Sussex joined Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire at the top of Division One following their win against Somerset, while Surrey had to settle for another draw as Hampshire held on at the Oval. Worcestershire were well beaten by Yorkshire and look to have a fight on their hands to avoid the drop, while the most gripping contest took place at Chester-le-Street, where Warwickshire scraped home by one wicket.
Middlesex, one of the preseason favourites in Division Two, sit at the bottom after defeat to Kent. The Spitfire’s win moves them into second place, splitting Leicestershire and Derbyshire, who battled it out for a draw. Lancashire held on for the draw against Northamptonshire and are finding life more difficult in the second tier of county cricket than many would have expected.
Reigning champions Surrey are yet to register a win, although they have faced two of their stiffest challengers in the opening two rounds. This week it was Hampshire, who were closing in on victory before bad light intervened, thanks to a gutsy second innings batting performance led by Nick Gubbins and Toby Albert.
Surrey’s batting frailties were on show again, having been put in at the Oval, their first innings total of 253 heavily reliant on a century from Dom Sibley. He was the main obstacle to Essex last week and traditionalists will wonder why his skills cannot be utilised at the top of the order by England. Given Tests have five days to be completed, they could still win games scoring at a slower rate, even if it means missing a day’s golf. Brad Wheal was the leading wicket taker for Hampshire, finishing with 4/65. Dan Worrall was back in the Surrey ranks and his 3/37 helped dismiss Hampshire for 219 and then it was Sibley again who led the scoring in Surrey’s second innings, reaching another century as Surrey declared on 342/9, Sonny Baker taking 5/80. Hampshire were left needing 377 to win and in the twenty overs left to be bowled on day three, Surrey took three wickets, including two nightwatchmen. Fletcha Middleton fell in the latter half of the morning session of day four for 42, but Nick Gubbins and Toby Albert then dug in. They put on 243 in just under 62 overs, Gubbins lbw to Matt Fisher shortly after reaching his century. By this time Hampshire were sniffing victory, but bad light intervened with 78 runs needed from 60 balls. They came out again for just one ball, Hampshire stranded on 300/5, with Albert on 78 not out. Hampshire are just five points off the top three, while Surrey find themselves in the bottom half of the table.
Having failed to close out their game against Worcestershire last week, Somerset travelled to Hove to take on newly promoted Sussex and found out why the South coast side are not just going to be making up the numbers in Division One. Electing to bat first, none of the home side batters reached 50 and they were indebted to the last three wickets for 114 of their 294 runs. Lewis Gregory took 4/90. Ollie Robinson had to sit out this game with a minor foot injury, so Sean Hunt opened the bowling for Sussex alongside Jayden Seales and repaid the faith put in him as he recorded career-best figures of 5/48. Only James Rew (80*) made any meaningful contribution to a final Somerset total of 201. Sussex then built on an opening partnership of 184 between Tom Haines (141) and Daniel Hughes (91) and 110 off 117 balls by John Simpson allowed them to declare on 501/7, leaving Somerset needing 595 from a possible 130 overs. Hunt was straight into the Somerset batting again, removing the top four with just 80 runs on the board. Tom Abell provided some resistance with 96 and half centuries from Gregory and Migael Pretorius gave Somerset some hope, but they finally capitulated in the afternoon session of day four, to give Sussex the win by 260 runs.
Worcestershire were soundly beaten by Yorkshire at Headingley, going down by 504 runs inside three days. 98 from Dawid Malan led the Tykes to a first innings total of 456, scored at a creditable rate of 4.50 runs per over. Four wickets from Ben Coad then helped skittle the visitors out for just 162. The follow on was not enforced and Yorkshire rattled to 315/4 from 56 overs, nightwatchman Dom Bess posting 107 from 117 balls; his maiden Championship century. They declared halfway through the afternoon of the third day, Malan not out on 76 and that left the Pears needing an unlikely 610. They were unable to repeat the rearguard action of last week as they were rolled over for just 105, George Hill finishing with 4/23. The win lifts Yorkshire up from the bottom of Division One, while events over the last two weeks suggest Worcestershire are going to be in a battle for survival in Division One.
At Chester-le-Street, having watched his senior partner dismissed in the first over, young Ben McKinney reached his highest first class score of 153 as Durham posted 387 against Warwickshire. He put on 121 for the eighth wicket with Matty Potts (70) and in reply, the visitors made 325, another 20-year-old, Kai Smith top-scoring with 79. Durham were then reduced to 64/4 in their second innings, all four wickets taken by Michael Booth, who had posted his maiden first class half century at the end of day two. Ben Raine came in as nightwatchman and went on to reach 81 as Durham finally declared on 276/8, leaving Warwickshire needing 339 from 100 overs. They started day four on 12/0 and it was a tense battle throughout the day as the Bears were taken in sight of victory by a century from Ed Barnard. When he was the seventh wicket to fall, Warwickshire were on 285, needing 54 runs from 145 balls. However Brendan Doggett struck again in his next over to remove Tazeem Chaudry Ali and Warwickshire’s hopes seemed to rest with Booth. He and Ethan Bamber put on 29 for the ninth wicket before Potts bowled Booth. 15 runs were still needed, but Bamber was able to rotate the strike and with the scores tied he lofted Raine for a straight six, to finish on an unbeaten 30. The result sees the two sides move to opposite ends of the table.
