Week 11 Vitality County Championship Review

Is it too early to crown Surrey as champions?

After a 49 day break, Championship cricket has returned and normal service has resumed as Surrey registered their seventh win of the season. The weather has turned distinctly autumnal and rain prevented any play on day one at one ground. At the others rain interruptions were universal and certainly hampered some teams getting the win they might have been hoping for.

They did make a prompt start at the Oval and Lancashire were put into bat. Interest was raised by the inclusion of Rocky Flintoff in the Lancashire side and he was soon in action as both openers were out inside 11 overs. He made 32, while Matthew Hurst top scored with 46 as the Red Rose county were dismissed for 204, Jordan Clark taking four for 57 and Dan Worrall three for 31. This was a young Lancashire team containing seven home grown players and with an average age of 25. Surrey ended day one on 83/0 and then day two was dominated by Rory Burns who posted a double century, the main partnership being 197 with Ben Foakes (82) for the fourth wicket. 20-year-old Tom Aspinwall kept toiling away and finished with three for 88 and the innings ended with Surrey declaring on 444/9. It was then a matter of whether Lancashire could bat out the remaining two and a bit days. Only five balls of the Lancashire second innings were bowled on day two before bad light intervened and then rain restricted play to just 10.2 overs on day three, Lancashire ending on 26/1. Hurst was again the only batter to put up any significant resistance against the Surrey pace attack on day four, ending with 64. The innings did not last long after he was seventh out and Lancashire went down by an innings and 63 runs, Conor McKerr taking four for 27. It was a disappointing result for Lancashire having revived their season with two wins and two draws in their previous four Championship outings, but reflects the dominance of Surrey as they move 35 points clear at the top of Division One. Lancashire drop back into ninth place, although there are only 11 points between sixth and ninth.

Somerset are leading the chase and made the trip to Edgbaston to face struggling Warwickshire. Warwickshire have the luxury of being able to bat Michael Burgess down at eight and the long batting line up was needed as, having been put in, they recovered from 165/6 to 337 all out. There were sixties from Burgess, Jacob Bethell and Rob Yates, while Craig Overton and Josh Davey each took four wickets. When Somerset came to bat early on day two they were soon in trouble with both openers dismissed without a run on the board. Tom Lammonby tried to halt the slide, but when he was out for 44, the score was just 65/5. Kasey Aldridge (84) added 87 with James Rew (49) for the sixth wicket and 49 with Craig Overton (24) for the seventh, but the innings finally ended on 239, Ed Barnard taking five for 54. Warwickshire finished day two on 27/1 and when play got underway after lunch on day three it was Alex Davies who dominated, finishing the day on 109 not out, as Warwickshire reached 179/5, a lead of 277. Davies added another 22 runs on the morning of day four and the innings finished on 270. Somerset were left needing an improbable 369 from 68 overs and 10 overs were then lost following rain that delayed the restart after lunch. The game finished with Somerset on 206/4, James Rew unbeaten on 55.

When play eventually got underway at the Utilita Bowl on the morning of day two, Essex were asked to bat first, in a game where third faced fourth. Despite the early dismissal of Robin Das, Dean Elgar (136) and Tom Westley (64) settled in and when Westley fell, Jordan Cox took over, his century coming off just 92 balls. Hampshire fought back with Mohammad Abbas taking two wickets in successive balls at the end of the day, but with Cox finishing with a score of 141, Essex ended day two on 404/8. It was a tough first Championship appearance of the season for John Turner, going for 90 runs from his 14 overs as he tries to push his international credentials. Only 33.4 overs were then possible on day three, Essex declaring on 438/8 and then Hampshire reaching 40/1 as the match petered out into a bonus points contest. Hampshire had reached 424/8 when the players shook hands, Toby Albert making 124 and Tom Prest 156. Matt Critchley took five for 96, including three wickets in the last over as Hampshire chased the final bonus point. They then declared on 438/8, preventing Essex gaining their third bowling bonus point.

Durham were put in by Nottinghamshire at Chester-le-Street and the opening pair of Alex Lees and Ben McKinney took full advantage as they piled on an opening partnership of 189, 19-year-old McKinney notching up his maiden first class century. He went for 121, while Lees posted 145. Ashton Turner added an undefeated 114 as Durham declared on 531/7. Nottinghamshire lost Ben Slater early on, before Haseeb Hameed (44) and Championship debutant Freddie McCann (51) put on 85 for the second wicket. They went in quick succession and it was left to Lyndon James to rescue the innings. He is having an excellent season with the bat having scored 436 runs at 48.44, but his 56 only helped Nottinghamshire to 229, still 302 runs behind. Durham have brought in Neil Wagner until the end of the season and he repaid them with figures of four for 68. Unfortunately Wagner injured his shoulder in the field on day two and did not play any further part in the match. The follow on was enforced and Notts finished day three on 212/6 still trailing by 90 runs, but with the possible salvation of rain that was forecast after lunch on the final day. When play restarted on day four two wickets fell quite quickly, but Durham were held up by a 50-run eighth wicket partnership between James (31*) and Olly Stone (29). 19-year-old Daniel Hogg, trapped Stone lbw and then capped off an excellent Championship debut by dismissing Brett Hutton to end with seven for 66 and give Durham a win by an innings and 17 runs.

