Week 6 Rothesay County Championship Review

A third win for Notts sees them 12 points clear at the top

With all sides now having played five matches, the true positions are clear and Nottinghamshire sit proudly on top. Meanwhile, the unpredictability of Championship cricket was highlighted in Division Two this week, with the bottom two clubs, Glamorgan and Northamptonshire beating the two sides that have come down from Division One, Kent and Lancashire. The defeat sees Lancashire at the bottom of the County Championship, having been fancied for a quick return to the top tier.

Nottinghamshire reinforced their title credentials as they inflicted a heavy 366 run defeat against one of the fancied sides, Hampshire. It was not all plain sailing, as they had to fight back from 82/4 to reach 333, having been put into bat at Trent Bridge. Notts had made a steady start, but both openers went in the same James Fuller over, and they were 63/2. It was then down to young Freddie McCann to see them to a decent total, as Kyle Verryne, Lyndon James and Liam Patterson-White all fell for 33. McCann was last man out for 138, Kyle Abbott finishing with 5/57.

Mark Stoneman and Fletcha Middleton safely negotiated the last two overs of day one, but five wickets from the ex-Hampshire overseas bowler, Mohammad Abbas, ripped through the middle order and the final total of 196 was indebted to 67 from Kyle Abbott. Abbott might have thought he was taking on Notts single-handed, as he then removed both Notts openers with just 26 on the board. Brad Wheal, Fuller and Sonny Baker then chipped in to reduce Notts to 84/6, Jack Haynes putting up lone resistance. At that point, the Notts lead 221, Hampshire might have felt they were back in the game, but Patterson-White joined Haynes and the pair took the score to 322/7, before Haynes was run out for 120, after a lazy piece of running. A further 23 were added, Patterson-White the last man out for 135, leaving Hampshire needing 483 with a day and a half left in the game. However, the Notts bowlers never let them get a sniff, as Brett Hutton (4/56) and James (5/22) tore through the Hampshire batting to dismiss them for 116 in 33.3 overs, Abbott top scoring with 18. The win sees Notts 12 points clear at the top.

Second met third at Edgbaston, and it was all change for Surrey this week as England demands required the replacement of Jamie Smith, Ollie Pope and Gus Atkinson; Kiwi, Nathan Smith coming in for his first appearance of a planned season-long stint. Tom Lawes was also back in the side, while Dan Worrall missed out, and Cameron Steel came in for his first game of the summer. Intriguingly Surrey, having also signed Australian batter Kurtis Patterson on a three match deal, left him out of their starting eleven, bringing in Jason Roy for his first red ball game since August 2020.

There is a suspicion that clubs hosting Surrey are trying to produce flat pitches to negate their vaunted seam attack, and Warwickshire were successful this week, if that was the intention. In the end, the Bears’ bowlers were saved from further toil by a thunderstorm that brought play to an end at tea on the final day. Choosing to bat first, Warwickshire posted a mammoth 665/5 declared, New Zealand’s Tom Latham, just off the plane, making 184 and Ed Barnard 177 not out. 27-year-old Zen Malik, a graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy, also reached a maiden first class century in his second match for Warwickshire. In reply, as has happened a number of times this season, Dom Sibley took up residence at the crease, making 64 from 199 balls. Ryan Patel and Dan Lawrence both made forties, while the role of providing stubborn resistance was then taken up by Ben Foakes. He received support from Cameron Steel (55) and was still there as Surrey ended day three of 369/9, Warwickshire having bowled 128 overs. Foakes went on to score a career best 174 from 361 balls, putting on 158 for the final wicket with Mattew Fisher, who faced 145 deliveries for his 48. The innings went on past lunch, finishing on 504, and despite having bowled 178.2 overs, Warwickshire enforced the follow on, with 43 overs potentially left in the day’s play. However, the weather then intervened with Surrey on 15/0.

