Still plenty to play for as we enter the final week of domestic cricket
Summer is coming to an end, although technically we are now playing cricket in autumn. County supporters should just be grateful that they are not having to support their team at 8pm in Durham. As it is, unsettled weather this week could prematurely end some nail biting encounters for counties involved in the promotion / relegation battles.
Following Somerset’s surprise loss to Lancashire, Surrey’s win over Durham confirmed them as Championship winners for the third successive year. People can criticize them for the parachuting in of Shakib Al Hasan against Somerset, a game they then went on to lose, but one has to admire the way they cope with the regular loss of players to international duties and the fact that they have developed so many of them. Their success will also attract talent such as Dan Lawrence and potentially Matthew Fisher for next season, but other counties will just have to try and match them.
It has been a tough couple of weeks for Somerset who were looking at a potential treble only to end up empty handed. As one of the “smaller” clubs, without an international ground, they too have a superb record of bringing through players and clearly benefit from the idiosyncratically high concentration of cricket-playing public schools around them. Their maiden Championship title must be close. For the moment they will want to regain second place having been overtaken by Hampshire, who they now trail by two points. The two sides meet in Taunton, the visitors on the back of a comfortable win against Worcestershire. If the last game at Taunton is anything to go by, this will be a battle of spin. Surprisingly neither Jack Leach nor Archie Vaughan were asked to turn their arm over in the Metro Bank One Day Cup final, but they are likely to be busy again this week. They took all 20 wickets in the game against Surrey, Vaughan out-performing his more illustrious partner eleven to nine. Hampshire have Liam Dawson, who is the leading spinner in the Championship with 50 wickets, 12 more than Leach, although he has played four more games. His slow left arm spin will be backed up by the off spin of Felix Organ, who has taken a creditable 14 wickets in six games. Somerset will be wanting to give their supporters something to cheer about this week.
At the other end of Division One, while Kent have gone down, Lancashire with their win against Somerset, have given themselves a chance of survival. They trail Nottinghamshire by 15 points and Warwickshire by 20. With the wet weather forecast, their chances of securing the win they need against Worcestershire is reduced, but against Somerset they showed they were not going to go down without a fight. Keaton Jennings has done his bit, passing 1000 runs for the season, including four centuries. They have brought in a number of young faces, including 16-year-old Rocky Flintoff, but some have questioned whether too much has been asked of them.
Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire face each other at Trent Bridge and with a draw likely to be enough for both sides, the question is how hard either side will go for the win. A loss for Warwickshire and only four bonus points could see Lancashire go above them with a win, while a loss for Nottinghamshire would see them go down if Lancashire win and Nottinghamshire do not get at least two more bonus points. Lancashire hold the advantage over both their rivals if points are equal as they have more wins, but will need a big turn around in fortune to avoid the drop.
In the last four rounds Notts have suffered two innings defeats, held champions Surrey to a draw and enjoyed a big win over Kent in their last game. Haseeb Hameed has led from the front, passing a 1000 Championship runs. Ben Slater and Joe Clarke each have over 900 runs and Dylan Penningtion, in his first season at Trent Bridge, has led the way with the ball with 31 wickets at 25.00. They have just not been able to get the wins and have slipped up too many times.
Warwickshire have had a disappointing season, their only win coming against whipping boys Kent. Their captain Alex Davies has topped their run scoring with 1110 at 52.85, followed by departing Will Rhodes with 983. Oliver Hannon-Dalby has taken 48 wickets at 21.14, but has not had the support needed to get the wins.
The big story in Division Two has been the resurgence of Yorkshire. After seven games they sat in seventh place with two losses and five draws. Since then they have won five games and drawn against promotion challengers Middlesex. They have an identical set of results to Middlesex, but have collected nine more batting bonus points and six more bowling. Yorkshire have the highest number of batting bonus points in either Division, Adam Lyth once again leading the way with 1068 runs at 53.40. Finlay Bean is next with 735 runs and they form a strong opening partnership. There is then a long batting order with a number of excellent all rounders. Bowlers are needed to win matches and in Ben Coad they have the leading wicket taker in the division with 52 at 16.03 and with Matthew Fisher back fit, Yorkshire will be hopeful of beating Northamptonshire. Northants have won their last two games on the back of 18 wickets from the leg spin of Yuzvendra Chahal, but fortunately for Yorkshire he has now returned to India.
Middlesex now trail Yorkshire by 15 points and face Sussex. Their opponents have already guaranteed promotion, but will want to confirm themselves as Division Two champions. Lack of first innings runs is costing Middlesex as it did last season when they were relegated. The timing of runs is the issue as they have three batters who have scored over 940, Ryan Higgins leading the way again with 1093 at 72.86. Toby Roland-Jones is still delivering the wickets with 52 at 22.09. However, they will have their work cut out against Sussex, who have won their last three matches by an innings. The recruitment of John Simpson and Daniel Hughes has been inspired, Simpson backing up his leadership with runs, currently sitting second in the run scoring in Division Two with 1110 at 69.37. Sussex have struggled in recent years, with a heavy reliance on youth, but that policy is now bearing fruit, brought together by Simpson, Hughes and Cheteshwar Pujara earlier in the season. Hughes has left, but they have brought in Jaydev Unadkat as a replacement for Jayden Seales and he has done an excellent job taking 20 wickets at 13.80 in his four games so far. Jack Carson has also made great progress. He has looked a good prospect for a few years and this summer the 23-year-old has taken 47 wickets at 22.91 and should have booked himself on another Lions tour.
Hopefully the weather will allow these contests to play out and we will see them going down to the wire.
