A belated farewell from me, in case there are any stragglers lurking on a Friday night. Shame the weather spoilt things at Newport, Lord’s and Taunton, it was just getting tantalising.
Thanks for you company these last four days, it’s been great fun. My player of the round: Richard Gleeson, who just pips Dom Sibley and Lewis Gregory to the celebratory Blue Riband. I’’m sure you’ll disagree!
Till Monday, for a top of Division Two clash at Old Trafford, and everywhere else as well. Have a lovely weekend.
Somerset v Surrey ends in a draw
🤝 That's it, the game has now been abandoned!
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 17, 2019
Surrey finish on 255 for 8 and take 12 points from the game. pic.twitter.com/M2qnqznYNX
🎥 Highlights: Surrey bat out the day and secure the draw here in Taunton after a rain and bad light affected day. pic.twitter.com/WYAWv4g6As
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 17, 2019
With the games at Lord’s and Taunton suspended for bad light/rain, it’s up to Gloucestershire (58/4) and Kent (174/7) to hold on agains the dying of the light.
I’ve got to round-up now, so please excuse me but do keep chatting BTL.
The Somerset cat
@SomersetCCC @SCCCBrianTheCat Well its getting a bit chilly out there so there might be some dreamies available in the warm 😋 pic.twitter.com/ZVr8NRNjLU
— Guy Beale (@Beeaalee) May 17, 2019
Bad light stops play at Taunton.
🔦 Bad light stops play!
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 17, 2019
Umpires Millns and Cook decide the light has deteriorated and have taken the players off. pic.twitter.com/6VsdK4iv2N
Oh Hankins! ( a likeable synonym for fiddlesticks). He falls for 2, and Gloucestershire’s trousers are falling down at 48/4 chasing another 219.
Ye Gods, match suspended at Lord’s due to bad light while Gloucestershire lose a wicket in their quest, Bracey for 22 - a wicket for Wagg. 40/3 - 229 to win.
Tea-time scores
DIVISION ONE
Somerset 398 v Surrey 380 and 247-8.
Kent 296 and 169-7 v Yorkshire 210 and 469. Kent need 215 to win.
DIVISION TWO
Middlesex 349 and 223 v Leicestershire 268 and 182-4. Leics need 123 to win
Glamorgan 250-9 and 481-8dec v Gloucestershire 463 and 39-2. Gloucestershire need 230 to win.
RESULTS
Hampshire beat Warwickshire by 314 runs
Worcestershire beat Durham by five wickets
Lancashire beat Northants by ten wickets
Essex beat Notts by eight wickets.
And in the breath before the stroke of tea, Warwickshire have LOST to Hampshire by 314 runs. Fidel Edwards 3-36; two wickets for Dawson, Barker and Abbot. Warwickshire all out 109, five single figures scores and a top score of 21. That’s quite some thrashing - they need to find some in form batsmen sharpish. Next game against Somerset at Taunton starting Monday - yum, yum says Jack Leach.
Elgar defeats kidney stones, but not Tim Groenewald. Surrey 243/8 - lead of 225.
OUT! Lovely delivery from Tim Groenewald finds the outside edge of Elgar's bat. Fantastic effort from Dean to bat having had kidney stones last night. Surrey 235/8 from 81 overs#SOMvSUR#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/COJCqPyEoX
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) May 17, 2019
The batsmen are having a moment. Eight-wicket pairs for Surrey and Kent holding on. Leicestershire calmly approaching their task and -ooops -that’s a wicket down at Newport - Hammond for 14, Gloucs 27/2.
For bowlers everywhere, from earlier:
Leicester have crossed the rubicon - 159 under the belt, 146 to go. Azad has gone though, after a 113 minute vigil. Ackermann still there on 36.
Big Rikki Clarke being big Rikki Clarke for Surrey. Valuable partnership of 27 with Dean Elgar who I didn’t think was going to bat. 231/7.
Robinson goes, a fourth for Coad. Kent 148/7. I think their great resistance is done and dusted.
GLoucestershire make a hopeless start - Dent goes for 1 to the seventh ball of the innings. Van der Gugten the man.
This for the tea break
Virat Kohli is the best — and best-paid — cricket batsman in the world. And with an obsessed fan base of 1.3 billion, he can’t walk down a street in India. But, is the 29-year-old ready for the upcoming World Cup? https://t.co/Uu1saLkUiB
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) May 17, 2019
And Surrey are seven down all of a sudden - Morkel and Jacks gone in successive overs. Three for Leach, two for Gregory and two for COverton.
Arghghg! Match delayed by rain at Lord’s. Just when it was getting interesting.