Having slipped up against leaders Nottinghamshire in their last game, Sussex were back in winning ways, this time against bottom placed Worcestershire. Having been put in to bat at Hove, five wickets from Tom Taylor and one from Ben Allison reduced Sussex from 80/0 to 88/6, the wickets falling either side of lunch. At this point Jack Carson came to the crease and he was eventually last man out for a heroic 102, his maiden century. Credit should also go to Championship debutant James Hayes, whose 33 not out allowed the pair to put on 73 for the last wicket, and take Sussex to 284. Ben Gibbon then opened the batting for Worcestershire as nightwatchman alongside Jake Libby, to see out the remaining three overs of day one, but Worcestershire’s difficult season continued as they were dismissed for 180, new recruit Henry Nichols top scoring with 32. Nichols was due to be playing club cricket this weekend in west Wales, having come over from New Zealand looking for county opportunities, and has been signed for the next six Championship fixtures. Fynn Hudson- Prentice was the pick of the Sussex bowlers with 5/40. Sussex’s second innings then did not get off to the best of starts, as both openers were gone without a run on the board. Tom Clark was then dismissed with the score on 18, but Tom Alsop (72) and James Coles (68) put on 125 for the fourth wicket. Further runs down the order from Carson (39*) and Ollie Robinson (30) saw Sussex to 256 and Worcestershire were left needing an unlikely 361 to win. Gareth Roderick went early, but Libby and Nichols put on 81 for the second wicket, before Nichols was caught behind off Hayes for 34. Kashif Ali went just before the close of play on day three, and Worcestershire went into the final day needing 244 runs with seven wickets remaining. Despite a huge effort from Libby, who made 167, the other batters could not stick with him, and next best score was Nichol’s 34. Three wickets-a-piece from Robinson and Aristides Karvelas helped dismiss the Pears for 313 and condemn them to their fourth defeat of the season, this time by 47 runs.

Yorkshire might be regretting having delayed their declaration against Essex, setting the home side a target of 520 at almost four runs per over. In the end the game turned into an epic Championship draw, as the last pair of Essex batters saw out 14.4 overs. After a solid start, having chosen to bat first, Yorkshire had a middle order collapse, going from 125/2 to 128/5. Runs were hard to come by, and while James Wharton tried his best to hold things together, his 63 was only enough to take Yorkshire to a final total of 216, Matt Critchley finishing with 4/49. Essex were left needing to bat out 16 overs on day one, and were immediately under pressure, ending on 27/3. Things did not get much better for them on day two, as they were rolled over for 123, George Hill taking 6/51. Yorkshire, primarily in the guise of Adam Lyth, then set about building an insurmountable target for the home side, Lyth making 185 out of 426/6 declared. Wharton continued his excellent game with 61 and Jonny Bairstow made 79. As the Essex chase began, the Yorkshire bowlers were immediately on top, as Dean Elgar became the first of three wickets for Jack White at the end of day three, Essex going in on 64/4. It was then a matter of survival on the final day and the overnight batters, Critchley and Michael Pepper set about the task. They put on 154 for the fifth wicket, more importantly using up 458 balls, but Pepper fell on the stroke of tea, trapped lbw by Hill. Simon Harmer then became the rock of the Essex rearguard action, and he batted out 115 balls for his 32 not out. He was supported by Shane Snater who batted out 32 balls without scoring, Kasu Rajithan who made 21 from 40 balls and Jamie Porter with two not out form 34 balls.

