Championship Round-up: Sussex produce late rally to hurt Durham

Championship Round-up: Sussex produce late rally to hurt Durham

Alex Hales makes another century; Runs aplenty for Somerset at Taunton; Leicestershire in commanding position against Northants

Stumps, Day One: Durham 103/2 (Stoneman 57) trail Sussex 335 (Robinson 110, Hobden 65*; Rushworth 3-78, Arshad 3-41) by 232 runs, at Emirates Durham.

The host team won the toss and captain Paul Collingwood elected to have a bowl on the morning of the north-east side’s third Championship match of the season. This decision appeared to have given Durham the upper hand for the majority of the day, as opponents Sussex found themselves four wickets down at lunch and nine down at the tea break.

Enter on-loan bad-boy Oliver Robinson. The man sacked by Yorkshire last summer came in with his temporary side flailing on 171/9 and played a storming innings alongside teammate Matthew Hobden and put on a partnership of 164.

Robinson ended on 110 before Usman Arshad had him caught by Calum MacLeod at gully. His century came from 101 balls, including 16 fours. Hobden was slower off the mark but ultimately clocked up an unbeaten 65 from 79 balls and the pair almost doubled the team’s score.

As for Durham’s bowlers, the wickets were shared around and it looked as though they would all head in with fairly average figures, until Robinson and Hobden met at the crease. Graham Onions and John Hastings took two wickets for the cost of 72 and 81 respectively, with just Chris Rushworth taking three wickets for 78 and 41 respectively.

In reply, Durham had looked to be making serene progress, with Mark Stoneman making a half century, but two late wickets ensured the game would be back in the balance at the end of day one.

 

Stumps, Day One: Hampshire vs Nottinghamshire 301/6 (Hales 136*, Mullaney 66), at The Rose Bowl

Just as in Durham, the host side won the toss and their captain, Jimmy Adams, opted to put the visitors in to bat. Nottinghamshire have proven fairly formidable thus far this season and despite some good bowling from James Tomlinson and Gareth Berg which limited the initial scoring pace, Nottinghamshire were firmly in front at close of play.

The form of a certain number three bat has continued and Alex Hales, who troubled Yorkshire so severely last weekend with a double ton, this week reached the close of play on 136. Hales came to the crease after openers Stephen Mullaney and Brendan Taylor put up an opening partnership of 61, at which point Taylor found himself on 24, beaten by a Danny Briggs delivery and subsequently lacking a leg stump. As if Hales’ ton wasn’t enough, he also passed 500 runs so far this season. Please take note that Nottinghamshire are only playing their third match.

In sync with the rest of the Championship matches going on around the country today, the wickets were spread around for the bowling team – Andre Adams, Sean Ervine, Danny Briggs and Liam Dawson all walked off with a wicket each.

 

Stumps, Day One: Leicestershire 102-1 (Robson 52*) trail Northamptonshire 251 (Peters 40; Raine 4-55) by 149 runs at Grace Road

There was plenty happening at Leicester today. Once again, the host team won the toss and elected to have a bowl, putting their visitors Northamptonshire in to bat.

With Northamptonshire making just 251 runs from 72.1 overs, and Leicestershire reaching the close of play on 102-1 from 23 overs, it was the latter team who finished on top.

Bowler Ben Raine secured figures of 16-4-55-4 and received ample support from teammates Clint McKay (2-75) and Charlie Shreck (2-41) while Tom Wells took 1-17 and Dan Redfern, rather impressively, ended with figures of 0.1-0-0-1.

Rob Newton led the way in the run-scoring department as the only man to make it past 50 before finding himself trapped by a Raine delivery on 71 and given out leg before. Runs from opener Stephen Peters (40) and all-rounder David Willey (36) did little to support the team’s efforts to get beyond the 250 mark.

 

Stumps, Day One: Middlesex 10-0 trail Somerset 408 (Trescothick 140, Hildreth 187; Harris 5-83) by 398 runs, at Taunton.

It was the day to be a Somerset batsman. Playing at home, Somerset Captain Marcus Trescothick lost the toss to Middlesex captain Adam Voges who opted to put the hosts in to bat.

Trescothick made sure the visiting side would regret this decision as he and number four batsman James Hildreth put on a 261 run partnership in 48.2 overs. Trescothick himself scored a brilliant 140 from 190 balls including 24 fours and a solitary six while Hildreth reached 187 (212 balls, 25 fours and two sixes) before becoming James Harris’ fifth victim.

Harris’ figures at close of play – polished somewhat by the high figure in the wickets column – were 18-1-83-5.

The wicket of Trescothick – who incidentally fell to Voges – seemed to be the key to Somerset’s onslaught. New boy Jim Allenby stuck around to put up a 55 run stand with Hildreth but the hosts then crumbled from 377-4 to 408 all out. That’s a loss of seven wickets for just 31 runs and the epitome of a batting collapse.

Middlesex opening batsmen Sam Robson and Nick Gubbins put on 10-0 in the last four overs of the day, allowing for bowlers Steve Finn and Tim Murtagh to get some welcomed rest as their figures of 20-2-82-1 and 15-3-58-1 respectively left something to be desired.

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