365 Sporting Days

8 matches in this round of the County Championship, I wimped out of travelling into London to watch Surrey v Essex at The Oval.  I’m a member of both, a fan of Essex, and Surrey, when they aren’t playing Essex.  I think cricket fans are often members of more than one county, for me the season would be so much better if Surrey and Essex weren’t playing at home at the same time as they often have been this summer.  I find myself supporting my county while admiring a fair few Surrey players, especially the considerable number who’re home grown.  On to the scores on the boards as we get to the business end of the season. Something amazing happened over this round!

Division 1

Gloucestershire v Hampshire – College Ground, Cheltenham – James Vince won the toss for Hampshire and elected to bat.  Hampshire won by 6 wickets.

Hampshire 457 All Out & 82 for 4, Gloucestershire 201 All Out & 337 All Out

A 1st wicket stand between Felix Organ and Ian Holland of 117 set this Hants innings up well, Holland fell 9n 48, Organ went on to score 118 from 231 balls.  Captain Vince, in at 4 scored 95 from 162 balls and Keith Barker in at 8 added a very useful 50 from 38 balls.  Hants batted for 126.2 overs for their 457 and of the 8 bowlers used, 6 took wickets.

In reply Gloucs had lost 2 for 17 by the 6th over, Ollie Price pipped his captain Graeme van Buuren to the highest score with 59 from 129 balls, van Biuuren was 58 not out from 90 as Gloucs were bowled out in 64.2 overs.  Liam Dawson was the best of the bowlers with 4 for 44 from his §15 overs.

There was one mighty innings in Gloucs’ 2nd, Miles Hammond scored 168 from 278 balls, Ryan Higgins scored 63 from 94 balls as Gluons wetter bowled out in 98.2 overs. Kyle Abbot took 6 for 76 in his 19.s overs and Keith Barker 4 for 65. That took him too 42 wickets so far this season at an average of 20.

I believe bad light delayed Hants victory, they lost 4 wickets as they looked to get the thing won quickly, they got the required run-in just 9.3 overs.

Northamptonshire v Lancashire – The County Ground, Northampton. Will Young won the toss for Northants and  elected tp bat..  Lancashire won by 4 wickets.

Northants 235 All Out & 174 All Out, Lancashire 132 All Out & 278 for 6

Northants fell to 81 for 4 before Rob Keogh with 54 from 82 balls and keeper Lewis McManus with 61 from 88 got some runs on the board.  They were bowled out in 76.3 overs. Indian bowler Washington Sundar took 5 for 76 – he’s some bowler to have at your disposal! 

Lancashire didn’t fare well at all in their 1st innings, they were bowled out in 57.2 overs, Jack White took n incredible 5 for 14 in his 13 overs! 

Sundar only bowled 8 overs in Northants 2nd innings and didn’t take a wicket, Will Williams a 29 year old New Zealand bowler took 5 for 41 in his 19.1 overs as Northants were bowled out in 60.1 overs.

This was clearly  wicket that favoued the bowling attacks, but Lancashire, with the help of Josh Bohannon with 103 from 168 balls scored the runs required in 86.2 overs.

Somerset v Yorkshire – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.  Tom Bell won the toss for Somerset and elected to bat.  Match Drawn.

Somerset 424 All Out & 225 for 6, Yorkshire 276 All Out

Tom Abell was the star off the Somerset innings, batting at 3 he scored 116 from 239 balls, that with his 10 runs in the 2nd innings took him to 623 at an average of 47.92 for the season.  Lewis Gregory score a good 77 from 132 balls as Somerset batted for 121.4 overs.  Dom Bess took 4 for 68 in his 29 overs.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore who joins Somerset next season scored a round 100 from 201 balls, David Willey announced during the week that he returns to Northants next season.  Kohler-Cadmore’s was the only innings of note as Yorkshire were bowled out in 95.2 overs.  Of the 7 bowlers used, 5 took wickets.

This was a rain affected match, while the rest off the country sweltered.  Somerset batted for 51 overs before the match was declared a draw, `George Batlett finished on 88 not out from 110 balls.  

Surrey v Essex – The Oval, London.  Tom Westley won the toss for Essex and elected to bat .  Surrey won by 6 wickets.

Essex 271 All Out & 208 All Out, Surrey 319 All Out & 162 for 4

I’d planned to go to the first 3 days of this one, but the crazy heat and the thought of a tube journey did not appeal,  Essex fell to 91 for 6, ao although the Essex bowlers will have thanked Westley I don’t suppose the batters would!  It took a partnership of 113 between Keeper Adam Rossington and Simon Harmer to save the Essex innings.  Rossington scored 100 from 151 balls and Harmer 50 from 147 as Essex were bowled out in 84 overs.  Daniel Worrall, took 6 for 56 in his 19 overs.  An Australian cricketer who I believe has a British passport, his first foray into county cricket was with Gloucestershire.  

