365 Sporting Days

Round 10 saw 9 matches up and down the country, my team, Essex we’re playing at home against Gloucestershire, so excuse the photos being from Day 1 of that particular match! The ECB showed just how much they care about the Championship decided in their wisdom to arrange a Lions game, taking valuable players from many clubs, that was in addition to a white ball series against India. In my wisdom I’d decided to book a ticket for the first ODI against India at the Oval. That proved to be a dreadful decision, with England bowled out for 110. I’d paid for an ODI at Edgbaston over the weekend that turned from 100 overs into 40, The combination of a brilliant India bowling display and a fairly woeful England batting performance turned my 100 overs into just 44 overs! And I missed an Alastair Cook century to add insult to injury! On to the facts and the stats in a week when most of the country was sweltering.

Division 1

Essex v Gloucestershire – The Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford. Grademe van Buuren won the toss for Gluocs and elected to bat. Essex won by 9 wickets.

Gloucestershire 136 All Out & 252 All Out, Essex 310 All Out & 79 for 1.

I managed to squeeze in a few hours at the ground on Day 1 squeezed in between work; Gloucestershire’s innings lasted for only 39 overs. There’s been an element of controversy when Simon Harmer’s taken wickets as people look back at the situation at Somerset when their spinners have taken wickets galore. The first 2 wickets taken in this innings were taken by Jamie Porter, a very welcome sight for the Essex faithful, he’s a bowler who always gives his all! He had Gluocs 19 for 2 after Alastair Cook caught Marcus Harris and Chris Dent was trapped LBW. Ryan Higgins was a Harmer wicket, he was caught by Michael Pepper on as a sub, but his shot was a rash one, he didn’t get enough on the ball. Aaron Beard, who’s just signed a 2 year contract extension, bowled Miles Hammond and Gloucs were 37 for 4. James Bracey swiped at a Harmer ball and was caught by Adam Rossington behind the stumps.Ollie Price did much the same to Harmer, but missed the ball and was stumped. That putr Zafar Zohar in with captain van Buuren who was batting really well, he took a totally unnecessary run, which was his to call, but Zafar stood still and the captain was run out for 34 from 37 balls. Zafar was at least the 2nd highest scorer with 29 from 36 balls, but Gluons were bowled out for just 136 and Harmer took 5 for 44.

Nick Browne who hasn’t had a great season so far was out for a 20 ball 6 before Cook and captain Tom Westley put on 196 for the 2nd wicket. Westley scored 90 from 243 balls and Cook 145 from 311, 35 more than the whole England team managed at the Oval! Essex went from 203 for 2 to 210 All Out with Extras being the 3rd highest score. Zafar took 5 fro 84 in his 31.4 overs as Essex were bowled out in 111.4 overs.

This was a very good match for Zafar he added 81 runs from 75 balls to his 5fer, Ollie Price scored 43 from 35 balls as Harmer struck in a big way, taking 8 for 112 in his 27 overs he shipped some runs but did the job with the wickets. It’s going to be very interesting to see if South Africa pick Harmer in their starting XI. This innings lasted for 58 overs and forced Essex to bat again.

Cook was the opener to go early this time round, (but he now has 658 runs at 50.61) he was bowled by Ryan Higgins for 9 from 9 balls. Browne and Westley scored the winning runs in 17 overs.

Hampshire v Warwickshire – The Ageas Bowl, Southampton. Will Rhodes won the toss for Warwicks and elected to bat. Hampshire won by 8 wickets

Warwickshire 217 All Out & 243 All Out , Hampshire 370 for 9 dec & 91 for 2

Alex Davies and Dom Sibley put on 63 for the 1st wicket, before Davies was out for 15, Sibley went on to score 56 from 96 balls. Warwicks fell to 104 for 7. Danny Briggs and M=Nathan McAndrew put on 57 for the 8th wicket, McAndrew a 28 year old Australian scored 63 from 109 balls as Warwicks were bowled out in 70.5 overs for 217. Kyle Abbot took 5 for 45 in his 18.5 overs.

Hampshire lost 3 wickets for 37 runs then 4 for 78 before Ian Holland and Liam Dawson put on 137 for the 6th wicket. Holland made 99 from 203 balls. Dawson scored 92 from 164 balls and Ben Brown the keeper in at 7 was not out 72 from 113 balls. James Fuller in at 10 made a useful 37 from 39 balls. The Hampshire innings lasted 111 overs, they scored 370 for 9, declaring to seek the win. Oliver Hannon-Dalby took 5 for 86 from his 31 overs.

