365 Sporting Days

Round 10 saw my team Essex sit out as they’d planned to play an India team, Covid put paid to that, it also saw England having to put the whole squad picked to play Pakistan in an ODI series into quarantine after 7 people in the camp tested positive. That meant an opportunity for several uncapped players and most teams taking part in this round seeing their teams disrupted. A record was made by a legend of the game and a team, Nottinghamshire, that before this season hadn’t won a County Championship match for several summers, move to the top of their league. In spite of this being the beginning of July this was another rain affected round. Here’s a look at who did what as we’re coming to the end of this first stage of the season. The one photo I have to use as the cover is of a ground not involved in this round, but, I was actually at a live cricket match!

Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire – Trent BridgeSteven Mullaney won the toss and put Derbyshire in to bat. Nottinghamshire won by an innings and 36 runs.

Derbyshire 149 All Out & 122 All Out, Nottinghamshire 307 All Out.

This has been a poor summer for Derbyshire so far, one to forget, although this match did see a bowler shine. In their first innings there were 2 top scores of 30, one of which was from Leus du Plooy who faced 146 balls for his 30, batting for nearly 3.5 hours. He was joined on 30 by Fynn Hudson-Prentice who hit his runs quicker, just 53 balls and in just over an hour. The wickets were shared by 5 bowlers and Derbyshire were bowled out in 79.1 overs.

Nottinghamshire’s batting sheet has 12 names, as Ben Duckett was one of the players rushed into the England camp. He retired not out having scored 69 from 81 balls, that took him to 475 for the season so far at a average of 39.58. Haseeb Hameed watch tells us he scored 57 from 112 balls and batted for just under 3 hours. He now has 572 for the summer at an average of 47.66. An England test call up can’t be far away. There was something to remember for Hudson-Prentice he took 5 for 68 in his 25 overs to add to his 30 runs in the first innings.

Derbyshire were bowled out in just 46.4 overs as Luke Fletcher took 5 for 28 in 11.4 overs, that took him to 46 at 12.44 for the season so far. Matt Critchley top scored with 36 from 47 balls, but Nottinghamshire made quick work of this one to head to the top of their group. A win for Nottinghamshire.

Northamptonshire v Yorkshire – The County Ground, Northampton. Steven Patterson win the toss and elected to bat. Yorkshire won by 53 runs.

Yorkshire 158 All Out & 217 All Out, Northamptonshire 170 for 9 & 152 All Out

A favourite of mine, Sam Northeast had made his way to Yorkshire on loan from Hampshire, A player who excelled year after year at Kent, he hasn’t really found that form since he damaged his hand not long after his move further along the coast, he made jsut 3 in thsi innings and 1 in the second. George Hill opening the innings top scored as his colleagues collapsed around him. Yorkshire were bowled out for 158 and Hill scored 71 from 170 balls, as he batted for most of the innings. 6 bowlers shared the wickets as they bowled Yorkshire out in 64.3 overs.

Ricardo Vasconceles, captain, keeper and opener top scored for Northamptonshire with 55 from 98 balls, batting for nealry 2.5 hours. I’m not sure of the details but Luke Proctor who scored vital runs in the second innings was unable to bat in this one. 4 Bowlers finished the job for Yorkshire in 52 overs.

Harry Brook, a wonderful batter to watch, he scored a great century at Essex a couple of summers ago, did it again here. Btting for just over 4.5 hours he faced 178 balls and scored 113 runs. He now has 576 runs at 41.14 for the summer. He scored over half of Yorkshire’s runs and wasn’t well supported. Simon Kerrigan took 5 for 39 in his 30.2 overs as Yorkshire were bowled out in 83.2 overs.

Luke Proctor had recovered from whatever it was that ailed him, he top scored with 42 from 111 balls, but showing some symmetry Northamptonshire were again bowled out in 52 overs. A win for Yorkshire .

Warwickshire v Durham – Edgbaston, Birmingham. Scott Borthwick won the toss for Durham and put Warwickshire in to bat. Match Drawn.

Warwickshire 237 All Out, Durham 253 for 7

A match that saw just an innings each, Rob Yates made the most of his one innings, scoring 102 from 239 balls, he opened and batted for just over 5 hours. Pieter Malan 31, Sam Hain 30 and Will Rhodes 39 added some middle order runs as Warwickshire batted for 95 overs. 5 bowlers shared the wickets.

David Bedingham is having a very good 2021 with the bat, he joined Durham in 2020 and in this year he’s scored 870 runs at an average of 79.90. His average was lifted by his 92 not out in this innings, he faced 161 balls and batted for just under 4 hours. Craig Miles took 5 for 62 in his 18 overs as the game fizzled out after 90 over. Match Drawn.

Somerset v Leicestershire – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton. Colin Ackermann won the toss for Leicestershire and put Somerset in to bat. Match Drawn.

