Week 8 Rothesay County Championship Review

With the Vitality Blast starting on Thursday, we have reached the half way point of this year’s County Championship, and Nottinghamshire go into the break with a 10 point lead over second-placed Surrey, following their win against Yorkshire, having bounced back from defeat last week.  With just 23 points covering the top five in Divison One, it looks to be one of the tightest competitions in a number of years.

At the bottom of Division One, Yorkshire have now joined Worcestershire as the two teams who have fallen adrift. Surprisingly Essex are the side that look most likely to be dragged into the relegation battle.

Meanwhile in Division Two, it is difficult to imagine that bookmakers will be taking any more bets on Leicestershire being promoted, as they took maximum points from an innings win against preseason favourites Lancashire, to give them their fifth win of the season. They are now 31 points clear at the top. The second promotion place looks like being more closely competed for, although Derbyshire’s win this week extends their lead to 11 points over third placed Glamorgan.        .

Nottinghamshire travelled to Headingley this week, and put into bat, they reached 228 thanks to half centuries from Ben Slater and Joe Clarke, George Hill taking 5/40. Six wickets from Mohammad Abbas then helped restrict Yorkshire to just 159, Dawid Malan’s 64 the only significant score. Yorkshire have lost a number of players from their squad, with Jonny Bairstow going to the IPL, and Ben Sears returning to New Zealand having picked up an ankle injury. Harry Duke has replaced the injured Jonny Tattersall behind the stumps, while their other overseas quick, Jordan Buckingham is out with a hip injury.

Second time around it was again Slater (78) and Joe Clarke (94) who led the way for Notts, as they were able to declare on 393/8, Brett Hutton adding an unbeaten 44 from 26 balls as Notts chased the win, with some rain forecast on day four. Yorkshire were left needing 463 runs from a possible 153 overs, and day three ended with Harry Duke gloving a brute of a delivery from Dillon Pennigton through to Kyle Verreynne, to leave Yorkshire on 176/5. Yorkshire battled on through the first two sessions of day four, but Matthew Revis’ 45 was the only significant innings and they were finally dismissed for 299, Pennington ending with 5/106. Jordan Thompson and Jack White kept the Notts supporters waiting as they batted out over an hour for the last wicket, but the final margin of victory was 164 runs.

Surrey were potentially saved by the rain, as they hung on for the draw against Essex at the Oval, having been set a target of 418 runs from 104 overs. Jamie Porter pressed hard, taking 5/88, but it was not quite enough. The visitors had been asked to bat first and made 217, Michael Pepper the main contributor with 75. Half centuries from Kurtis Patterson, Sam Curran and Jordan Clark then helped Surrey to 279, Sri Lankan seamer Kasun Rajitha taking 5/87. Essex made a much better fist of their second innings, their total of 479 being the first time they had reached 300 in an innings for four matches. Paul Walter, continuing at the top of the order, made 118 and 20-year-old Charlie Allison (140) posted his maiden first class century. Allison had been pressed into service as an opener in previous games this season, but is clearly happier down the order. The target looked a token one and the top four in the Surrey order all stuck around, Sam Curran making 77 from 121 ball. Jamie Overton and Jordan Clark (23) then saw things out, although Overton was dismissed with the last ball of the match having made 47 from 102 balls. The draw keeps Surrey in second place 10 points ahead of Sussex.

The rain denied Warwickshire a win at New Road, Worcestershire holding on with two wickets to spare. The Bears had chosen to bat first and were held to 227, Tom Taylor taking 4/37. Taylor has made an excellent start to the season, having taken 22 wickets going into this game. Sam Hain top scored with 86, while Tom Lathan made 59. The total was enough for a 46 run first innings lead, as the Pears were dismissed for 181, Chris Rushworth taking 4/37 and Chris Woakes 3/34, both playing their first games of the season. The Bears then set about building a big lead, but it was not easy as wickets fell regularly. Sam Hain made 87 not out and Woakes 42, as they were dismissed for 280, Jacob Duffy taking 5/75. This left Worcestershire requiring 327 from a possible 129 overs, and they had reached 54/2 when bad light ended play early on day three. Given the struggles the Pears have had this season, the target always seemed an unlikely one, and three wickets apiece from Rushworth and Woakes meant that the Bears looked to have the game sewn up, with Worcestershire 159/7 at lunch on the final day. Matthew Waite had provided the main resistance, finishing on 44 not out, as only a further 10.2 overs were possible before the match was called off at 17:55. The draw means the Bears drop down into fourth place, two points behind Sussex.

