365 Sporting Days

A quick round up of England’s final test of the summer; Having had quite amazing weather virtually as soon as Lockdown started, the British weather decided to assert itself on England’s series against Pakistan. At least we had two complete innings in this third test. Zak Crawley well and truly introduced himself to the wider cricketing world with a truly remarkable innings! He made 267 runs facing 393 balls and was at the crease for just over 9 hours. He was joined in a record 5th wicket innings of 359 runs, by Jos Buttler who himself scored 152 runs from 311 balls in 7 3/4 hours. That helped England to a huge total of 583 for 8. The series has been played in a great spirit and it was wonderful to see the Pakistan players congratulating Crawley when he was eventually out.

In reply Pakistan found themselves in some trouble on 75 for 5, their captain Azhar Ali and Rizwan put on 138 runs. Rizwan who’s had a great series made 53 and Azhar finished on 141 not out. They didn’t have much support from their colleagues and Pakistan finished on 273 All Out. That was way short of the total they needed to avoid the follow on. Azhar was fully prepared to open Pakistan’s second inning, but bad light then rain intervened.

Jimmy Anderson was hunting his 600th wicket, having started this test on 593. He eventually took 5 for 56 in the first innings, in spite of having 4 catches dropped. He must’ve been fuming, but he gave a shirt glare and walked back to his mark each time. One of those drops involved Stuart Broad, he promptly picked the ball up and threw it at the stumps, running out Abbas in the process! A wonderful piece of cricket!

Would the weather give Jimmy an opportunity to reach his personal milestone – play started at around 3:15 and happily with his 14th ball of the day, he took the wicket of Azhar who was caught by Joe Root. Jimmy Anderson is now 4th in the list of most test wickets taken, and the first fast bowler to reach the 600 mark. The session fizzled out with Pakistan on 187 for 4, Babar Azam finished on 63 not out as the match was declared a draw. That gave England their first series win over Pakistan for 10 years. The teams, albiet with largely different squad members move on to a 3 T20’s series before Australia arrive for their own T20 series.

On to the County Cricket – which was of course weather affected! 5 of the 9 matches were Drawn.

A refresh of the rules for this Summer’s competition

• A reduction to a minimum of 90 overs in a day’s play.
• Each county’s first innings of a match can last no longer than 120 overs.
• The follow-on will increase from 150 to 200 runs.
• The new ball will be available after 90 overs rather than 80 overs.
• Points awarded for a draw will increase from five (in the County Championship) to eight to help mitigate against the impact of weather during a shortened competition.
• All other points scoring will remain the same as in the County Championship, such as 16 points for a win with a maximum of five batting and three bowling bonus points in the first innings.
• For the final, in the event of a draw, whichever team gains a first-innings lead will be determined the winner when both first innings are completed. In any other circumstance of a draw or tie, the trophy will be shared.

Middlesex v Sussex – Ben Brown won the toss for Sussex and elected to bat. Middlesex won by 5 wickets.

• Sussex – 293 All Out & 102 All Out
  • Harry Finch – 69 from 159 balls in 221 minutes

• Middlesex – 203 All Out & 193 for 5
  • Tim Murtagh – 5 for 34 in 13 overs

Derbyshire v Durham – Billy Godleman won the toss for Derbyshire and put Durham in to bat. Match Drawn

• Durham – 337 for 9 dec (114 overs)
  • Alex Lees – 84 from 196 balls in 250 minutes
  • Ned Eckersley – 78 from 164 balls in 243 minutes
  • Paul Coughlin – 90 from 146 balls in 212 minutes

• Derbyshire – 355 for 4
  • Luis Reece – 122 from 235 balls in 343 minutes
  • Billy Godelman – 51 from 113 balls in 163 minutes
  • Wayne Madsen – 52 from 113 balls in 156 minutes

Leicestershire v Nottinghamshire – Steven Mullaney won the toss for Notts and put Leics in to bat. Match Drawn

• Leicestershire- 223 All Out & 237 for 4
  • Tom Taylor – 57 from 78 balls in 105 minutes
  • Ben Mike – 51 from 83 balls in 115 minutes
  • Colin Ackerman – 65 from 159 balls in 214 minutes

• Nottinghamshire – 343 for 8
  • Ben Slater – 86 from 210 balls in 289 minutes
  • Haseeb Hameed – 87 from 188 balls in 266 minutes

Yorkshire v Lancashire – Steven Patterson won the toss for Yorkshire and elected to bat. Match Drawn

• Yorkshire – 260 All Out
  • Adam Lyth – 103 from 235 balls in 323 minutes

• Lancashire – 195 for 5
  • Alex Davies – 73 from 134 balls in 168 minutes

Northamptonshire v Glamorgan – Ricardo Vasconcelos won the toss for Northants and put Glamorgan in to bat. Northants won by 6 wickets

• Glamorgan – 259 All Out & 261 All Out
  • Callum Taylor – 106 from 94 balls in 106 minutes
  • Dan Douthwaite – 86 from 92 balls in 148 minutes
  • Marchant de Lange – 113 from 78 balls in 109 minutes

• Northamptonshire – 332 All Out & 192 for 4
  • Ben Curran – 82 from 163 balls in 229 minutes
  • Charlie Thurston – 115 from 163 balls in 219 minutes
  • Ricardo Vasconceloe – 58 from 127 balls in 188 minutes

Somerset v Gloucestershire – Chris Dent won the toss and put Somerset in to bat. Somerset won by 314 runs

• Somerset – 237 All Out & 223 for 1
  • George Bartlett – 100* from 143 balls in 230 minutes
  • Tom Lammonby – 101 from 161 balls in 232 minutes
  • Tom Abell – 101 from 157 balls in 218 minutes
  • Craig Overton – 5 for 26 in 13 overs

• Gloucestershire – 76 All Out & 70 All Out

Worcestershire v Warwickshire – Joe Leach won the toss and put Warwicks in to bat. Match Drawn

• Warwickshire – 355 for 9 dec (119.1 0vers) & 68 for no wicket
  • Will Rhodes – 207 from 328 balls in 489 minutes
  • Sam Hain – 55 from 173 balls in 247 minutes

• Worcestershire – 410 for 7 (120 Overs)
  • Daryl Mitchell – 110 from 235 balls in 312 minutes
  • Jake Libby – 84 from 189 balls in 260 minutes
  • Tom Fell – 55 from 100 balls in 146 minutes
  • Jack Haynes – 51 from 83 balls in 83 minutes

Hampshire v Essex – Sam Northeast won the toss and put Essex in to bat. Match Drawn

• Essex 249 for 3
  • Alastair Cook – 129 from 215 balls in 319 minutes

There was just one innings in this match with 78 overs bowled over the 4 days!

Surrey v Kent – Mark Stoneman won the toss and put Kent in to bat. Kent won by 17 runs

• Kent – 342 All Out & 127 All Out
  • Grant Stewart – 58 from 103 balls in 150 minutes

• Surrey – 278 All Out & 174 All Out
  • Ben Foakes – 118 from 188 balls in 295 minutes
  • Rikki Clarke – 5 for 20 in 14 Overs

The tables look like this after a rain affected 4th round, with all to play for next weekend, hopefully the weather won’t be the deciding factor.