365 Sporting Days

My daughter arriving from Paris and a couple of brilliant theatre trips put paid to me being at the County Ground to see the Essex batters collapse for a second consecutive week. I managed to keep tabs on all of the matches and know I’m going to have another sizeable list of centuries at the end of this write up. So, on to who did what where.

Division 1

Essex v Northamptonshire – The Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford. Tom Westley won the toss for Essex and put Northants in to bat. Match Drawn.

Northants 390 All Out, Essex 193 All Out & 328 for 9

When Northants visited Essex last summer I seem to recall I wasn’t too complimentary, they absolutely capitulated in their second innings. That most certainly was not the case this time round, as the Essex captain’s decision backfired on him. Northants were 0 for 1 as Ricardo Vasconcelos was out for a 3 balls Duck, but a 100 rub partnership for the 2nd wicket set them on their way to a decent innings. The other opener Will Young, I’ve heard that name before! (He scored 96 last week) Scored 63 from 146 balls and Luke Proctor in in 4 gets the first mention of a century. He made 113 from 271 balls and batted for nearly 6 hours, no doubt frustrating the home bowling unit. The bowlers did have some success until Gareth Berg came in at 10 to score 75 from 132 balls. All of that added up to 390 in 141.4 overs. The wickets were shared between 5 of the 6 bowlers.

In reply Essex imploded, something that happened far too often last year. They fell to 83 for 8 in just 45.3 overs. It was only thanks to Shane Snater, a much improved player that they gained some respectability. In at 9 he faced 94 balls, and scored 79, hitting 10 Fours and a single Six, he at least gave the Essex fans something to smile about! They were bowled out in 79.5 overs and then in a position where they were trying to save a draw. Ben Sanderson was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 32 from his 19 overs.

Northants asked Essex to bat again and in general they made a better job of things, although Nick Browne and Alastair Cook were both out for 19 and Westley just 9. Paul Walter in at 4 top scored with 93, he batted for nearly 5.5 hours and faced 246 balls, he and newbie Matt Critchley out on 100 for the 4th wicket. Critchley scored 47. Feroze Khushi, a player I’ve been waiting to see included contributed 30 and keeper Adam Wheater 33. At 328 for 9 the Draw was saved. Now to score competitive runs i a first innings.

Gloucestershire v Surrey – Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol. Graeme van Buren won the toss for Gloucs and put Surrey in to bat. Match Drawn.

Surrey 603 All Out, Gloucestershire 443 for 2

As I start to write this up on Day 3 it’s hard to say whether the decision made was a bad one as Gloucs are piling the innings oin on their innings. Surrey fell to 37 for 3 before 2 young homegrown players Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith made their mark. They put on 151 for the 4th wicket. Pope made 84 from 175 balls, having batted for nearly 4 hours. Smith then has a spell with Sam Curran, they added 132 to the score as Curran made 64 from 99 balls. Gloucs took a couple of cheap wickets before Smith and Jordan Clark put on 244 for the 8th wicket. Clark scored 137 from 177 balls, batting for over 3 years. It’s plain fro those figures that Smith ‘went big, he scored 234 after facing 430 balls and being at the crease for nearlt 9.5 hours. Surrey batted for 165.4 overs and finished on 603.

At the close on Day 3 Gloucs were 443 for 2, they had a first wicket stand of 296, with Marcus Harris going for 124 from 209 balls. As I write his partner; Chris Dent is 207* from 389 balls. A match that was heading for a draw was rain affected on Day 4, as in there was no play. So that 207* stood and Miles Hammond was 75* from 124 balls.

Hampshire v Lancashire – The Ageas Bowl, Southampton James Vince won the toss for Hampshire and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Hampshire 246 All Out & 344 All Out, Lancashire 240 All Out & 9 for 0

In the midst of Hampshire being 40 for 4 Nick Gubbins, in at 3 was working his way to a century. He batted for the duration and finished on 101 from 212 balls. Felix Organ in at 7 chipped in 42 runs from 106 balls and James Fuller batting at 9 contributed 55 from 54 balls. Hampshire were bowled out in 77 overs with a much better score than that 40 for 4 suggested might happen. Pakistan bowler Hassan Ali took 5 for 45 from his 15 overs as he continued to make his mark and some fella called Jimmy Anderson took 3 for 24 in 14 overs.

Lancashire didn’t have the best of starts as they fell to 83 for 5. Only Phil Salt in at 7, with 55 from 75 balls and Tom Bailey in at 9, with 59 from 84 balls got past the magic 509 mark. Josh Bohannon added 33 from 38 balls to the pot, in an innings that lasted just 71,4 overs.

Gubbins was also the start of Hampshire’s second innings, with his second century of the match! he faced 303 balls this time, batting for over 7 hours. Gubbins now has 364 runs at an average of 72.8. He and Ben Brown put on 144 for the 5th wicket. Brown made 72 from 160 balls. A much better innings for Hampshire, they scored 344 in 123.5 overs. That Anderson bloke took another 3 wickets for 36 in his 23 overs.

