It’s the first round of the Championship as clear skies welcomed the start of the season with tight finishes at Taunton and Lord’s
Anyone bemoaning the start of Championship cricket in early April looked a bit stupid this week, as around the country the players were generally welcomed by sunshine, albeit temperatures took a while to warm up. Most parts of the country have not seen any significant rain for a number of weeks. No match was affected by the weather and the only interruption was at Trent Bridge, where 44 minutes play was lost at the start of day two because of misbehaving sprinklers.
The 2025 County Championship has a new sponsor in Rothesay, but on the field the dominant quartet from recent seasons: Surrey, Essex, Somerset and Hampshire all put up strong performances, although Surrey are showing some cracks. However, only Hampshire came away with a win, as Surrey and Essex cancelled each other out at Chelmsford and Somerset were denied the win by a massive rearguard action from Worcestershire. Nottinghamshire find themselves at the top of the table having defeated Durham, while new boys to Division One, Sussex more than held their own against Warwickshire.
In Division Two, Lancashire and Middlesex battled out a classic finish at Lord’s. Meanwhile wins for Kent, Leicestershire and Derbyshire will give their supporters hope of being in the hunt for promotion.
The biggest headlines were made at Taunton, where Tom Banton posted a record individual Championship total for Somerset of 371. This was the main component of a Somerset score of 670/7 declared, James Rew making 152. It was in reply to Worcestershire’s first innings total of 154. Having been put in, the Pears made a solid start with Gareth Roderick (58) and Jake Libby (30) putting on 70 for the first wicket, but Kasey Aldridge ripped through the top order, finishing with 5/36 from eight overs.
Somerset declared their first innings after Banton was dismissed early on day three and when Worcestershire came to bat again, Jack Leach was on by the eighth over. They needed a mammoth 516 to avoid an innings defeat and it seemed only a matter of time before the inevitable, with 184 overs left in the game. At 116/4, halfway through the afternoon session on day three, Leach having captured three of the wickets to fall, the writing looked on the wall, but Adam Hose and Brett D’Oliveira weren’t going down without a fight. The pair put on 158 for the fifth wicket before Hose fell to Aldridge for 82, his wicket coming just before the end of day three. Adam Finch was bowled in the sixth over of day four by the same bowler and then it was the turn of Matthew Waite to dig in. He and D’Oliveira batted out 356 balls for their 110 run partnership, before Archie Vaughan and Somerset benefited from a controversial decision, as D’Oliveira (121) was adjudged lbw to a ball pitching well out side off stump to which the batter, lunging forward, offered no shot. That made it 398/7, Worcestershire still trailing by 118 runs with 31.2 overs left in the final day’s play. Ben Allison and Tom Taylor both hung around, but Overton saw off Allison and Leach dismissed Taylor to give him his 500th first class wicket. That left number 11, 22-year-old Tom Taylor, in his second first class game, to try and see out the last 87 balls, bowled by Leach and Vaughan and that he and Waite did, Worcestershire ending on 485/9, still trailing by 31. Somerset had failed to dismiss Waite in either innings and his 87 from 319 balls was a magnificent effort.
The clash between Essex and Surrey at Chelmsford gave both sides a chance to lay down a marker and it was Essex who had much the better of the game, with Surrey having to hang on for the draw. With Dean Elgar on paternity leave, an unlikely opening pair of Paul Walter and Charlie Allison took the field as the home side elected to bat first. This was 20-year-old Allison’s debut first class game, but the pair were up to the task, putting on 78 for the first wicket. Walter went on to fall five short of his third first class century, but it was hundreds from Jordan Cox (117), Matt Critchley (145*) and Michael Pepper that resulted in the substantial first innings total of 582/6 declared. Surrey found batting a little more difficult as Simon Harmer elicited some turn. He ended with four wickets, while Surrey were indebted to late order runs, with the seventh, eight and ninth wickets each contributing at least 50. They ended on 365 and despite having bowled almost 130 overs, Essex enforced the follow on. Only six overs were left on day three and Surrey resumed on the final morning on 9/0, needing another 208 to make Essex bat again. Surrey aren’t champions for nothing and it was no surprise to see Dom Sibley dig in, using up 221 deliveries for his 66 runs. He had support from Ben Foakes who made 50 from 134 balls, to go with his 92 not out in the first innings. Essex used eight bowlers as they chased the victory, but the wickets wouldn’t come and the players shook hands with Surrey on 219/6, a lead of two. The Essex bowlers will be keen to put their feet up, while Surrey will be hoping for a stronger performance against Hampshire.
