4 overs Yorkshire took to score the 175 and scored 67. Gary Balance had a strike rate of 245.55, scoring 28 and Jonny Tattersall ensured the win with 14 from 5 balls, a SR of 280. I caught the final run of the TV and Yorkshire were elated, you have to feel for Northants though!

• Ricardo Vasconcelos – 112 from 62 Balls – Strike Rate 115.46

Middlesex 364 for 6 v Somerset 246 All Out

Tom Abell won the toss for Somerset and put Middlesex in to bat. The game was at Radlett CC, a lovely ground! Well Worth a visit, I was lucky enough to go twice last summer.

Openers Sam Robson and Max Holden put on 138 for the first wicket, I really wish I’d been there to see that! Holden is a lovely batsman to watch and Robson ended his innings with 106 from 106 balls. He hit 11 Fours and 2 Sixes, great entertainment! Nick Gubbins came in at 3 and made 90 from 52 balls, hitting 15 Fours himself. Only 2 batsmen had a SR of under 100 and Middlesex made 364 for 6 in their 50 overs.

In reply Somerset fell to 124 for 6, Azhar Ali was the top scorer with 36, not one of those 6 had a SR of 100 or over. By the time the lower order did start to kick things off it was too little too late and Somerset were bowled out for 246 giving Middlesex a win 118 runs.

• Sam Robson – 106 from 106 Balls – Strike Rate 100

With 6 matches played by all bar Kent and Sussex, Notts and Hampshire sit at the top of their tables with 5 wins from 6 giving them each 10 points, there is all to play for form some and nothing for others. I’m watching 2 such teams at the Oval tomorrow – Surrey v Kent and in spite of it being something of a dead rubber I’m hoping the rivalry will produce a cracker!