Somerset recorded their third successive win, the change in fortunes having coincided with the decision to open the batting with the unlikely pair of Lewis Gregory and Josh Davey. However, the bowlers held sway at Chester-le-Street over the first two days, during which 31 wickets fell. Durham chose to bat first and were dismissed for 277, Ollie Robinson top-scoring with 52, while Matt Henry took 4/60. Somerset then conceded a 105 run first innings lead, as they were restricted to 172, Jack Leach top-scoring with 30, having gone in as nightwatchan at the fall of the second wicket, while Championship debutant Mitchell Killeen took 5/36. Runs remained hard to come by in Durham’s second innings as they managed just 159, the wickets shared amongst the Somerset seamers. That left Somerset needing 265, and given what had gone before, it looked a tough challenge. However, batting appeared to have become easier on day three, and an unbeaten 139 run stand between Tom Lammonby (104*) and Tom Abell (73*) saw them home by seven wickets, the game ending on the afternoon of day three.

Hampshire’s stop start season continued as they went down to Sussex by nine wickets, the game over before lunch on day three. Fifteen wickets fell on day one at Southampton, where the home side, having chosen to bat first, were dismissed for 154, Henry Crocombe taking 4/27 in his first game of the season following a shoulder injury. Sussex then lost five wickets with just 83 on the board before John Simpson, with his third century of the season, and Fynn Hudson-Prentice (74) put on 173 for the fifth wicket. Sussex reached 297, giving them a 143 run lead, and they had reduced Hampshire to 114/6 by the end of day two. 48 from Liam Dawson held Sussex off briefly, but 5/26 from Jack Carson helped dismiss Hampshire for 165 and Sussex needed just 23 to see them home.

Division Two leaders Leicestershire were up against winless Lancashire, and three wickets apiece from Logan van Beek and Josh Hull helped justify Peter Handscomb’s decision to bowl first at Grace Road. The Red Rose county were dismissed for 206, Luke Wells top-scoring with 36. In reply, the Foxes recovered from 24/2, through a 256 run stand between Rehan Ahmed (136) and Lewis Hill (119). Ian Holland chipped in with 50, and 41 from Ben Cox helped them to a total of 457. Lancashire’s second innings started first thing on day three, and it was held together by Keaton Jennings, who was the sixth man out for 112. He was Tom Scriven’s second wicket, and his dismissal left Lancashire on 214/6, still trailing by 37 runs. It was then a rapid capitulation as they fell three runs short of making the Foxes bat again. The problems with the Lancashire batting were highlighted by the second highest score being 26 from Matty Hurst. Logan van Beek finished with 4/61 to go with his three wickets in the first innings.

Derbyshire, having struggled in recent seasons, find themselves in second place in Division Two, primarily through some strong batting performances, and this week was no exception. They chose to bat first in their game against Kent at Derby, and piled up 587/5 declared, Caleb Jewel making a career best 232 and Wayne Madsen 100. Ben Compton was then the mainstay of Kent’s reply, making 158 out of 326, Daniel Bell-Drummond contributing 61, while Anuj Dal took 4/50. The lack of support from the other batters; Grant Stewart the next highest score with 19, meant Kent were forced to follow on, although the Derbyshire bowlers had put down almost 99 overs. By the end of day three, Kent stood at 157/3, and the overnight rest revived the Derbyshire bowlers, Zak Chapell removing Tawanda Muyeye with the first ball of day four, out for 55. Stewart was then the only Kent batter to put up any significant resistance, making 49 as they were dismissed for 247, giving Derbyshire the victory by an innings and 14 runs. Luis Reece was the pick of the bowlers with 3/21.

