Week 9 Rothesay County Championship Review

Surrey close in on Notts

The wish for Championship cricket to be played at the height of summer is fulfilled over the next two weeks as we take a break from the Blast. These two rounds will be played using the Kookaburra ball and undoubtedly this was a factor in the decision by the captain winning the toss to choose to bat first in eight of the nine matches.

There was just one positive result in each Division, with seven matches ending in draws, although the games at Blackpool and Bristol went down to the wire. The one big plus was the number of overs bowled by spinners, although the fact that a number of counties had to go shopping for suitable players perhaps reflects how the Dukes ball has made squads seamer dominant.

In Division One, the top two teams took on the bottom two. Leaders Nottinghamshire hosted Yorkshire at Trent Bridge and reached 487 in their first innings, Ben Slater making 96, Ishan Kishan 87 and Liam Patterson-White 87. Indian wicket-keeper Kishan has been signed as a short term replacement for Kyle Verreynne, who is away with South Africa. Dan Moriarty was the pick of the Yorkshire bowlers, taking 4/91. In reply, Adam Lyth was dismissed first ball of the innings as Mohammad Abbas continued his fine start with his new county, but Lyth’s opening partner Finlay Bean was in imperious form as he scored his maiden double century, finishing on 224 out as Yorkshire posted 510. He shared a 130 run sixth wicket partnership with Matthew Brevis, who was left unbeaten on 93. Notts started their second innings with just 61 overs left in the game and were 148/1 when the teams shook hands.

The one positive result in Division One was at New Road, where Surrey made relatively short work of their hosts, completing their nine wicket win shortly after lunch on day three. The Pears chose to bat first and made steady progress during the opening session before Jake Libby (28) was bowled by Jordan Clark, playing a loose drive, and then next over Henry Nichols called Kashif Ali through for a risky single, and Ali was out for a duck. The Pears went to lunch on 70/3, and then Nicholls (31) became the first of three victims for Rory Burns shortly after the break, Burns having taken the gloves for Surrey with Ben Foakes’ wife about to give birth. It then took Matthew Waite’s 68 to get Worcestershire to 214, Matthew Fisher and Clark both finishing with three wickets. Surrey were then well placed at 171/2, Ryan Patel (61) taking over from Burns at the top of the order. Dom Sibley made 73, but Ben Allison removed Sibley, Will Jacks and Mitchell Santner in quick succession, and it required Dan Lawrence (52) and Clark (34) to salvage the innings as they stumbled to 291. Allison ended with 5/44 and Tom Taylor 3/37. Worcestershire were soon in trouble second time around, reduced to 46/4 and they were only able to post 125, thanks to 6/38 from Nathan Smith and 4/47 from Matthew Fisher. Surrey were left needing just 49 and the win sees Surrey move to within two points of the leaders Notts.

Essex and Hampshire met at Chelmsford, the pair currently occupying positions in the table a good deal lower than they are accustomed to. Hampshire’s 19-year-old quick Eddie Jack came in for his Championship debut, having recently played his maiden first class game for the England Lions against India A. Having chosen to bat first, wickets from Kyle Abbott and Jack had reduced Essex to 44/3, but 71 from Matt Critchley, 101 from Charlie Allison and Simon Harmer’s 45 saw them to 296, Abbott finishing with 5/26. When Hampshire came to bat, Sam Cook was soon on a hat trick when he removed Ali Orr and Nick Gubbins in successive balls, but Fletcha Middleton (61) and Tilak Varma, brought in for four Championship matches, led the recovery. Varma went on to make 100 and then Liam Dawson scored 139, his first century of the season, as Hampshire reached 453. Matt Critchley ended with fihures of 4/102.  Dawson was quickly in the action again, this time with the ball, as he removed four of the top six Essex batters, and at 131/5 in their second innings, still trailing by 26 runs, Essex looked to be going down. However, Tom Westley and Michael Pepper had other ideas as they shared a 215 run sixth wicket stand, Pepper finally dismissed for 140. Westley was still there on 130 when the sides shook hands, Essex ending on 358/6.

In Lewis Gregory’s absence, Somerset were led by Craig Overton, while Tom Kohler-Cadmore joined Josh Davey at the top of the batting order. Warwickshire also made changes as the appearance of the Kookaburra ball has prompted them to bring in Australian off spinner Corey Rocchiccioli for the next four Championship games. Rocchiccioli has taken 114 wickets in 34 first-class games for Western Australia, and finished the recent Sheffield Shield season as the third highest wicket-taker.