Day 4 was also a wash out in Southampton, which stopped a probable positive result happening.

Somerset v Warwickshire – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton. Will Rhodes won the toss for Warwicks and put Somerset in to bat. Somerset won by an innings and 82 runs,

.Somerset 458 All Out. Warwicks 209 All Out & 167 All Out

With this being a Day 3 result I can safely say Will Rhodes made the wrong choice. He must’ve realised that quite quickly as Somerset put on 137 for the first wicket. Tom Lammonby scored 56 from 93 balls and his opening partner, Australian batter Matt Renshaw has another partnership of 112 with Somerset captain Tom Abell. Renshaw was out for 129 from 192 balls, he batted for nearly 4.5 hours. Somerset were all about the partnerships in this innings and all about the Tom’s too, as a 3rd joined Abell, Tom Banton and he put on a few as Abell was out for 70 from 132 balls, Banton made 57 from 113 balls. A final wicket partnership of 41 between Jack Leach, with 34* and Jack Brooks with 32 added to Warwicks woes.

Sam Hain made 54 of Warwickshire’s 209 runs in their first innings, 6 Somerset bowlers were used and all 6 shared the wickets as Warwicks were bowled out in 65.1 overs.

Sam Hain was also Warwicks top scorer in their second innings, with just 43, Matthew Lamb contributed 40, the innings lasted for 73.1 overs but only produced 167 runs. 5 bowlers did their thing in this innings with Jack Brooks taking 4 for 44 from his 16 overs.

Yorkshire v Kent – Clean Slate Headingley, Leeds. Steven Patterson won the toss for Yorkshire and put Kent in to bat.. Match Drawn.

Kent 291 All Out & 393 All Out. Yorkshire 571 All Out.

Both Kent openers were out for 3 & 4, seeing Kent at 16 for 2, Jack Leaning in at 4 was out for a 2 ball Duck. Daniel Bell-Drummond and Jordan Cox stopped the rot, putting 133 on for the 4th wicket. Cox made 58 from 108 balls. Ollie Robinson joined Bell-Drummond and the pair put on 74 for the 5th wicket. Bell Drummond made 109 from 194 balls adding to his century against Hampshire last week. Robinson made made 58 from 108 balls. Kent made 291 in 86.4 overs. Pakistani bowler Haris Rauf took 5 for 65 in his 14 overs

Yorkshire lost their first 3 batters for just 23 runs, before a mighty 269 4th wicket partnership between Dawid Malan and the top run scorer of the season so far, Harry Brook. Malan scored 152 from 180 balls, batting for just over 4 hours. Brook fell just short of his double century with 194 from 265 balls, he batted for just over 6.5 hours. I’m putting in another tip for an England shirt for this talented young batter. He has 512 runs for the season so far with an average of 170.66. Brook and Dom Bess, in at 7 put on 151 for the 6th wicket. Bess scored 80 from 119 balls as Yorkshire approached the 600. They batted for 138.4 overs as Kent used 7 bowlers.

Kent opener Ben Compton had a better time of things as he made 93 from 220 balls, Zak Crawley was out for just 5 however, not a great match for him, he has just 104 runs from 6 innings at an average of 17.33, not great for his England credentials. Bell-Drummond made just 2 in this innings. Ollie Robinson and Grant Stewart made 166 for the 7th wicket, Robinson was not out 85 from 168 balls and Stewart was run our for 90 from 91 balls. Kent’s innings took 122.3 overs leaving 21 overs in the day. Bad light meant Yorkshire weren’t given the chance to chase the win.

Division 2

Derbyshire v Glamorgan – The Incora County Ground, Derby. Billy Godleman won the toss for Derbyshire and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Derbyshire 368 All Out & 349 for 3 dec, Glamorgan 387 All Out & 310 for 8.

In an innings that lasted for 126.2 overs Derbyshire had 3 batters with over 50. Shan Masood opening scored 60 from 113 balls, he shared a 93 2nd wicket partnership with Brooke Guest . Masood has 713 runs from 6 innings at an average of 118.83! Guest scored 109 from 251 balls, batting for just over 5 hours. he and Wayne Madsen put on 161 for the 4th wicket. Madsen scored 70 from 127 balls. Michael Neser took 4 for 44 and Michael Hogan 4 for 55.

Glamorgan’s innings started well and got better, opener David Lloyd and Andrew Salter put on 103 for the first wicket. Lloyd scored 84 from 104 balls. Marnus Labuschagne in at 3 scored 130 from 199 balls, he batted for just over 5 hours. Labuschagne and Sam Northeast put on 93 for the 3rd wicket. Northeast made 49 from 84 balls. Glamorgan batted for 101.4 overs. Suranga Lakmal took 5 for 82 in his 29.4 overs.

Shan Masood added another 42 to his tally but it was Brooke Guest and Wayne Madsen who shared another big partnership. They put on 276 for the 3rd wicket. Guest made his 2nd century of the game, making 138 from 242 balls. Madsen got his own century finishing the innings on 135* from 175 balls. 349 for 3 in 89.1 was some batting!