Newly promoted Yorkshire chose to bat first at Southampton, but were soon on the back foot as the Hampshire seam attack, which has been reinforced by Sonny Baker and Kiwi, Brett Hampton dismissed them for 121 inside 35 overs. The ever reliable Liam Dawson also took 3/8 while Dawid Malan, back playing red ball cricket, top-scored with 31. Hampshire’s first innings total of 249 was based on forties from Mark Stoneman and Fletcha Middleton at the top of the order and an unbeaten 49 from skipper Ben Brown. Jack White and George Hill each finished with three wickets. A century from Adam Lyth and 56 by new Championship skipper Jonny Bairstow, then helped Yorkshire to 275, Brad Wheal taking 4/56, but Hampshire were left needing just 147 to complete the win. They somewhat limped over the line in the evening session of day three, getting home by five wickets, grateful to 57 from the bat of Tom Prest.
Nottinghamshire made a confident start to their campaign with an eight wicket win aganst Durham at Trent Bridge. Asked to bat first, the Durham innings was built around a century from Colin Ackerman. A half century from Alex Lees and forties by Graham Clark and George Drissell helped them to 378, Notts Australian early season overseas signing, Ferguson O’Neill taking 5/81. There were then runs all down the order from Nottingham, led by 92 from Ben Compton and 125 by Lyndon James, who received support down the order from Josh Tongue, who posted a maiden first class 50. The innings ended on 579 and Durham were soon in trouble at 29/2, still 172 runs behind. Ben McKinney (37) was joined by Ackerman and they saw the score to 100, but three wickets then fell for just 23 runs. When Graham Clark joined Ackerman with five wickets down, Durham still trailed by 78 runs. The pair held up the Notts bowlers for 232 balls, Ackerman posting a second century of the game and Clark 62, before Tongue made the breakthrough, taking four wickets in the space of 12 balls and Durham finished on 289, leaving Notts a target of just 89 runs from 40 overs. The total was reached with the loss of two wickets to take Notts to the top of Division One.
The batters held sway at Edgbaston where, having been put in, Sussex recovered from 40/3 to post 528, thanks to centuries from Tom Clark (140) and the ever reliable John Simpson (181*). It was a hard toil for the bowlers, new signing Ethan Bamber taking 4/105 and debutant 18-year-old leg spinner, Tazeem Chaudry Ali 3/103. In reply, a century from Rob Yates (115) and 82 by Ed Barnard helped Warwickshire to 454, Jack Carson taking 4/92. Sussex started their second innings immediatley after tea on day three with a positive result unlikely. Runs all down the order, topped by 82 not out from Tom Alsop, frustrated the Bears’ bowlers and Sussex declared on 313/7, leaving Warwickshire needing an unlikely 388 runs from 44 overs. The players shook hands with Warwickshire on 104/2, Yates ending on 65 not out.
In Division Two, Kent had the honour of completing the first win of the competition, capturing the last Northamptonshire wicket in the seventh over of day three. The pitch at Northampton was difficult to differentiate from the outfield and provided the expected assistance to the seam bowlers. Liam Guthrie cleaned up Zak Crawley for one and Kent were 60/3 before Tawanda Muyeye (72) and Jack Leaning (40) put on the only significant partnership of the innings (104). 20-year-old Raphael Weatherall finished with 3/23. A total of only 231 was put in context as Northants were then rolled over for 143, Rob Keogh (64) making the only meaningful contribution. Young Kent home-grown seamer Jaskaran Singh took a career best 4/35 and Grant Stewart 3/18. A half century from Sol Budinger then helped Kent to 171 in their second innings, Weatherall picking up three more wickets. Northants were left needing 260 for the win, but life was not getting any easier for batters and despite a valiant 60 not out from George Bartlett, they were dismissed for 114 in their second innings to give Kent a win by 145 runs. Kent’s latest signing, South African Keith Dudgeon was the main destroyer, taking 7/36 in the second innings.