In Cardiff there was a prelude to potential confrontations in the World Test Championship final as Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Kuhnemann turned out for Glamorgan against Middlesex’s South African import, Dane Paterson. Of this trio it was Kuhneman, who is playing just the one game for the Welsh county, who had the biggest say in the outcome, as his 6/53 in the Middlesex second innings meant Glamorgan needed just eight runs to win, a target they reached shortly after tea on day three.

Asked to bat first, Glamorgan were in trouble at 52/3, before the dominant stand of the match, between Sam Northeast (122) and Kiran Carlson (109) put on 228. 47 from Chris Cooke then helped the home side reach 383, Ryan Higgins taking 5/95 and Toby Roland-Jones 4/95. Day two was rain interrupted and the Middlesex batters never really got going, Max Holden’s 42, the only significant score as they were all out for 155. The innings ending on the last ball of day two, Andy Gorvin continuing a fine season with 4/39. The follow on was enforced, but wayward bowling, particularly from James Harris and Gorvin, on a blustery day three morning, allowed Middlesex to get away, Holden (35) and Sam Robson (66) putting on 98 from just 100 balls for the first wicket. However, the introduction of Kuhnemann led to the dismissal of both openers to take the score to 109/2, and he then bowled Leus du Plooy for four. In all, seven wickets fell for just 62 runs, and it was only a belligerent 57 from 42 balls from Roland-Jones, including four sixes, that meant Glamorgan had to bat again. That had been an important target as Middlesex were two overs behind the bowling rate in the Glamorgan first innings, and 14 balls of spin enabled them to escape any penalties.

There was still plenty of life left in the game at Northampton as they went into the last session, Gloucestershire needing 179 runs and Northamptonshire six wickets from the remaining 35 overs. Gloucestershire’s job had been made harder by the dismissal of Miles Hammond for 80 immediately before tea. Cameron Green was progressing nicely on 25, when he hit a long hop from Calvin Harrison straight into the hands of Gus Miller at extra cover, and Harry Conway then removed James Bracey for 22; Northants sniffing victory at 214/6. However rain then started falling and no further play was possible.

The game had been set up by a much stronger Northants batting display than in recent games. After last week’s defeat to Glamorgan, Northamptonshire’s coach Darren Lehmann had called for an improvement in the batting, and he got it as they reached 469, having chosen to bat first. Gus Miller and 19-year-old Aadi Sharma were brought in for Rob Keogh and Justin Broad, with Liam Guthrie replacing the rested Ben Sanderson. However, the bulk of the runs came from the bat of Saif Zaib, his 159 being his third century of the season. James Sales made 81 and there were useful contributions down the order from Calvin Harrison (63), Lewis McManus (43) and Guthrie (33). 19-year-old Archie Bailey, in his second first class game, having featured for the First Class Counties XI last week, took 3/76. Northants initially signed Harrison on a two game loan from Nottinghamshire for the two games of the season, but it has twice been extended. Northants called upon eight bowlers in their attempt to dismiss the visitors, and they were unable to complete the job as Gloucestershire declared on 379/8, suggesting a contrived finish might be in the offering. Gloucestershire’s total was thanks to their two Australian Cameron’s, Cameron Green with his third century in five matches and 60 from Cameron Bancroft, while Harrison took 4/94. Northants had 37 overs left to bat on day three, and finished on 158/4, leading by 248 runs. 70 from Sales and 56 by Zaib took the score to 259, at which point they declared, leaving Gloucestershire to score 350 from a possible 82 overs. However rain finally prevented the game reaching a positive conclusion, although Northants moved off bottom spot to just below Gloucestershire in the middle of the Division Two table.

We now have four weeks of T20 cricket before the Championship returns, with the twist that the next two rounds will be played with the Kookaburra ball. It will be interesting to see whether the teams who have been dominating the first half of the season will be able to adapt to the different playing conditions, particularly with the likelihood that spin wil play more of a role. Leicestershire in particular, have been heavily reliant on seam, while Somerset, Hampshire, Sussex and Essex may feel it gives them an edge.

Standings

Division One

Division Two