Metro Bank One Day Cup Round Up

We’re halfway so how is your side getting on?

Most teams have now played four games, so we have reached the halfway point in the group stages. The leaders in the two groups reflect the demands made on counties by the Hundred, with Worcestershire and Derbyshire at the top of Group A and Glamorgan leading Group B. The two sides to have successfully weathered the losses are Warwickshire and Somerset and the good news is so far, all the matches have been completed, albeit with some having lost a few overs.

Worcestershire are just missing Adam Hose to the Hundred, but their bowling has been decimated by injuries. Nevertheless they have made a strong start to the competition with comfortable wins over Middlesex, Durham and Derbyshire. They posted a dominant 371/3 against Middlesex thanks to an opening stand of 259 between Gareth Roderick (115) and Ed Pollock (180). The bowling absences meant there were new names on show, with 19-year-old Harry Darley and 18-year-old Jack Home alongside Hishaam Khan and Tommy Sturgess, all four making their List A debuts. Darley, Home and Sturgess each took three wickets, as Middlesex were dismissed for 188.

The Pears are also short of spinners in their squad and have signed slow left armer Fateh Singh on loan from Nottinghamshire, but it was with the bat that Singh made a mark against Durham, scoring 60 from 46 balls as he helped Jake Libby (89) get Worcestershire to 260. 5/56 from another youngster Tom Hinley, the slow left arm all rounder also having made his debut against Middlesex, helped dismiss Durham for 167, eight batters failing to reach double figures. They then met Derbyshire, who had won their first three games, but the young Worcestershire attack was again up to the task as the opposition were dismissed for 260, Harry Came making 71 and Home taking 6/51. The Worcestershire batters then continued their excellent form, reaching the target inside 45 overs, Roderick unbeaten on 152 and Jake Libby 71. Roderick leads the run scoring in the competition with 269 at 134.50.

Somerset have struggled in this competition in recent years as a result of the number of their squad who get called up to the Hundred, but they currently sit second in Group A with three wins, despite having again lost 11 players. They started with a win against Kent, chasing down 268. Lewis Goldsworthy took 4/44 in the Kent innings, in which Joey Evison and Grant Stewart posted half centuries. Andrew Umeed was the second highest run scorer in this competition in 2023 and has already scored 203 runs this year, including 114 not out in this game. Somerset lost to Hampshire in their next game despite more runs from Umeed. His 84 was the mainstay of Somerset’s total of 242, but Hampshire reached the target off 46.1 overs, thanks to 96 not out from Toby Albert. They had a comfortable win against Durham, Goldsworthy this time performing with the bat, his 93 helping Somerset to 241/9 before England’s discarded spinner, Jack Leach took 6/26; Durham all out for 108. Their latest game was an equally dominant win, this time against Lancashire. Another disappointing batting display from Lancashire meant Somerset were chasing a target of 219, Kasey Aldridge taking 6/33. George Thomas then scored an unbeaten 106, with James Rew on 60 not out, as Somerset got home with eight wickets and 9.1 overs to spare.

Despite the loss to Worcestershire, Derbyshire sit just behind them in Group A having played one match more. They had relatively comfortable run chases in their first three games, Luis Reece and Came both making strong starts with the bat. They have the experienced leadership of Samit Patel, who has stepped in to captain the side following the late call up of Ross Whiteley to the Welsh Fire. Zak Chappell and Sam Conners have been joined by Pat Brown to create a strong pace attack and 17-year-old Harry Moore has backed them up with some economical spells. There is then the wily left arm spin of Patel. Northamptonshire set them a target of 236 and they got home with two wickets and eight balls to spare. Chappell took 4/39 in the Northants innings and he then saved the day with the bat, finishing on 94 not out, while Whiteley made 65. Next up, Middlesex were restricted to 266 and then 113 not out from Came and 88 from Rees took them to the target one down. They then crushed Lancashire in their third match, bowling the opposition out for 99, Brown taking 5/37. The target was reached one down, inside 20 overs, Reece finishing on 55 not out.