Surrey’s innings went a similar way to Essex, in that they too lost their top order for not many, falling to 103 for 6.  I did have a wry smile as one fellow Essex fan commented on Facebook that we were ‘into the tail’- I clearly knew more about Will Jacks than he did.  I had an evening at the Proms so missed what can only be described as FIREWORKS, Jacks had reached his centrist from 168 balls, he then added another 50 in just 16 balls!!  Horrendous for the bowlers, mostly Simon Harmer I believe, but wow for this young Surrey batter!  He received his cap on the morning of Day 3, memorable to say the very least!  Young bowler tom Lawes faced 61 balls as Jacks batted, hep only scored 19 but that helped facilitate this special innings.  Surrey were bowled out in 97.5 overs but they’s scored 319, a decent lead under the circumstances.  Essex bowler Shane Snater bowled really well, taking 3 for just 35 runs in his 21 overs, a player who’re really improved in a ll areas this season.

During my Proms absence Essex lost a pair of Cooks for just 4 runs apiece and found themselves on 16 for2, 2 more wickets for Worrall.  Captain Westley and Nick Browne, a player under some pressure added 49 fro the 3rd wicket and Dan Lawrence and Brown 65 for the 4th. Browne was out for 48 from 101 balls and Lawrence 47 from 99.  Worrall took 5 for 66 in a great match for him, as Essex were bowled out in 63.5 overs.

Keeping their title hopes alive and kicking Surrey took just 57.4 overs to score the runs needed for the win, with Lawes again doing well with 32* from 54 balls.  A match Surrey very much deserved to win; I’ve been concerned by the number of draws they’ve been involved in 4 in total, this was an impressive victory.  

Warwickshire v Kent – Edgbaston, Birmingham.  Will Rhodes won the toss for Warwicks and put Kent in to bat.  Kent won by 177 runs.

Kent 165 All Out & 384 for 9, Warwicks 225 All Out & 147 All Out

Warwicks bowler Oliver Hannon-Dalby was the story of Kent’s 1st innings as pretty much stormed through the Kent batting line up, he took 6 wickets for 40 runs in his 13 overs as Kent were bowled out in just 40.1 overs. Hannon-Dalby took 2 in Kent’s 2nd innings, that took him to 43 at an average of 21.69 only 2 bowlers have more wickets than him this season so far.  

Sam Hain shine with the bat for Warwicks while all around him were failing, he scored 99 from 215 balls. Warwicks were bowled out in 85.1 overs as Navdeep Saini, a 29 year old Indian bowler took 5 for 72 in his 18 overs.

Joe Denly put his team into a good position to get only their 2nd win off the season, as he scored 141 from 269 balls, Jordan Cox who’d top scored in the first innings scored 79 from 150 balls.  The wickets were shared between 4 of the 5 bowlers In an innings that lasted 110 overs. 

It was all about the bowlers as Warwicks were bowled out in just 39.5 overs, this time Matt Miles had the best figures of 4 for 11 in his 6.5 overs!  

Division 2

Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire – The Incora County Ground, Derby.  Steven Mullaney won the toss for Notts and elected to bat.  Match Drawn.

Nottinghamshire 618 for 8 dec. Derbyshire 318 All Out & 249 for 4

2 massive wings in this one as Haseeb Hameed scored 196 from 328 balls and Ben Duckett 241 from 273 balls, I imagine Duckett’s innings in particular was a joy to behold.  Hameed now has 813 runs at an average of 58.07 and Duckett 1105 at an average of 83.75.  He sits 4th I the table of runs cored so far this season.  Derbyshire used 7 bowlers 4 of them went for over 100 runs!  As Notts batted fro 134 overs.

Derbyshire had. a 3rd wicket stand of 140 s Wayne Madsen with 74 from 158 balls and Broke Guest with 109 from 267 combined.  With his 14 runs in the 2nd innings added Guest has 803 runs at 47.23 for the season so far.Teh 5 bowlers used shared the wickets as Derbyshire were bowled out in 111.5 overs.

The game fizzled out as Derbyshire had a decent opening stand this time of 161 as Harry Came scored 70 fro 193 balls and Luis Reece 86 from 237 balls.