Leicestershire enjoyed a comfortable win against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens. The home side were put in on a grassy pitch under cloudy skies and the Foxes bowlers made good use of the conditions, led by the medium pace of Ian Holland. It was suprising that new Glamorgan coach, Richard Dawson had elected to go into the game with just three recognised seamers, while Leicestershire utilised five. Holland removed the dangerous pair of Kiran Carlson (25) and Colin Ingram (32) to finish with 3/40, before Ben Mike wrapped up the innings. Glamorgan were indebted to Chris Cooke (55) and Shoaib Bashir (20) who put on 57 for the ninth wicket, but a final total of 229 looked under par. Batting was made to look a lot easier by the visitors, Holland joining Sol Budinger at the top of the order, Rishi Patel having dislocated a thumb in the third over of the match. Budinger (56), Mike (41), Lewis Hill (96) and Peter Handscomb (63) all contributed, but with Patel out of action Glamorgan appeared to have got things under control at 324/8. At that point Chris Wright joined Cox and it was Wright who took the game away from the home side, scoring 74 off 87 balls, 60 of those runs in boundaries. The innings ended early on day three, Leicestershire having posted 427 and Holland immediately caused the Glamorgan batters problems, taking three quick wickets by the time the score had reached 19. Kiran Carlson was the only batter to put up any serious resistance going to a century off 199 balls. He was given lower order support by Andy Gorvin, who posted a maiden first class fifty, but four wickets from Holland, to go with three in the first innings meant Leicestershire were left chasing just 51 runs. This they did, utilising the extra half hour at the end of day three.
Derbyshire, who propped up Division Two last season, completed their win against Gloucestershire in the evening session of day three. Gloucestershire were put in and despite runs from Graeme van Buuren (67) and stand-in captain James Bracey (48), they were dismissed for 222. Luis Reece took 6/52 and Anuj Dal 4/43. Wayne Madsen then helped take Derbyshire to a significant first innings lead as he made 118 out of 391, ably supported by Harry Came (83) and 61 from budding all rounder Zak Chappell. Tom Price and Marchant de Lange each took three wickets. 110 from Ben Charlesworth was the only significant contribution in the Gloucestershire second innings of 259, Reece posting figures of 4/45 to take his match tally to 10. Derbyshire then reached their target of 91 for the loss of just one wicket, Caleb Jewell 51 not out.
Two of the favourites for promotion from Division Two, Middlesex and Lancashire met at Lord’s and had a real tussle as fortunes fluctuated, particularly on the final day. Asked to bat first, 70 from Sam Robson and 69 by Max Holden were the main contributors to Middlesex’s total of 260, young Tom Aspinwall taking 4/32. In reply, the new Lancashire opening pair of Michael Jones (40) and Keaton Jennings (55) put on 97 for the first wicket and then it was the Marcus Harris show, his 138 taking Lancashire to 359. New signing, Zafar Gohar led the wicket taking for Middlesex with 4/79. Having conceded a first innings deficit of 99, Middlesex were in trouble at 7/3, Tom Bailey taking all three of the wickets. Holden then came to the rescue, supported by Ryan Higgins (43) and then Ben Geddes (74). He was ninth man out for 184 as Middlesex reached an unlikely 407, the last wicket falling as lunch was about to be taken on the final day. That left an exciting chase with Lancashire requiring 309 runs from 67 overs (4.6 runs/over). With a short boundary on the Grandstand side, Keaton Jennings and Michael Jones started cautiously, but were soon into their stride, putting away anything over pitched. They had no problem keeping up with the required rate as the Middlesex bowlers struggled to get control, but with 93 on the board after 20 overs, Blake Cullen induced an inside edge from Jennings and he played on for 49. Gohar, bowling at the nursery end, was getting significant turn and he bowled Josh Bohanon next over. Lancashire were suddenly on the back foot and Toby Roland-Jones returned to bowl Jones with a big in-swinger, out for 44. After tea, Matty Hurst and Marcus Harris needed 200 from 39 overs with the required rate now above five-an-over, while Middlesex needed seven wickets. Gohar removed Hurst, reinforcing the notion that he provides the quality spin option that Middlesex have lacked in recent seasons. Going into the last hour, all three results seemed possible and while Harris was at the crease, Lancashire looked favourites. Gofar dismissed Harris for 52 and then Luke Wells (47) was out strangled down the leg side off Cullen. Lancashire kept on the attack, but Henry Brookes bowled Aspinwall and trapped Bailey lbw in successive deliveries, leaving the target as 62 off 48 balls with just two wickets left. Middlesex were unable to make anymore breakthroughs and the players shook hands.
No one can complain about the cricket we’ve seen in this first week of the season and we cannot wait for round two!