Batting first, Kohler-Cadmore and Davey put on the first century opening partnership of the season for Somerset, Kohler-Cadmore going on to his own 100, while Josh Davey reached his top score of the season with 64. 133 from Tom Lammonby, coming in at three, helped Somerset to a total of 498, Rob Yates finishing with 3/44. In reply half centuries from Alex Davies (78), Tom Latham (65) and Sam Hain (78) helped guide the Bears to 351, Craig Overton taking 4/61, and it was then a matter of whether there was enough time for Somerset to press home their advantage. They declared their second innings on 229/8, leaving Warwickshire needing an unlikely 377 from 69 overs. Davies was dismissed by Matt Henry with the fourth ball of the innings and Yates soon followed, but half centuries from Latham (52) and Sam Hain (68*) steadied the ship and Warwickshire ended on 161/4.

There was much interest in the game at Chester-le-Street between Durham and Sussex, where Jofra Archer was playing his first red ball game for over four years. However, spectators had to wait to see Archer as Sussex batted first. 148 not out from James Coles was the main contribution to their total of 361, Daniel Hughes making 60 and Bas de Leede taking 4/96. Archer made a useful lower order contribution of 31 as the Sussex innings looked like stalling when they went from 220/4 to 257/8.

Durham were without any of their overseas players, David Bedingham and Codi Yusuf on Test duty in Zimbabwe, and Neil Wagner out with a calf injury. Emilio Gay replaced Ben McKinney at the top of the order and he and Alex Lees saw off the new ball, delivered by Ollie Robinson and Gurinder Sandhu (playing his first game for Sussex). There were contributions from all the batters, although only Colin Ackerman (65) and Graham Clark (51) reached 50, and they ended on 327, Sandhu taking 5/83 and Archer picking up just the one wicket. In Sussex’s second innings, Daniel Ibrahim, in his maiden first team game of the summer, helped them recover from 27/3 to finish the match on 322/6, Ibrahim unbeaten on 121, as the game meandered to a draw.

Division Two leaders Leicestershire were without their leading wicket taker Ian Holland this week, as he is playing for Washington Freedom in the Major League Cricket competition. Peter Handscomb also replaced Ben Cox behind the stumps, the Foxes skipper having been rested during the Blast campaign. Sam Wood came in for his first red ball game of the season, while both teams gave maiden red ball appearances of the summer to spinners, Liam Trevaskis coming in for the Foxes and Mason Crane for Glamorgan.

Glamorgan chose to bat first and made a solid start through Zain ul Hassan and the impressive Asa Tribe. Having been dropped on 72 by Handscomb, Tribe went on to a maiden first class century and with a half century from Colin Ingram, Glamorgan were well placed at the end of day one, on 305/5. However two wickets in the first over of day two, bowled by Ben Green, started a lower order slump, and Glamorgan would have been disappointed with their total of 353, Green finishing with 3/55. Without an overseas bowler, the Glamorgan bowling lacks potency and it was exposed by the Foxes batters, led by Sol Budinger, whose maiden first class century came off just 92 balls. Rehan Ahmed took only 10 more balls to reach his 100 and the Foxes went past Glamorgan’s score before the end of day two, just two wickets down. They went on to reach 576/7 declared, Ben Green (58*) and Logan van Beek (67*) putting on an unbeaten 123 for the eighth wicket. Glamorgan were then soon in trouble as they went to tea on day three on 36/3, van Beek removing both openers, Mason Crane having been pressed into service in place of Tribe who was battling flu. Glamorgan were then indebted to the experienced duo of Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram, and they were still at the crease when the players took lunch on day four. They went on to put on 225 for the fourth wicket before Northeast played a loose shot to hole out at long off for 139. At that point Glamorgan were ahead by 38 and despite the fall of two further wickets, the sides shook hands at 16:51, Glamorgan on 342/6 and Ingram 133 not out.

At Bristol, the Kookaburra ball was not a concern for the Derbyshire bowlers as slow left armer Jack Morley took 6/55 to leave Gloucestershire all out for just 187 in their first innings. In reply, centuries from Harry Came (103) and Wayne Madsen (123), were the only significant scores in Derbyshire’s first innings total of 398. Gloucestershire have brought in Australian off-spinner Todd Murphy for the next four Championship games and he finished with 3/120.

The Gloucestershire batters then found life a lot easier second time around, in particular Cameron Bancroft, who made 176 and Graeme van Buuren 175, the pair putting on 222 for the fourth wicket. Bancroft declared with the score on 526/6 leaving Derbyshire a target of 316 from a minimum 67 overs. At 177 without loss from 31.3 overs the visitors were well in control and firm favourites, but the Shire fought back as Ajeet Singh Dale dismissed Caleb Jewell for 83 and then Murphy removed Came for 91. Further wickets from van Buuren and Murphy pegged Derbyshire back to 271/7, and with David Lloyd coming out with a runner the equation was 45 from 65 balls. When he was eighth out, with the score on 283, Gloucestershire were in the driving seat and it then became a matter of the Derbyshire tail hanging on. This they did, finishing on 296/8, the draw keeping Derbyshire in second place.