Davies had a better 2nd innings, scoring 46 from 154 balls. This innings at the end of Day 3 has lasted for 102 overs with just 212 runs posted for Warwicks. Keeper Michael Burgess top scored with 58 from 123 and Hampshire have just 1 wicket to take. Unsung Hants hero Keith Barker has 4 for 23 from his 18 overs. At the end of Day 3 Warwicks lead by 59 ruins with 1 wicket in hand. Kyle Abbot polished off the final wicket early on Day 4 and Warwicks were al out for 243, they lasted just another 9.5 overs. Barker ended the innings with 4 for 35 taking him to 38 wickets at an average of 19.47 for the season so far.

It took Hampshire just 16.5 overs to score the required runs, they lost 2 wickets along the way. That win put them top of the table for a large part of the day.

Kent v Northamptonshire – The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury. Ricardo Vasconcelos won the toss for Northants and elected to bat. Northamptonshire win by 203 runs!

Northants 303 All Out & 396 for 8 dec, Kent 335 All Out & 161 All Out

Vasconcelos was out for what I believe is knowmn as a Platinum Duck – the first ball of the game, not the best of starts but Emilio Gay and Ryan Rickleton put on 108 for the 2nd wicket, 26 year old South African batter Rickleton scored 55 from 95 balls. There were a couple of 33’s scored, one by Luke Proctor and the other Jimmy Neesham as Northants were bowled out in 93.3 overs for 303. 6 bowlers shared the wickets.

While there was no century in the Kent innings there was good consistency from the middle order, Joe Denly scored 63 from 106 balls, Jack Leaning 63 from 129 and Jordan Cox made 72 from 174 balls. Ben Sanderson and Jack White took 4 wickets each as Kent were bowled out for 335 in 109.2 overs.

Rickleton got a mention in the first innings, he gets a bigger mention here, he scored 134 from 257 balls and was well supported by Jimmy Neesham who scored 91 from 101 balls, I bet that was a great sight to see! They put on 158 for the 4th wicket. Proctor contributed another 48 as Northants scored 396 in a straight 100 overs. Looking for the win Vasconcelos declared at that point.

Stand up Rob Keogh and Simnmon Kerrigan they took the 10 wickets needed between them, Keogh took 5 for 43 in 28 overs and Kerrigan 5 for 31 in his 21.5. Kent were demolished in 74.5 overs (sorry Kent fans) and Northamptonshire had their first Division 1 win for many years

Lancashire v Somerset – Trafalgar Road Ground, Southport. Peter Siddle (unusually as captain!) won the toss for Somerset and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Somerset 446 All Out & 213 for 7, Lancashire 624 for 9

Im writing from here on down after the fact, after a busy week, so have the obvious benefit of hindsight.

Starting with Somerset’s first innings, they fell to 105 for 4 before James Rew and Lewis Goldsworthy put on 145 for the 5th wicket, Rew made 70 from 135 balls and Goldsworthy went on to score 130 from 262 balls. Roelef van Der Merwe scored 58 from 69 balls as Somerset rebuilt to a very decent score of 446, that took 135.1 overs. 5 bowlers shared the wickets.

I’m going to have an unpopular opinion about the Lancashire innings, Openers Luke Wells and Keaton Jennings put on 186 for the first wicket, Wells was out for 109 from 186 balls. Jennings then shared 211 runs with Josh Bohannon who scored 91 from 152 balls. Jennings batted on, being at the creas for nearly 10 hours, he scored a mighty 318 from 426 balls. 318 is obviously remarkable but t was in a drawn game, so to no benefit to his team at all. He hit 28 Fours and 4 Sixes, but the 10 hours and 149.2 overs taken out of the game didn’t leave the bowlers long enough to get the game won. In the middle of all of that van Der Merwe took 5 but at the cost of 174 runs!

Goldsworthy a 21 year old from Cornwall kept his team in the match, making 73* from 213 after Somerset had found themselves 75 for 4. The day was batted out and a draw was secured. Jack Morley another 21 year old, this time from Rochdale took 5 for 690 in his 35.1 overs.