Somerset 461 for 9 dec, Leicestershire 475 for 7

Another match of 2 innings, but 2 whoppers this time! 5 names to mention for Somerset, Devon Conway, fresh from his exploits with New Zealand (and a few Blast games) enjoyed his first home innings, opening he scored 88 from 146 balls, he batted for just over 3 hours. He shared a fuirst wicket stand of 143 with Steve Davies who scored 65 from 102 balls. The following 5 batters only scored 52 between them, but cue the ‘bowlers’ Roelef van der Merwe scored 76 from 88 balls, Josh Davey 75 from 169 and Marchant de Lange 75 form 63 balls, his innings included 4 Fours and 6 Sixes, something to shout about for those lucky enough to be there! Somerset declared after 115 overs.

21 year old Kasey Aldridge made his debut as a replacement for Craig Overton to join a list of 8 bowlers for Somerset, he bowled 22 overs for 101 runs. On the batting front one name stands out, Harry Swindells, keeper, scored 171, batting at 6 he faced 322 balls and batted for nearly 6.5 hours, he finished not out and has 527 runs for the summer at an average of 47.9. Colin Ackermann contributed 67 from 169 bals and Ed Barmes, batting at 9 scored 83 from 165 balls, he and Swindells put on a partnership of 203 for the 8th wicket that didn’t actually fall. Match Drawn.

Hampshire v Surrey – The Ageas Bowl, Southampton. Rory Burns won the toss and put Hampshire in to bat. Match Drawn.

Hampshire 488 All Out, Surrey 72 All Out & 122 for 8

Both teams have a team sheet of 12 with Will Jacks for Surrey and James Vince for Hampshire heading to join England. The second huge innings of this round came from another batter at 6, this time it was Colin de Grandhomme who scored 174 from 213 balls batting for 3.75 hours. Ian Holland opening scored 58 from 126 Felix Organ at 9 had the second highest with 67 from 102, he batted for just under 2 hours.. Jordan Clark took 4 for 110 in a bowling performance that saw 16 No balls as Extras at 38 had the 4th highest score. The innings lasted for 134.5 overs.

That different wicket scenario happened in Surrey’s innings as they were skittled out in just 31.4 overs for 72! Hashim Amla contributed 29 of those runs and Extras came second this time with 15, including 8 No Balls. Keith Barker was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 24 from his 14 overs.

i’d seen a Facebook post about Amla’s second knock, but he was clearly aiming to save the draw, and save it he did! He was Not out 37 after facing 278 balls, he batted for nearly 6.6 overs. Another horrible innings overall from Surrey they at least took the 5 points for a draw. Match Drawn.

Lancashire v Kent – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester. Joe Denly won the toss for Kent and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Kent 74 All Out & 149 for 8, Lancashire 259 for 9.

Cue an England legend, one Jimmy Anderson took his 1000’th First Class wicket as he demolished Kent in his 10 overs, he took 7 for just 19 runs. A Kent Legend, Darren Stevens top scored with 19 s Kent just topped Surrey’s horror innings with 74.

Luke Wood batting at 8 fro Lancashire top scored with 63 from 133 balls, he batted for just over 3 hours. Kent used 7 bowlers and bowled 10 No Balls, 4 of them took wickets. Tom Hartley in as a sub for Matt Parkinson scored a useful 24 from 73 balls.

The Amla role was taken by Jack Leaning as Kent looked to save the draw, he was Not Out 53 from 199 balls having batted for nearly 4 hours. Zak Crawley had gone to the England Camp, but Tawanda Muyeye wasn’t required to bat. The innings lasted for 74 overs before a Draw was declared.

Sussex v Glamorgan – The 1st Central County Ground, Hove. Ben Brown won the toss for Sussex and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Sussex 226 All Out & 263 for 6 dec, Glamorgan 215 All Out & 154 for 5.

This round was a good one for the lower order batters, Danial Ibrahim batting at 7 top scored in Sussex’s innings, he made 58 fro 147 balls batting for just over 3.5 hours. Travis Head 47 from 74 balls. I seem to have started a NO Ball watch again and there were 0 in this innings. 5 bolwers shared the wickets and bowled Sussex out in 75.3 overs.

David Lloyd opening top scored with 38 from 62 balls, no one really hung about for Glamorgan, Billy Root n=made 37 from 72 balls as they were bowled out in 64.5 overs. 5 bowlers shared the wickets and we had another 6 No Balls.

There were 2 big innings in Sussex’s seonf knock, Ali Orr opening batted for just under 4 hours and scored 80 from 193 balls, Ben Brown, another Captain and Keeper top scored batting at 6 was Not Out 100 from 134 balls as he declared after 79 overs. 4 bowlers shared the wickets. (4 No Balls)

All 7 batters in Glamorgan’s second innings made double figures, no one scored more than Colin Ingram’s 27 from 44 but they did enough to frustrate the home team to secure a draw, batting for 50.2 overs. Match Drawn

The final match of the round started a day later, so that one I’ll be adding tomorrow as I now go and get ready to shout at my TV watching England play football!

The final games in this section of the competition start on Sunday before the next phase starts at the end of August, with the top 2 in each group going into Division 1 where they play the 4 teams they haven’t faced. The team at the top will be crowned County Championship winners and the top 2 will contest a 5 day Bob Willis Trophy Final over days, starting on September 27th.