And Glamorgan, bless their cotton socks, have declared. 481/8 -269 needed. Gloucestershire, let’s see what you’re made of.
David Payne 4-121.
Oi, Leicester. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire - The A - Team
(Azad -30- and Ackermann -27- , 143/3 chasing another 162 against Middlesex. )
So this is the World Cup’s official anthem. Um, so what do you think? It’s not three lions but it’s ... unobjectionable? Sounds pretty generically chart material. There’s not much cricket in the video though anything is better than this bizarre monstrosity which I’d never seen before but had to look up for a piece.
Warwickshire still holding on , all the nines 99/9.
They’ve restarted at Taunton, with 56 overs left in the day.
And the inner walls start to crumble at Canterbury as Bell-Drummond trudges off, lbw Patterson for a two-hour 41. Kent 120/6.
Michael Duggan writes at 14.04, with a scorecard.
I can’t reprint it here, but it notes that when Tim Ambrose had 10 runs, he had a career total of 11111.
“Strange statistical milestone – how many Nelsons is that?”
And with that Warwickshire lose their ninth! Brookes for a duck.
Warwickshire have discovered a hidden cupboard that they need to clean out with some urgency. 75/8. Thompson, Ambrose, ping-pong.
It’s post-lunch wicket time!
Raise your bat Fred Klaassen, out for a 110 ball 13. Kent 89 for 4. Make that 5. Kuhn for a seven ball, seven minute duck.
And a second for Duanne Olivier at Canterbury. At Newport de Lange is out for 4, Glamorgan 451/7 - a lead of 238. Leicester are another one down too, Cosgrove for 22 - 109/3.
For those of you with half an eye on Trent bridge
Very early days but... Wood (92.2) consistently quicker than Archer (87.6) in their first overs. Exciting days for England.
— George Dobell (@GeorgeDobell1) May 17, 2019
Miserable at Taunton - a further inspection at 2.
Please someone help . Due to repeated spamming of the Kohli ad last night by my children, the lyrics are repeating on me, repeating on me, repeating on me
VK “Walking like a dude, feeling all cool, you’ve got the look, you’re gonna rule.”
“Hey man you’re all set for tonight”
RP, “Paint the town red, cos Virat says so.”
VK: “But before you step out dear bro, that pimple’s gotta go, gotta go, gotta go - repeat ad nauseum”
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Warwicks 233 and 64/6 v Hampshire 354 and 302-5dec. Warwicks need 360 runs to win.
Somerset 398 v Surrey 380 and 187-5.
Kent 296 and84-3 v Yorkshire 210 and 469. Kent need 300 to win.
DIVISION TWO
Middlesex 349 and 223 v Leicestershire 268 and 97-2. Leics need 208 to win
Glamorgan 250-9 and 446-6 v Glocuestershire 463.
RESULTS
Worcestershire beat Durham by five wickets
Lancashire beat Northants by ten wickets
Essex beat Notts by eight wickets.
Updated
Bresnan has limped off injured at Canterbury, with Kent batting through that entire session without losing a wicket at 82/3.
Daniel Bell-Drummond has batted 99 balls for his 31. Fred Klaassen’s 13 has taken over two hours and 103 balls. I might not tune into the live feed just yet.
Leicester can’t pull this off - really, truly, can they? 91/2 chasing another 214. Hasan Azad and Mark Cogrove the men in.
Meanwhile at Newport, Glamorgan are losing regular wickets but the lead is 224.
If you’d like to keep an eye on England’s quest for stratospheric balls, join Rob Smyth here*:
* Feeling some sympathy for Alex Hales. The architect of his own demise, but still.
Updated
It’s lunch at Taunton - an inspection at 1pm.
Abbot and Edwards are carving up Warwickshire who have lost 3 for 2 and are 43/5. Will they dismantle the full carcass before lunch?
Worcestershire beat Durham by five wickets!
After the fear, the victory.
Updated
Make that 43/5.
At Lord’s, Ethan Bamber runs in from the Nursery end, and snares Paul Horton lbw for 36. Leicestershire 75/2, chasing another 230.
The rain break has done nothing for Warwickshire, now 43/4, chasing a fairytale.
Worcestershire seem to have stopped scoring. 15 needed.
Steady on, @aleesy14... pic.twitter.com/FoL4DFaG5o
— Durham Cricket 🏏 (@DurhamCricket) May 17, 2019
Sob
The current scene at the CACG 🌧🌧#SOMvSUR pic.twitter.com/n4dhPkDgsM
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) May 17, 2019
In the OT net, Paul Allot, resplendent in light blue shirt, dark blue slacks, is umpiring, Chapple is coming in off off a full run, and Hass is facing. I hope Hass sleeps easily.