Middlesex v Sussex – Lord’s, London.  Tim Murtagh won the toss for Middlesex and put Sussex in to bat.  Match Drawn

Sussex 523 All Out & 181 for 9, Middlesex 485 All Out

I imagine Tim Murtagh will have been the most unpopular captain as he chose to field in 40 degrees.  Ali Orr who has been having a great season was out early.  But there was another duo with huge scores as Tom Alsop scored §35 from 277 balls and Chetashwar Pujara 231 from 403 balls.  They put on 219 for the 3rd wicket.  Amongst that carnage Tom Helm took 5 for 109 in his 31.2 overs as Sussex batted for 162.2 overs.

Middlesex had 4 batters who reached and went over the 50 mark, Sam Robson, opening scored 62 from 121 balls, Pieter Malan 64 from 152 balls.  Keeper John Simpson scored 109 from 225 balls and Toby Roland-Jones, who’s having a great summer weighed in with 85 from 78 balls. Middlesex batted for 124.5 overs and Brad Currie Tok 6 for 93 in his 27 overs.

Realistically this match was heading to a draw, but the Middlesex bowlers made a good fight of things, Tom Clark opening for Sussex scored 56 from 89 balls the Aristides Karvelas in at 9 scored 57 from 97 balls.  Sussex batted for 78 overs and had a wicket in hand when the draw was declared.  Tom Helm took another 4, for 37 runs, A good match for the Middlesex bowler.

Leicestershire v Glamorgan – Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester.  Callum Parkinson won the toss for Leics and elected to bat.

Leicestershire 584 All Out Glamorgan 795 for 5 dec

I’m writing this as I’m travelling up to Edinburgh on the train, so I’ve been watching the goings on during Day 4 with interest!  The score above tells you something amazing happened!

Leicestershire had 5 batters with scores over 50, including one of over 150.  Opener Louis Kimber scored 68 from 113 balls, sharing a partnership of 93 with Lewis Hill in at 3. Hill made 81 from 106 balls and shared the crease with Wiaan Mulder for 15 overs after Colin Ackermann was out for a Golden Duck.  Mulder went on to score 158 from 201 balls.  Keeper Harry Swindells scored 52 from 106 balls, Ben Mike 91 from 148 and Roman Walker 64 from a 100 balls as the Leics lower order frustrated Glamorgan.  Andrew Salter took 4 wickets but at the cost of 158 runs as Leics batted for 148 overs.

The remarkable thing happened in the Glamorgan innings, they fell to 9 for 2, then, WOW!  There was a 306 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket, with Colin Ingram scoring 139 from 236 balls, the next 2 wickets went for 19 runs before Sam Northeast and keeper Chris Cooke put on 461 before the Glamorgan captain David Lloyd declared at lunch. Northeast scored 410 from 450 balls, batting for just over 10 hours. That incredible innings puts Northeast 9th in all First Class cricket and 3rd in County Cricket as far as highest individual scores go!  Cook made 191 from 227 balls.  So, an amazing feat, but I can’t help but feel if the match is drawn, it will be as meaningless in the scheme of things as Keaton Jennings 318 for Lancashire. 4 bowlers conceded over 100 runs. 

Well, I have to say WOOHOO!  Glamorgan got the job done and bowled out Leics for 183 Wiaan Mulder scored 59 from 92 balls but the win was secured in 59.4 overs and Glamorgan won by 28 runs.  That makes that amazing knock by Sam Northeast worth so much more!  

Century Makers 

• Felix Organ – Hants – 118 from 251 Balls
• Miles Hammon – Gluocs – 169 from 278 Balls
• Josh Bohannon – :Lancs – 103 from 168 Balls
• Tom Abell – Somerset. – 116 from 239 balls
• Tom Kohler-Cadmore – Yorks – 100 from 201
• BallsWill Jacks – Surrey. – 150 from 1§84 Balls
• Joe Denly – Kent. – 141 from 269 Balls
• Haseeb Hammed – Notts – 196 from 328 Balls
• Ben Duckett – Notts. – 241 from 273 Balls
• Brooke Guest – Derbys. – 109 from 267 Balls
• Tom Alsop – Sussex. – 135 from 277 Balls
• Chetashwar Pujara – Sussex – 231 from 403 Balls
• John Simpson – Middx. – 109 from 225 Balls
• Wiaan Mulder – Leics. – 156 from 201 Balls
• Colin Ingram – Glamorgan – 139 from 236 Balls
• Sam Northeast – Glamorgan – 410 from 450 Balls!
• Chris Cooke – Glamorgan – 191 from 227 Balls
• Adam Rossington – Essex – 100 from 151 balls. Sorry Adam for missing you out!

Surrey’s First Innings

Essex’s Second Innings