With Marcus Harris back in Australia awaiting the birth of his second child, James Anderson was given the opportunity of captaining Lancashire for the first time, as they took on Kent at Blackpool. He was the one skipper to choose to bowl first and it may have been a decision he regretted as it took 123.2 overs to dismiss the opposition, with the score having reached 374. This was thanks mainly to 135 from Ben Compton, his fourth century of the season. The Lancashire batters then set about the Kent bowlers, three centurions enabling them to reach 639/9 declared from 142 overs. Luke Wells made 152, Josh Bohannon 124 and Ashton Turner 154.

Kent were left to bat out the final day in what looked to be a batter friendly conditions, but found themselves 11/2, Australian off-spinner Chris Green into the action by the ninth over. Jaydn Denly (57) put up some resistance, but the remaining top six batters could only contribute 26 runs and at 116/7, still needing 149 to make Lancashire bat again, the writing was on the wall. However Kent have one of the best number nine’s in the business in Grant Stewart, having scored 182 against Gloucestershire earlier in the season. He joined Joey Evison and the pair put on 182 for the eighth wicket, Stewart making 130 from 122 balls. When he became Anderson’s only wicket of the innings, the game was still in the balance, with Kent ahead by just 33 runs and 12.4 overs left to be bowled. Evison was still there and he and Wes Agar (21*) saw Kent to safety, Evison ending on 77 not out from 176 balls. Green took 4/104 and Tom Bailey 3/61 for Lancashire, who are still waiting for their first Championship victory of the season and they may be regetting omitting Tom Hartley from their starting eleven. Meanwhile, the draw ends a dismal run of four defeats for Daniel Bell-Drummond’s side.

Northamptonshire were the only side in Division Two to squeeze out a win this week, chasing down what turned out to be a comfortable target of 311 off a possible 73 overs. In the end they had 63 balls to spare, centuries from Luke Procter and James Sales the main contributions, both dismissed by the part time leg spin of Sam Robson. Northamptonshire had made changes with Kiwi batter Tim Robinson coming in following the call up to the South Africa squad of Matthew Breetzke for their tour of Zimbabwe. Yuzvendra Chahal is yet to join up with the club, so Australian leg-spinner Lloyd Pope, who has been involved in the Blast, came into the side.

There were also changes in the MIddlesex camp as they travelled to Northampton under new interim coach Dane Vilas, following the departure of Richard Johnson, on the back of a disappointing start to the season. Dane Paterson has also left, but Tom Helm is back fit, while Kane Williamson is not playing in these next two Championship games. Some selection changes meant that Joshua De Cairies was back opening the batting, with Max Holden dropping down to three. James Cracknell also came in behind the stumps for Jack Davies, on the back of big hundreds in both innings of a second team match last week, and immediately repaid the backing with a maiden first class century. Those runs helped Middlesex recover from 95/4 to 413, Leus du Plooy and Luke Hollman both contributing half centuries, while Liam Guthrie returned career best figures of 7/94.

In reply, Saif Zaib posted his fourth century of the season to help Northants to 435, Zafar Gohar taking 5/121. De Cairies then led the way in the Middlesex second innings with 87, spin again at the fore with Calvin Harrison (back on loan from Notts) taking 4/107. Middlesex clearly wanted to press for the win, but a chase requiring a scoring rate of 4.26 runs per over is not something modern batters balk at, and the only real scare for Northants was when Saif Zaib (17) and Sales (108) were both dismissed with the score on 299.

Undoubtedly the use of the Kookaburra ball shifts the balance of power in favour of batters and the sides that can win games in these circumstances are those with the best bowlers, playing on pitches that deteriorate through the four days. Unfortunately with the priority for counties being the production of flat wickets to entertain in white ball cricket, pitches are now too resilient and the day four minefield is a rarity, even if the spinners were there to exploit it.

The only significant move this week was by Surrey, who have been creeping up the table following their slow start to the season, and now sit right on the heels of  Notts. At the other end of the table Worcestershire’s fifth defeat of the season sees them heading rapidly towards relegation.

In Division Two, some at Leicester are already talking about promotion, and given that in the last two years, the second side promoted has only had five wins, it is probably not an unreasonable hope. They are now 33 points ahead of second placed Derbyshire, who put in another strong performance this week. However with the talk of changes to the Championship format it might all be academic.

Standings

Division One

Division Two