At New Road - 19 runs needed.
There are no photos of Chris Rushworth this season on the Guardian archive. So have a thoughtful one instead from 2015.
QUICK update:
Warwickshire v Hampshire due to start at 12.10
Surrey v Sussex, rain, cover on. without advisory
Kent have scored 28 in an hour (but not lost a wicket)
Lancs won by ten wickets
Worcestershire - OH MY EYES- are 5/55 needing another 26 to win. Rushworth 5-22.
Leicestershire are 64/1 needing another 241
Glamorgan 401/3 -lead of 197, Labuschagne out for 137.
From up here, to down there, Jimmy looking absolutely back to his best. A supreme physical specimen. throwing medicine balls, stretching, twisting, sprinting. And that’s a banana inswinger. A walking, breathing, bowling life-lesson. I know it is his job but if you compare him to those of the 80s who had a beer belly by 27... he’s made the most of every last fingernail of his ability.
Re CPL chat BTL. Apparently 536 players have put themselves forward including, from England,
ARCHER, Jofra
BELL-DRUMMOND, Daniel,
BILLINGS, Sam
BOPARA, Ravi
BROWN, Pat
CHOPRA, Varun
COBB, Joshua
COCKBAIN, Ian
COX, Ben
DAWSON, Liam
DICKSON, Sean
D’OLIVEIRA, Brett
EVANS, Laurie
GURNEY, Harry
HAIN, Sam
HALES, Alex
HANKINS, George
HIGGINS, Ryan
HOWELL, Benny
JORDAN, Chris
KOHLER-CADMORE, Tom
LEACH, Joe
LIDDLE, Chris
LYTH, Adam
MESCHEDE, Craig
MILLS, Tymal
MITCHELL, Daryl
MULLANEY, Steven
MUSTARD, Phil
THOMASON, Aaron
TOPLEY, Reece
RAFIQ, Azeem
ROBINSON, Ollie
SALT, Phil
WALLER, Max
WESSELS, Mattheus
WHITELY, Ross
WILLEY, David
WOOD, Chris
WRIGHT, Luke
ZAIDI, Syed
Oh no! They’re off at Taunton too. The rain must be travelling from the Midlands downwards - for once. I’m not bitter. Really.
The nets are up in the middle at Old Trafford and Jimmy Anderson, complete with bandaged left knee, and Liam Livingstone walk out. Then Anderson jogs back in - it seems someone forgot the balls.
It’s all going v e r y s l o w l y at Canterbury: five runs in the first 20 minutes.
And Selman falls at last at Newport. 150 runs, 270 balls, 17 fours and a vat of love from BTL. Newport 369/2 - a lead of 156.
No wickets have fallen yet today. Not sure if there’s a klaxon for that. Is anyone at Newport? Is the pitch still a belter for batting?
Updated
Lancashire beat Northamptonshire by 10 wickets
And in the time it took me to write that, Lancashire have won! Three fours for Hass, four not out for Jennings. Handshakes, and the whole day to play with.
Updated
Ah, no play at Edgbaston at the moment, due to rain. And, apologies, I forgot to mention goings on at Newport the preamble. That is, of course, is one to very very much watch.
Here at OT I can count 44 fans in the stands. Forty four who have turned up and 1.4 overs and four minutes into the day have 8 more runs to watch . I doubt they’ll come to The Hundred - but they are cricket’s most faithful. I salute their doggedness.
Good morning!
Goodbye sunshine, hello beige. Borderline haze perhaps. But, we’ll get play here at Old Trafford where even Lancashire at their most Mr Pooterish should manage the 16 runs they need to win.
Elsewhere, the game to watch is at Taunton between the reigning champs and the wannabes - Surrey lead by 134 with 5 wickets in hand - and things could get tasty at Lord’s where Leicestershire need 267 more runs to win (10 wickets in hand)
Last night, Richard Gleeson came up to talk to us at the close of play. A lovely man, modest, thoughtful and, incidentally, with a most luxuriant beard. He spoke warmly of his old club Northants, who had picked him up when he was working for the Lancashire cricket board. “I owe my cricket career to them.” He also said that Lancs are aiming to get 200 points this season - you heard it here first.
Here are yesterday’s highlights from Taunton :
HIGHLIGHTS: Catch all the action from a terrific day of @CountyChamp cricket!#SOMvSUR#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/ptYQIhI2ZD
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) May 17, 2019