Kent fell further adrift at the bottom of Division One going down by eight wickets to Worcestershire. Batting first, Tawanda Muyeye (56) and Ben Compton (20) posted an opening stand of 73, but Joe Leach (six for 52) and Adam Finch (two for 51) ripped through the Kent batting, all out for 171. There were then contributions from all the Worcestershire batters, led by 97 from Brett D’Oliveira, playing his first game for five weeks, 63 from Gareth Roderick and 50 by Ethan Brookes as they reached 447. Kent’s second innings got off to the worst possible start as Compton ran himself out for a duck attempting a non-existent single. Muyeye then decided to take the attack to the opposition bowlers and reached his 50 from just 45 balls with eight fours and a six. He was still there at the end of day two on 80 and after play finally got under way at 2pm on day three he went on to record his maiden double century. Kent were finally all out for 376 early on day four, Tom Taylor taking four for 99 and Worcestershire were left a target of 101. It was then just a matter of dodging the showers and Worcestershire got home by eight wickets, Kashif Ali finishing 52 not out. The win jumps Worcestershire up to sixth place, although they are only six points ahead of Lancashire in ninth.

First met third in Division Two at Scarborough and having won the toss the Yorkshire seamers took full advantage of favourable bowling conditions to dismiss the visitors for 189, Tom Alsop (86*) and Daniel Hughes (53) the only batters to pass 16. Jordan Thompson and Matthew Revis both took three wickets. The Sussex innings ended in the second over of day two and Yorkshire battled hard to fashion a first innings lead, led by Will Luxton, whose 59 came off 130 balls. Jonny Bairstow made 57 and Thompson backed up his bowling effort with an unbeaten run-a-ball 44. The innings finished on 326, Jack Carson taking his maiden five wicket haul of the season. It was Ben Coad who did the damage for Yorkshire in the Sussex second innings, his five for 69 helping restrict the visitors to 239, leaving Yorkshire 103 to win. They were 28/2 at the end of day three, Lyth still there on 26. However, Yorkshire did not have it all their own way as they closed in on victory, Carson taking four more wickets including Lyth for 40. They eventually got home with four wickets to spare, the win keeping Yorkshire just behind Middlesex.

Second placed Middlesex hosted Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School and asked the visitors to bat first. Morning rain meant there was no play before lunch and Prithvi Shaw (24) and Emilio Gay (42) made a solid start before Toby Roland-Jones started to chip away at the Northants batting. Wickets fell steadily and it was only an eighth wicket partnership of 83 between Lewis McManus (39*) and Ben Sanderson (40) that allowed Northants to reach 207, Roland-Jones finishing with five for 49. Each of the Middlesex top order made starts, Sam Robson reaching 58 and Leus du Plooy was undefeated on 66 at the end of play on day two, with Middlesex on 250/7. No play was possible on day three and going into day four a result looked unlikely. Middlesex added just 14 to their overnight score, du Plooy out for 71, but Roland-Jones was not going to give up the fight and his six wickets helped skittle out Northants for just 167, leaving Middlesex 25 overs to score 111. An unbeaten 64 from 42 balls then took Middlesex over the line with 50 balls to spare and kept them above Yorkshire in second place.

Rain interrupted the start of the game at Bristol, where Gloucestershire were up against Leicestershire. Having been asked to bat first the Leicestershire openers were up to the task, Rishi Patel the dominant partner, scoring 47 of the 66 run opening stand. After he departed three more wickets fell before Rehan Ahmed (60) put on 98 with Ian Holland for the fifth wicket. Holland went for 104 with the score on 245, but useful lower order runs from Liam Trevaskis (50) and Tom Scriven (60) thwarted the Gloucestershire bowlers and took the visitors to 402. It was then Ben Charlesworth who led the Gloucestershire reply, recording his maiden first class double century and then not to be out done, James Bracey made his highest first class score, posting 207 not out. Gloucestershire declared on 544/4 and the Leicestershire openers survived the last 10 overs of day three to end on 41. Half centuries from Patel (75), Holland (56) took the opening partnership to 142 and Peter Handscomb finished on 63 not out as bad light ended the game with the Foxes on 304/5.

Derbyshire and Glamorgan played on a hybrid pitch at Derby and the Glamorgan batters were met with bowler-friendly conditions, having been put in. Zak Chappell was the main destroyer for the home side as Glamorgan were reduced to 32/6, three of the top four gone for ducks. The only resistance came from Dan Douthwaite (36) and Timm van der Gugten, who remained unbeaten on 46 as Glamorgan were all out for 168. Chappell finished with six for 47. Apart from Timm van der Gugten, the Glamorgan bowlers were unable to build pressure on the opposition batters and runs from Harry Came (84), Wayne Madsen (70) and Anuj Dal (94) took the score to 429 and a 261 run lead. The two Glamorgan spinners, Mason Crane and Ben Kellaway both took three wickets, the first of Kellaway’s first class career. Pat Brown then removed both Glamorgan openers, but Kiran Carlson and Colin Ingram looked as if they were going to put up a fight. However after each had reached half centuries they played loose shots and despite being hampered by the loss of both Dal and Brown to injury, Derbyshire dismissed Glamorgan for 287, leaving them needing just 27 for victory. This they did without any mishaps and Derbyshire recorded their first Championship win since July 2022 and their first win at the County Ground since 2019. The result moves them one point ahead of Northants while Glamorgan drop to sixth.

It is difficult to see anyone catching Surrey at the top of Division One, while at the other end of the table Kent’s relegation looks inevitable. It will be a tight battle for who joins them.

Sussex have been pegged back at the top of Division Two and it looks as though the two promotion spots will likely be between them, Middlesex and Yorkshire.

Current Championship tables:

Vitlaity County Championship Division One

Vitality County Championship Division Two