Hampshire opened their campaign with two wins, defeating Northamptonshire by 71 runs and Somerset (see above) by five wickets. Against Northants, 139 from Ben Brown helped Hampshire to 285/8 and then it was 18-year-old seamer, Eddie Jack with 4/28 and 3/41 from Tom Prest that kept Northants to 214, dismissed inside 44 overs. Hampshire have the benefit of a strong pace attack which includes Kyle Abbott, Mohammad Abbas and Brad Wheal and will be hopeful of repeating last year’s performance where they reached the final.

Kent inflicted Hampshire’s one defeat so far, three wickets from Beyers Swanepoel and two each from Grant Stewart and Australian, Charlie Stobo restricting Hampshire to 168. Harry Finch’s 53 not out helped Kent to the target inside 41 overs. They too have secured two wins from three matches, going down to Somerset in their first outing and then defeating Lancashire. In the latter game they defended a modest total of 209, Finch top scoring with 48. Lancashire’s skipper Keaton Jennings made batting look easy, ending on 107 not out, but none of his colleagues could stay with him and needing six runs from the last over, Matt Parkinson took the last wicket off the second ball, to finish with 4/30. Lancashire will be weakened further by the call up of Jennings by the London Spirit, to replace Zak Crawley.

Durham join Hampshire and Kent on four points. In their first game, 111 from the bat of Alex Lees helped them to a commanding 344/4. Josh Bohannon kept Lancashire in the chase, finishing with 147 from 119 balls, but apart from Jennings (44), no-one else could stay with him and they fell 57 runs short, Bas de Leede taking 3/33. They then had the disappointing batting displays against Hampshire and Somerset before bouncing back against Northants. 97 from Prithvi Shaw guided Northants to 260 and then 108 from Durham’s Colin Ackerman saw them home by four wickets with 11 balls to spare. Durham have the strength in batting and bowling to put up a challenge for a top three spot, if they can gain some consistency.

Middlesex have one win, chasing down 318 against Northants and while they can still qualify, Northants and Lancashire will have to wait until next year.

Meanwhile Glamorgan have made a fast start in Group B alongside Warwickshire, both with four wins from four. Glamorgan have only lost Mason Crane to the Hundred, Chris Cooke’s stint with the Welsh Fire cut short by a calf injury. They started with a tight contest against Gloucestershire, before more comfortable wins against Surrey and Nottinghamshire. Rain reduced the match against Gloucestershire to 33 overs-a-side and they were indebted to 65 not out from Ben Kellaway to reach 187/8. Gloucestershire were in control at 157/5 from 27.2 overs, with James Bracey on 86, but they then lost their last five wickets for just three runs, Dan Douthwaite finishing with 4/25. Glamorgan then enjoyed a seven wicket win against Surrey having bowled Surrey out for 121, before taking on Nottinghamshire. Notts made 274/9, Andy Gorvin taking 5/56, but unbeaten centuries from Eddie Byrom and Colin Ingram overhauled the target inside 46 overs. Their latest game against Sussex was a hard fought affair that went to the wire. Sussex were well placed in their innings at 95/1 off 22.1 overs, with Tom Haines (44) and Henry Rogers (35) at the crease. However they lost six wickets for 35 runs before Bertie Foreman (32) and Archie Lenham (31) took the final total to 200. Douthwaite finished with 4/44, to lead the wicket taking in the competition with 12 at 14.75, Gorvin right behind with 10 at 14.50. Glamorgan looked on course with their chase at 80/1, but the spin duo of Foreman and Lenham pegged them back, taking 6/63 between them and despite 51 from Eddie Byrom and 48 from Billy Root, when Root was eighth out with the score on 181, Sussex looked favourites. The ninth wicket went down still 14 runs short, but Gorvin and Jamie McIlroy hung on to see them home.