Labushagne and Northeast batted well together again, the Australian scored 85 from 87 balls and Northeast 81 from 101 balls. This was another ‘quick’ innings as Glamorgan made 310 in just 54.5 overs. But time ran out for them and the match was drawn. Ryan Sidebottom took 4 for 50 from his 14 overs.

Middlesex v Leicestershire – Lord’s, London. Peter Handscomb won the toss for MIddlesex and put Leicestershire in to0 bat. Middlesex won by 10 wickets.

Leicestershire 149 All Out & 272 All Out. Middlesex 370 All Out & 52 for no wicket.

I’m on Pakistan bowler watch again in this match, just the 3 wickets for Shaheen in this innings as Leics were bowled out in 56.5 overs for just 149 runs. Callum Parkinson in at 9 had the top score of 25. Not a great showing.

Things went very differently for Middlesex as opener Mark Stoneman scored 108 from 165 balls, he batted for nearly 4.5 hours. Keeper John Simpson in at 6 scored 71 fro 140 balls. The innings lasted for 110.2 overs, Ben Mike was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 15 from his 7 overs.

Leics made a better fist of things in their 2nd innings, with Ben Mike adding 99 runs to his record for the game, he faced 108 balls. Wiaan Mulder scored 58 from 109 balls. an innings of 76.5 overs Shaheen took another 3 wickets.

Middlesex took just 10.3 overs to score the runs they needed for a good win in 3 days.

Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire – Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Steven Mullaney won the toss for Notts and put Worcs in to bat. Notts won by 5 wickets.

Notts 266 All Out & 233 for 5, Worcs 159 All Out & 339 All Out

It took Notts just 41 overs to bowl Worcs out, Dane Patterson took 8 for 52 from his 15 overs! Unsurprisingly the highest score was just 37 from Jack Haynes. Fair to say the decision to field was spot on!

The Notts 1st innings didn’t last much longer, just 59.5 overs. Haseeb Hammed opening scored 53 from 56 balls and Ben Duckett 50 from 39. Duckett now has 430 runs at an average of 71.66. A certain Stuart Broad, playing in his first match of the season scored 45 from 27 balls, a sight to behold I imagine!

Worcs found themselves on 32 for 4 in their 2nd innings, not great, Jack Haynes in at 4 scored 49 from 98 balls, but it was Ed Barnard who went big with 163 from 310 balls, he and keeper Ben Cox put on 142 for the 6th wicket. Cox scored 55 from 172 balls. a considerably longer innings of 121,2 overs Luke Fletcher and Broad both took 4 wickets.

Notts got the game won in 56 overs with Duckett scoring 78 from 85 balls, Joe Clarke was not out 61 from 106 balls.

Sussex v Durham – The 1st Central County Ground, Hove. Scott Borthwick won the toss and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Durham 223 All Out & 364 for 3 dec. Sussex 538 All Out

Durham’s first innings didn’t go so well, they fell to 75 for 6, then 128 for 7. Liam Trevaskis in at 7 top scored with 88 from 116 balls as Durham were bowled out in 73.5 overs. 5 bowlers shared the wickets.

Chetshwar Pujara did Pujara things in Sussex’s innings, he scored 203 from 334 balls, batting for 7.5 hours. Captain/Opener Tom Haines scored 54 from 57 and Tom Alsop 66 from 129 balls, Tom Clark (so many Tom’s in County Cricket!) scored 50 from 99 balls and one of my favourites Rizwan shared a 154 6th wicket partnership with Pujara, making 79 from 145 balls – oh to have been there! That all added up to 538 in 153.5 overs. (with a few runs added in by others) Trevaskis took 5 for 128 in his 35.5 overs.

Openers Ales Lees and Seen Dickson had the 4th highest partnership for Durham as the game headed towards an inevitable draw. Lees scored 105 from 262 balls and Dickson 186 from 290 balls. Both batted for over 5.5 hours. Both will go onto what’s going to be another long list of centuries scored!

This week’s century makers

• Matt Renshaw, Somerset. – 129 from 192 balls
• Mark Stoneman, Middlesex – 108 from 165 balls
• Ed Barnard, Worcestershire – 163 from 310 balls
• Luke Proctor, Northants. – 113 from 271 balls
• Jamie Smith, Surrey – 234 from 430 balls
• Jordan Clark, Surrey. – 137 from 177 balls
• Marcus Harris, Gloucs – 124 from 209 balls
• Chris Dent, Gloucs – 207 from 389 balls
• Nick Gubbins, Hampshire. – 101 from 212 balls
• Nick Gubbins, Hampshire. – 130 from 303 balls
• Daniel Bell- Drummond, Kent – 109 from 194 balls
• Dawid Malan, Yorkshire. – 152 from 180 balls
• Harry Brook, Yorkshire. – 194 from 265 balls

I’m finishing this off at gone midnight after a lovely family day, do ley me know if U’ve missed anyone out either runs or wickets wise, I always appreciate the chance to make things right!