In Division Two, Kent have been hampered by a string of injuries to their pace attack, but it was an abject batting display that saw them go down heavily to Glamorgan, by an innings and 161 runs. Kent did have Grant Stewart back, having recovered from a side strain, but they are down to the bare bones with 18-year-old batting all-rounder Ekansh Singh, making his Championship debut, expected to act as a fourth seamer, having not bowled in the five List A games he has featured in. George Garrett was wayward, so a lot rested on Stewart and Kashif Ali, alongside Matt Parkinson. Glamorgan were asked to bat first at Canterbury, and it was Ali who struck first, removing Zain ul Hassan for 16. However, it was the only success of the first morning as Glamorgan raced along at almost five runs per over. Sam Northeast (42) and Asa Tribe put on 95 for the second wicket and Tribe went on to fall six short of a maiden first class century. Colin Ingram (70) and Ben Kellaway then put on 133 for the fifth wicket, and when Timm van der Gugten was dismissed in the last over of the day, Glamorgan had reached 389/7, Kellaway still needing nine for a maiden first team century. He ended up unbeaten on 181 as Glamorgan declared on 549/9. The bowlers then came out and made early inroads into the Kent batting through Timm van der Gugten and James Harris. At 23/5 the follow on target was a long way off, but Chris Benjamin, in his second game for his new county, deputising for the injured Harry Finch, worked with the tail to squeeze out a total of 212, Finch stranded on 94 not out. A 54 run ninth wicket stand with Garrett (35) frustrated Glamorgan, but having bowled 74.1 overs, the follow on was enforced. Some poor batting meant Glamorgan needed only another 48.2 overs to finish the job, taking all 10 wickets in an extended afternoon session. The wickets were shared among the Glamorgan bowlers, led by Asitha Fernando (3/18) and van der Gugten (3/33).

Northamptonshire recorded their first win of the season as they defeated Lancashire inside three days, in a topsy turvy game at Wantage Road. Following a disappointing batting performance last week, Northants were in trouble again having elected to bat first. George Balderson with 4/55 and Anderson Phillip’s 3/65 helped dismiss the home side for 238, grateful for lower order runs from Lewis McManus (53) and Liam Guthrie (43). Lancashire started their reply after the tea break on day one, and with George Bell and Josh Bohannon both falling without scoring, they found themselves 20/2. Keaton Jennings (41) halted the slide, alongside Marcus Harris, and Harris and Matty Hurst were still there at the end of the day, with Lancashire on 129/3. Harris went on to complete his third century of the season and Hurst a half century as Lancashire reached 276, to establish a 38 run first innings lead. Zaif Saib’s 50 was the only significant score from the Northants top order in the second innings, and it was left to Ben Sanderson, with an invaluable 65 from just 28 balls, to see the score to 273. That left Lancashire needing 236, but a couple of loose shots from Bell and Jennings meant they were 33/2, Guthrie the beneficiary. Bohannon and Harris instilled calm to the innings, putting on 83, but Northants weren’t giving up and fought their way back through loanee Calvin Harrison. He first took the key wicket of Harris, who ran past a ball to be easily stumped, out for 43. Matty Hurst was bowled by Harry Conway in the next over, and then Harrison trapped Bohannon lbw for 41. He removed Luke Wells in his next over, and the writing was on the wall for Lancashire at 132/6, still needing 104. Tom Bailey and Will Williams held things up for 13 overs, but the final wicket fell in the 59th over and Northants were home by 70 runs, Harrison finishing with 4/32.

After six rounds the tables are clearer, and in Division One, Nottinghamshire have increased their lead over second placed Warwickshire. With injuries and the comings and goings of overseas players, the playing strength of clubs can change, but having lost Fergus O’Neill, the leading wicket taker in the competition, Abbas has come in and taken five wickets in the Hampshire first innings this week. Sussex and Surrey are staying in touch, and Surrey will be hoping that their bowlers can start getting them some more wins. At the other end of Division One, Worcestershire look to be heading for the drop, but the surprise is to see Somerset in trouble.

In Division Two, Leicestershire and Derbyshire sat out this week, and the one side who could have closed on second place, Kent, suffered a heavy defeat to last week’s bottom club Glamorgan. While Leicestershire seem to be making full use of early season conditions, the clubs behind them are evenly matched, and there could be a real battle for the second promotion place. The shock is seeing Lancashire down in bottom spot after this week’s loss to Northants, but none of the sides will feel out of contention for promotion.

Standings

Division One

Division Two