Warwickshire appear to have made light of the loss of nine players to the Hundred and have a strong batting line up with the experience of Rob Yates, Ed Barnard, Will Rhodes and Michael Burgess. They also have some useful bowling options with Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Barnard, Craig Miles, Rhodes and Jake Lintott and it is difficult to understand how Barnard has been overlooked by the Hundred franchises. He sits second in the wicket taking table for the competition so far with 10 at 14.30 and has scored 195 runs at 65.00. The batting was made to work in their opening game against Essex, having been set a target of 325. Barnard played a captain’s knock, ending with 173 not out from 140 balls, as Warwickshire got home with 14 balls and seven wickets to spare. They then made short work of Leicestershire, dismissing them for 88 with Barnard taking 4/21 and Craig Miles 3/16, before making a bit of a meal of a target of 174 against Sussex, thankful to Will Rhodes (60) and 19-year-old Kai Smith (44), having been reduced to 76/5. They eventually got home nine down. Their toughest contest so far was against winless Surrey. Runs from Chris Benjamin (75) and Burgess (60) took Warwickshire to 311/9 and Dom Sibley then held the Surrey innings together, putting on 124 runs with Ben Geddes (62) for the second wicket. However wickets then kept falling and when Sibley was eighth out for 149, with the score on 285, it was left to Nathan Barnwell (11*) to try and get them over the line. They fell three runs short, Michael Booth the pick of the bowlers with 3/54.

Leicestershire’s batting collapse against Warwickshire was sandwiched between two far more competent displays, which would be expected given a line up that includes Ajinka Rahane and Peter Handscomb. They piled on the runs against Nottinghamshire in their first match, reaching 369/6 and then held their Midlands neighbours to 89/6 off 14 overs, chasing an adjusted target of 105. Leicestershire then made it two wins from three with a three wicket win over Essex. Essex reached 290/9, with half centuries from Matt Critchley, Charlie Allison and Noah Thain and then 120 at a run a ball from Sol Budinger helped Leicestershire to get home with 15 balls to spare. Leicestershire have been strengthened by the return of Chris Wright who missed the start of the season following a positive drug test.

Nottinghamshire have won two and lost two, joining three other counties on four points. Having lost their first game to Leicestershire, they had a comfortable win against Sussex, three wickets each from Luke Fletcher and Toby Pettman dismissing Sussex for 216. Unbeaten centuries from Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed then took Notts to their target inside 22 overs. They then beat Yorkshire in a game where 20 wickets fell. Ben Coad took 4/14 and Dom Bess 3/26 as Notts were dismissed for 209 on the club ground at Sookholme, but 6/38 from Brett Hutton meant that Yorkshire could only manage 126.

Yorkshire are another team with a 50% record, opening with a 25 run win against Surrey in a game reduced to 33 overs-a-side. 83 from promising youngster Will Luxton and 51 by George Hill helped Yorkshire to 240/6 and then 3/41 from Hill and three wickets from Dominic Leech restricted Surrey to 222/9. Following the loss to Notts, they beat Sussex in their next game, Shan Masood’s 63 helping Yorkshire to 261, as Henry Crocombe took 4/47. Sussex were then dismissed for 212 off 44 overs. Their latest outing was a defeat against Gloucestershire, who have also won two and lost two. 98 from Ollie Price and 54 from Miles Hammond helped take Gloucestershire to 251/9 and in reply, despite 76 from Shan Masood and 56 from James Wharton, Yorkshire fell 36 runs short, Matt Taylor taking 3/35.

Gloucestershire lost their first two games, against Glamorgan and then Essex, where they fell 63 runs short of Essex’s total of 262/8. However, as well as beating Yorkshire, they came out on top against Surrey, 100 from Cameron Bancroft helping Gloucestershire to 301. Another strong bowling performance from Taylor, with 4/44, meant Surrey fell 37 runs short despite 87 from Ryan Patel.

While Essex’s win against Gloucestershire keeps them in with a chance of qualification, four losses for Sussex and Surrey rule them out.

Historically 12 points should guarantee a knock out spot, while 10 can get you there. Group A remains an open contest and it will be interesting to see if Worcestershire’s inexperienced bowling can keep them in a top three spot. In Group B, Glamorgan and Warwickshire have put themselves in a strong position with four wins from four, with the chasing pack potentially fighting for the final spot.

Group A

Group B