Yorkshire v Surrey – North Marine Road, Scarborough. Steven Patterson won the toss for Yorkshire and elected to bat. Surrey won by 4 wickets.

Yorkshire 521 All Out & 220 All Out, Surrey 515 All Out & 228 for 6

A truly fabulous place to watch cricket was blessed with a fabulous game of cricket! Yorkshire found themselves on 125 for 5 before Adam Lyth, who’d opened and Jonathan Tattersall in at 7 came together, they put on 305 for the 6th wicket! Lyth batted for just under 8 hours and scored 183 from 306 balls, Tattersall went on to score 180 from 344 balls. Yorkshire were all out for 521 in 134.2 overs. Tom Lawes, who is just 18 years old took 4 for 51 in his 13.2 overs on the flip side Jamie Overton bowled 25 overs and conceded 104 runs for no wicket. I’m on No Ball count for this one, 18 in this innings!

It was obviously a good wicket for the openers, Rory Burns opening for Surrey scored 132 from 260 balls, sharing a 2nd wicket partnership of 141 with Hashim Amla who scored 79 from 131 balls. Keeper Ben Foakes batting at 5 was not out 86 from 156 balls as Surrey built another big innings, they were out for 515 in 129 overs. There were 14 No Balls, helping extras to 54! Dom Bess took 5 for 126 in his 35 overs.

Things must have changed with the wicket as Jamie Overton had a much better time of Yorkshire’s 2nd innings, he took 6 for 61 in his 17.5 overs and Yorkshire were bowled out for 64.5 overs. Matthew Waite in at 7 scored 59 from 77 balls. Another 8 No Balls.

Surrey have drawn 4 games this season so far, this one looked to be heading that way during the day, however having been 147 for 6 Ben Foakes with 41 from 41 balls and Aaron Hardie with 40 from 53 balls secured a pretty amazing win for Surrey. Hampshire fans must have been disappointed that win sent Surrey back to the top!

Division 2

Durham v Derbyshire – Seat Unique Riverside, Chester-le-Street. Scott Borthwick won the toss for Durham and put Derbyshire in to bat. Match Drawn.

Durham 296 All Out & 221 for 7, Derbyshire 283 All Out & 398 for 8 dec

Derbyshire found themselves on 30 for 3 then 85 for 5 before a 6th wicket partnership of 166 between Less du Ploy and Anuj Dal saw things improve. Dal scored 90 from 142 and du Ploy went on to score 122 from 234 balls. Chris Rushworth took 7 for 44 in his 21 overs. The innings lasted 92.1 overs

Durham had just one innings over 50, being keeper Tomas Mackintosh in at 9, he scored 51 from 100 balls, Durham lost early wickets and were 38 for 4. 4 bowlers shared the wickets as Durham were bowled out in 85.2 overs.

Things followed a similar pattern in Derbyshire’s second innings as they fell to 36 for 4, before keeper Brooke Guest and du Plooy shared a partnership of 248 for the 5th wicket. du Plooy who was having a great game scored 134 from 206 balls and Guest made 116 from 261. Hilton Cartwright in at 7 scored 71 from 83 balls as Derbyshire batted for 115 overs, declaring on 398 for 8. Rushworth took another 4 for 62 in his 24 overs. That took him to 28 for the season so far.

Wickets fell steadily in the Durham innings but not quickly enough for Derbyshire to take all 10. Alex Lees was theta scorer with 41 and the 7 wickets were shared between 4 bowlers.

Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. Steven Mullaney won the toss for Notts and put Glamorgan in to bat. Match Drawn.

Glamorgan 318 All Out & 421 for 5 dec, Nottinghamshire 285 All Out & 259 for 4.

Steady runs from the bulk of the batter helped Gklamorgan build to 318, Sam Northeast top scored with 56 from 84 minutes as they were bowled out in 84.2 overs. Brett Hutton took 4 for 76 in his 17 overs.

Nottinghamshire had 3 innings of 50 or over, with Haseeb Hameed opening scoring 70 from 116 balls, Matthew Montgomery made 80 from 166 balls and Lyndon James 50 from 72 balls. Michael Hogan took 4 for 47 and James Harris 4 for 65.

