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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Will Macpherson at Trent Bridge and Mike Selvey at Scarborough

County cricket – as it happened

Scarborough
The view from Scarborough on Monday afternoon. Photograph: Daniel Smith/Getty Images

That's your lot!

Thanks for joining Selve and I today. It’s been a pleasure. It’s all looking a bit draw-y, which is a shame, in this season of draws. Here’s the scores of the draws:

In Div One:

  • Lancashire 276 & 128-0 v Notts 474
  • Hampshire 472-9d & 9-0 v Durham 421-9d
  • Middlesex 470-8 v Yorkshire 406

In Div Two:

  • Kent 207 & 252-7 v Essex 569
  • Leics 407 & 172-2 v Worcs 349
  • Glamorgan 335 & 307-6 drew with Sussex 552-5d
  • Derbyshire v Northants ... No play on day 1 or 2, sadly

Thanks - and speak in the morning....

Updated

Be sure to join Dan Lucas for over-by-over coverage of England v Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl tonight....

Updated

Well done Somerset!

That’s the close at Trent Bridge, with Lancs 70 ahead. Magnificent from Hameed and Smith. Notts can still win this, but they’ve a hell of a lot left to do.

Tredders!

100 stand and a 50 for each of the Lanky openers. Their first such stand this year. Looking good, pitch dying. Mullaney, much to his credit - and unlike Croft earlier - has tried everything.

Not seen Eskinazi yet? Here’s a look for you. He’s out now I hear.

Updated

The game at CLS moving along, sort of.

That’s that at Hove. Match drawn.

Tasty. That’s why he signed a new four-year deal last week.

Kent looking to deny Ravi and co their Wednesday game of golf.

Hameed just moved 38 to 42 by edging Broad between keeper and slip. At 74 for none, Tahir is back.

Game has a lot to do from here, you’d say. Sussex likely to stay stuck on one win...

This is odd.

Time for tea. Scores on doors.

In Div One:

  • Lancashire 276 50-0 & Notts 474
  • Durham 306-5 v Hampshire 472-9d
  • Middlesex 318-4 v Yorkshire 406

In Div Two:

  • Kent 207 & 158-7 v Essex 569
  • Leics 407 & 67-2 v Worcs 349
  • Glamorgan 335 & 221-5 v Sussex 552-5d
  • Derbyshire v Northants ... No play on day 1 or 2, sadly

It will take a real turn around after tea for this match to spring into any sort of life. The first two seasons have been dominated by Middlesex, with George Bailey’s half century and now a second successive first class century for Stevie Eskinazi, in only his third match. By tea he had reached 112 of Middlesex’s 318 for four, and as it stands it looks as if the only chance of a result in the game would come from Middlesex getting themselves a lead and hoping for a Yorkshire implosion on the final afternoon.


Eskinazi was made to work very hard for the final dozen or so runs to reach three figures. The new ball had been taken and the runs dried up. Jack Brooks came him a bit of a roasting, forcing him onto the back foot and he became visibly edgy. It took 30 balls for him to progress through the nineties, eight of the runs coming to third man, first from a controlled angle and then, the reach three figures, as he reached out to drive and edged. The hundred came from 224 balls with 17 fours.

Very solid start from Hameed and Smith, with no real chances. Trial by spin underway but they are 50 without loss.

And Leach’s first ball gets a wicket at Worcester!

Music to ears the land over, no doubt.

Nottinghamshire are swapping wicketkeepers. A few overs ago, we had a 10-minute delay after Wessels took a stinger on the finger from Broad down the legside. So Brendan Taylor - by his own admission a stopper not a keeper - has now taken the gloves, and Wessels has left the field. Expect him to be very similar to Croft earlier ...

Have Sussex cracked Glamorgan now? 39 overs in the game, five wickets in hand, Glamorgan 22 behind.

Your George Bailey highlights.

This week’s Spin, unsurprisingly, is excellent.

Finally, Notts are all out for 474 - a lead of 198 - as Wagner bowls Hutton. Numbers 1-9 all made at least 30 with a top score of 67. