Week 12 Vitality County Championship Review

When is a pitch too dangerous?

The talking point this week is undoubtedly the abandoning of the game in Bristol, when the umpires decided that the batters were in danger because of the nature of the pitch. This follows a similar decision at Fenners when a One Day Cup warm up game was called off. The game this week was being played on one of the hybrid pitches that were installed to liven up the playing surfaces at Nevil Road, that had become very bland, particularly in the latter part of games and to benefit the presence of two of the quicker bowlers in county cricket, Marchant de Lange and Ajeet Singh Dale. Singh Dale was bowling when the match ended, having struck Rob Keogh on the hand with a ball that lifted off a length. Earlier Ricardo Vasconcelos had been struck by the same bowler and forced to retire hurt, X rays later revealing a broken finger. Northamptonshire had already dismissed Gloucestershire for 125, Ollie Price (52) and Graeme van Buuren (40) the only batters to get to double figures. Justin Broad finished with seven for 33, but the medium pace of the Northants attack did not raise any concerns. In reply Northants had reached 116/2 when play ended.

The umpires issued a brief statement: “The match has been abandoned because there was a foreseeable risk to the batters. In the opinion of the umpires, it would be unreasonable to continue.”

In the match the week before in Bristol, Gloucestershire scored 544/4 declared on a neighbouring grass pitch against Leicestershire, who had made 402 and the county deployed a hybrid pitch for their home Championship match against Middlesex in May without any issues arising. The question is what is just tricky and what is dangerous? Batters’ lives were not at risk and there will be many a player who faced West Indian quick bowlers from the past who will have felt at distinctly greater risk of injury. Surely that is part of the game and if we want to see quick bowlers, the game cannot suffer this type of approach. Gloucestershire have not taken any points from the game and we wait to see if further penalties are applied. Many however are of the opinion that the match officials are the ones who failed the game. Perhaps the game should be played with softer balls?

It is worth noting that despite the use of a Kookaburra ball this week, four out of the five matches in Division One ended in positive results, while two out of the three completed games in Division Two ended in draws. This may reflect the relative strengths of the bowling in the two divisons. The Kookaburra ball undoubtedly resulted in more overs of spin and a number of those proficient in the art were able to take sizable hauls of wickets. The arguments in favour of the Kookaburra seemed to have been borne out.

Meanwhile Surrey were looking to consolidate their position at the top of Division One against Nottinghamshire, a side in the relegation battle. Choosing to bat first at Trent Bridge, the visitors racked up 525 thanks to centuries from Rory Burns (161) and the young Indian star, Sai Sudharsan (105). However the headlines were made by 16-year-old Farhan Ahmed, brother of Rehan, who took seven wickets on this his Championship debut. It was another young player who provided the big innings of the Nottinghamshire reply, 19-year-old Freddie McCann posting 154 in just his second first-class game. Last week he made 51 in his first innings. He put on 136 for the second wicket with Haseeb Hameed (68) and 154 with Jack Haynes (68) for the fifth wicket. Kyle Verreynne added an unbeaten 50 and Notts finished on 405. It was spin again that dominated the Surrey bowling effort, Will Jacks taking seven for 129. Nottinghamshire then opened with spin from both ends when Surrey batted again under floodlights, at the end of day three. They finished the day on 17/1 and 71 from Burns was the main contribution to a total of 177/9 declared on day four. Liam Patterson-White and Ahmed bowled all 53 overs, taking five and three wickets respectively, making Ahmed the youngest player to take 10 wickets in a first-class match, beating a record set by WG Grace 159 years ago. 48 overs were then left in the game, with Nottinghamshire needing 298 to win and the players shook hands with Notts on 121/0.

Second placed Somerset hosted Durham in a match where spin was the main threat. Despite the loss of Andrew Umeed to the first ball of the game and two more wickets having fallen with just 63 on the board, centuries from Tom Abell (124) and James Rew (103) took Somerset to 492, Callum Parkinson taking four for 136. Durham’s reply was based on an unbeaten century from Brydon Carse, back playing after a ban related to betting. Alex Lees contributed 59 and Ben Raine 62 in a final total of 336, Jack Leach registering a fifer. Parkinson then opened the bowling in Somerset’s second innings as the follow on was not enforced. All the top six Somerset batters made useful contributions as they looked to set a target for the visitors and scoring at just over five runs per over, they declared on 263/5, leaving Durham to score 420 from 109 overs. Leach and Archie Vaughan opened the bowling under floodlights and Durham finished day three, three down with just 15 on the board, their situation not helped by the run out of Ben McKinney in the second over. It was a matter of Durham trying to hang on, but Leach was too good and his seven for 50 meant Durham were dismissed for just 126 and the win by 293 runs meant Somerset closed the gap at the top.

Essex’s challenge faltered as they went down to Worcestershire, in a game that they looked set to win. The Pears chose to bat first at Chelmsford, but were faced with one of the best new ball attacks in the country and were soon in trouble at 46/5. Lower order runs from Brett D’Oliveira (68), Ethan Brookes (46), Tom Taylor (62*) and Amar Virdi (42), got the visitors to 266, Jamie Porter finishing with five for 52. Runs from most of the Essex batters including a century by Michael Pepper, took them to 404 and Worcestershire were left to bat out the last five overs of day two. Joe Leach was sent in as nightwatchman and safely negotiated the test. They batted through a slightly shortened day three and were all out five overs into day four, posting 321 to leave Essex needing 184 for victory. Sam Cook took four for 23. What looked a straight forward task turned into anything but. Essex were going steadily at 69/2 when Brett D’Oliveira pulled off two sharp pieces of fielding in the space of three balls, first to run out Robin Das and then to catch Jordan Cox off the bowling of Logan van Beek. Essex were unable to establish any partnerships and van Beek with four for 26 as Essex were dismnissed for 140, Robin Das top scoring with 32. The result sees Essex drop below Hampshire into fourth place, now 36 points behind Surrey.

Lancashire suffered another defeat, this time at the hands of Hampshire. Put into bat, Hampshire posted 389 thanks to centuries from Fletcha Middleton (109) and Liam Dawson (104*) as well as 75 from Nick Gubbins; Luke Wells taking four wickets. A half century from Keaton Jennings and 43 by Josh Bohannon could only get the home side to 200, Dawson taking five for 47. The follow on was enforced and wickets continued to fall, Luke Wells (51) the only one of the top order to offer resistance. Another fifer for Dawson polished off the Lancashire innings and Hampshire won by an innings and 37 runs inside three days. They now move into third place, 13 points behind Somerset.

Kent registered their seventh loss of the season, this time going down to Warwickshire by an innings and 21 runs, the win moving Warwickshire clear, at least for the moment, of the relegation battle. The Bears chose to bowl first and the decision was vindicated when they dismissed the visitors for 156, only Ben Compton (70) and Joey Evison (28) reaching double figures. A double century from Will Rhodes then helped Warwickshire to 420, Ed Barnard contributing 65. Second time around half centuries from Daniel Bell-Drummond (78) and Joey Evison (65) helped stave off the inevitable, but six wickets for Oliver Hannon-Dalby, including a 14 ball spell of three for six, meant Kent were all out for 243.

In Division Two it was the contest at Headingley that created most interest, second taking on third. However the combination of a flat deck and the Kookaburra ball turned it into a stalemate with just 18 wickets falling over the four days. Yorkshire had retained the services of Jonny Bairstow and he rewarded them with his first first-class century in a little over two years. His score of 160 was matched by George Hill with 169, his first century of the season, as the two shared a partnership of 238, Yorkshire’s highest sixth-wicket stand in first-class matches against Middlesex. Yorkshire eventually declared on 601/6, but with the benign nature of the pitch, the Yorkshire bowlers were going to need to toil hard to dismiss Middlesex twice. It was Sam Robson who led the way with his 35th first-class century and he was backed up by half centuries from Max Holden and Jack Davies as well as a fifth century of the campaign for Ryan Higgins, who finished day three on 117 not out, with MIddlesex 441/5 in their first innings, still trailing by 160. Higgins went on to score 155 and Davies 61 as Middlesex reached 522, Dom Bess taking seven for 179 from 70.4 overs. It was then a matter of Yorkshire batting out time and they were 150/2 when bad light brought an end to play at 4:09pm. Yorkshire collected 13 points and Middlesex 11, the two sides now separated by just one point.

Sussex reestablished a gap at the top of Division Two, posting an imposing total of 607/8 declared against Derbyshire. Daniel Hughes made 144 and John Simpson continued his fine season, with a score of 121. Jack Carson reached 97 and there were seventies from Tom Haines and Tom Alsop. Derbyshire were then thankful to Wayne Madsen for holding their innings together as he scored 138 out of a total of 290, the remainder of the top five contributing just 11 runs. Carson backed up his batting with bowling figures of five for 90. Following on, Luis Reece and Harry Came made a solid start and it was a question of how the Sussex bowlers would fair, having already put down 83.3 overs. James Coles, with his left arm spin, was the first to strike, Luis Reece (27) lofting a sweep to deep square leg. Carson then trapped Brooke Guest lbw for 24, before Madsen joined Harry Came and they saw their side through to stumps on day three at 141/2, still 176 runs behind. Came (79) and Madsen (77) put on 123 for the third wicket, but the last eight wickets fell for 54 runs and Sussex won by an innings and 59 runs. Carson took six for 67 to finish with eleven wickets for the match. With Yorkshire and Middlesex playing out a draw, Sussex are now 19 points clear at the top.

Fourth placed Leicestershire travelled to Cardiff knowing they needed to start winning games if they were to keep any promotion hopes alive. They were put in on a hybrid pitch, being used for the first time in a men’s game at Sophia Gardens, but it was some poor batting rather than any problems with the surface that saw them dismissed for 251, Timm van der Gugten and Dan Douthwaite both taking four wickets. The Glamorgan reply of 550/9 declared was based on a maiden first class double century from South African veteran, Colin Ingram and Leicestershire will regret having put him down twice. During the innings Ingram became the first player to pass a 1000 Championship runs. The sad state of the modern game was also show when Leicestershire’s Sam Wood escorted a ball over the boundary and then did nothing to signal the four to the umpires. When Leicestershire came to bat again, the pitch was favouring the batter, but Glamorgan made some progress. They had taken three wickets with 74 on the board and then Mason Crane dropped Ajinkya Rahane twice off successive balls off his own bowling and then spilled a catch off Peter Handscomb at midwicket. The Foxes finished day three on 144/3 and on the final day both batters took full advantage of their reprieves by posting centuries. Handscomb was on 139 not out when rain washed out the last session, with Leicestershire on 369/6, a lead of 70. Glamorgan move above Gloucestershire, while Leicestershire are now 19 points behind second placed Middlesex.

Somerset have reduced the gap to Surrey from 35 to 24 points and much will rest on the result of the game between the two sides in the next round, with Surrey travelling to Taunton. Hampshire will be confident of a win against Kent, while Essex face a Nottinghamshire side that will be boosted by their performance against Surrey this week.

Kent are well adrift at the bottom, while Lancashire have dropped back into a relegation spot and their supporters will be nervous following two innings defeats.

Sussex have some breathing room again at the top of Division Two, while Middlesex and Yorkshire are scrapping for the second promotion spot. There was nothing between them this week and it will likely to go down to the last game.

Current Championship tables

Division One

Division Two