A 1st wicket stand of 172 saw David Lloyd Glamorgan’s captain score 609 from 124 balls and Edward Byrom go on to score 144 from 204 balls. Northeast scored 105* from 137 balls as Glamorgan but a big innings of 421 of r5 in 101.3 overs. Billy Root added 53 from 88 balls.

Notts toughed things out to save the draw, with Joe Clarke scoring 95 from 155 balls and Lyndon James 76 from 192 in a partnershio of 97 for the 4th wicket. They batted for 95.4 overs.

Sussex v Leicestershire – The 1st Central County Ground, Hive. Tom Haines won the toss for Sussex and elected to bat. Match Drawn.

Sussex 588 for 9 & 220 for 1 dec. Leicestershire 756 for 4.

More politically incorrect stuff coming up from me here! And you know why before reading on as you look at the scores above!

There were 7 scores of over 50 in the first Sussex innings, one of those was extras, as 21 No Balls were bowled pushing the tally up to 61! But on the batters front there’s a long list of 6. Opener and Captain Tom Haines retired hurt after facing just 37 balls, therefore in effect the first wicket saw 147 runs on the board as Ali Orr who’s having a great season, scored 70 from 85 balls he now has 639 runs at an average of 53.25, (with his 2nd innings scored contributing) good going for the 21 year old local. Tom Alsop then shared a partnership of 107 with Chetashwar Pujara, Pujara scored 46 from 76 and Alsop went on to score 150 from the 243 balls he faced. The runs kept in coming for Sussex as keeper Oli Carter and Delroy Rawlins (who would face horrors later) scored 75 each, Carter faced 165 balls and Rawlins 115. James Coles in at 8 added 59 from 82 balls. Sussex batted for 142.5 overs and scored 588. Callum Parkinson took 5 for 128 in his 41.5 overs.

What happened in the Leics innings was no doubt amazing for the individuals involved and very probably gratifying for any visiting fans, but…… The innings lasted for 177 overs and only 4 wickets fell, first incredible stat, poor Hassan Azad was out for a Platinum Duck, he then went back to the dressing room to see his batting team mates go crazy! Ex ex man Rishi Patel and Louis Kimber put on 174 for the 2nd wicket, Patel fell 1 short of his century, I know his innings will have been a joy to watch, 99 from 240 balls, Kimber scored 104 from 149. A mention for Lewis Hill who was out for 1o in the middle of 2 mammoth innings. Colin Ackermann batted for just over 7.5 hours, he scored 277 from 375 balls and was joined by Wiaan Mulder for just under 5.5 hours, he scored 235 from 279 balls. I’m not going to kid people that I wouldn’t have loved seeing Essex players making scores like that, but to do so and not win the game does all seem rather pointless.

Sussex opener Ali Orr scored 106 from 123 balls and Tom Alsop added 60 from 91 balls, he now has 636 runs at 42.40. There were only 42 overs bowled before the match was declared a draw.

Middlesex v Worcestershire – Merchant Taylor’s School., Northwood. Sam Robson won the toss for Middlesex and elected to bat. Worcestershire won by 7 wickets.

Middlesex 188 All Out & 240 All Out, Worcestershire 191 All Out & 238 for 3

Middlesex fell to 93 for 7 before Luke Hollman and Tom Helm stood firm, Hollman made 62 from 110 balls and Helm 50 from 74. None of the other batters got above 18. All 5 of the Worcs bowlers took wickets as Middlesex were bowled out in 59.1 overs.

The Worcs innings followed a similar pattern, they lost 7 wickets for 127 before Warwickshire’s new signing for 2023 , Ed Barnard scored 69 from 96 balls, he now has 734 runs at an average of 73.4! He’ll be a huge loss for Worcs. Worcs were bowled out in 58.5 overs as Toby Roland-Jones took 4 for 60 in his 14.5 overs, he added 1 in the 2nd innings to sit at the top of the wickets table with 41 at an average of 19. A player who got an injury at just the wring time as far as England were concerned he looks like a new man in 2022.

Although the 2nd Middlesex innings lasted longer, 80.3 overs, Hollman had the highest score again with 46 from 86. They were bowled out for 240 with 4 of the 5 bowlers taking wickets.

Ed Pollock, opening for Worcs scored a quick 113 from 77 balls, helping to finish this game off in just 46.4 overs

Some massive innings this week – here they are listed with the other century makers