At Trent Bridge, neither Nottinghamshire nor Essex could break the deadlock with first innings scores of 347 versus 367. Essex chose to bowl first and Notts were in trouble at 78/5 before Kyle Verrynne came to the rescue with an unbeaten 128. He was supported by Lyndon James (45) and Fergus O’Neill (42), as Sam Cook took 4/44. Essex’s reply was based on 76 from Paul Walter, maintaining his position at the top of the order in Dean Elgar’s continued absence, and 82 by Jordan Cox. Second time around, a century opening stand between Haseeb Hameed (92) and Ben Slater (67) set Notts on their way and then Jack Haynes made 142 as Notts reached 385, leaving Essex needing 366 from 52 overs. The players shook hands with Essex on 106/1.
The top two in Division Two after week one, Leicestershire and Derbyshire played out a draw this week, in which the bat was dominant. Runs all down the order, led by Sol Budinger with a run-a-ball 81, helped the Foxes to 484 off just 107.2 overs, having been put in at Grace Road. New arrival Logan van Beek top scored with 82 and then took 4/100 as Derbyshire reached 393. Caleb Jewell scored 83 and new signing Martin Andersson posted a maiden first class century. Leicestershire then set about building on their first innings lead, Rehan Ahmed (77) and Budinger (44) putting on an opening stand of 132 from just 125 balls. 3/59 from Blair Tickner helped peg back the scoring and the Foxes ended day three on 291/8, a lead of 382 runs. They batted on for a further eight overs on day four, finally declaring on 357/9, leaving Derbyshire needing 449 from a minimum of 86 overs. Derbyshire comfortably batted out the rest of the day, Jewell recording his fourth half century in four innings, while Wayne Madsen fell just short of a second century for the season, bowled by Ben Mike for 96. Leicestershire took maximum bonus points to retain the top spot in Division Two.
Lancashire’s promotion challenge is yet to get going as they were made to follow on by Northamptonshire this week. Lancashire had brought in John Turner, on loan from Hampshire, due to the unavailability of Jimmy Anderson and Saqib Mahmood, but it was the batters who held sway after Northants had been put in at Old Trafford. They reached 496 thanks to 117 by Saif Zaib and 90’s by James Sales and Lewis McManus. Tom Hartley, having been left out by Lancashire last week, took 3/91. As so often last summer, it was Keaton Jennings who held the Lancashire innings together, but his 96 only allowed them to reach 228. Calvin Harrison, who had just arrived on a two match loan from Notts, was the leading wicket taker for Northants with 4/34. The follow on was enforced and Lancashire ended day three on 126/2, still trailing by 142 runs, nightwatchman Anderson Phillip having faced 28 balls without scoring. Josh Bohannon, with 155 from 342 balls then became the main obstacle to Northants, Marcus Harris contributing 50, while Harrison kept chipping away to end with 7/119 from 57 overs. It was then a matter of the Lancashire lower order digging in and that they did, exemplified by Tom Bailey’s unbeaten 8 from 69 balls. The game ended with Lancashire on 351/9, a lead of 83.
Sixteen wickets fell on the first day at Canterbury as Middlesex were dismissed for 222 and then Kent were reduced to 172/6, England’s Zak Crawley dismissed for a fourth-ball duck. Jack Davies made an unbeaten 47 for the visitors, while the wickets were shared between the Kent seamers. Half centuries from Harry Finch and Grant Stewart helped Kent to 218, with Blake Cullen taking 4/60. Half centuries from Steve Eskinazi, Ben Geddes and Zafar Gohar then allowed Middlesex to reach 311 in their second innings, leaving Kent a target of 316, with plenty of time left in the game. Batting was clearly getting easier as Kent made short work of the chase. Crawley and Ben Compton put on 91 for the first wicket, before Crawley was dismissed for 58 and then Daniel Bell-Drummond was bowled by Gohar first ball. Tawanda Muyeye saw off the hat trick ball and then took Kent to the win alongside Compton, both completing unbeaten centuries. The eight wicket win was completed late on day three and took them to second place just behind Leicestershire.
In Bristol, Gloucestershire were unable to finish the job against struggling Glamorgan, thwarted by the weather and Colin Ingram. Asked to bat first, 163 from new skipper Cameron Bancroft in his first innings of the season, alongside 101 from Ollie Price, helped the home side to a dominant 546. The Glamorgan innings was then held together by Ingram’s 103 as they reached 385. The batters were unsettled by the pace of Zaman Akhter, who took 5/85 and Ajeet Singh Dale (3/61). The follow on was enforced but bad light and rain interrupted play on the third and fourth days and the players shook hands after rain had halted play at tea on day four, with Glamorgan on 288/4, Ingram leading the way again on 77 not out.
We may only be two rounds into the season, but it looks like Surrey won’t have it all their own way with new boys Sussex starting strongly. These two sides meet at Hove in the next round with the other two sides at the top of the table, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire, battling it out at Edgbaston.
Leicestershire’s promotion challenge will be tested at Old Trafford, with Lancashire desperate to get their season started.
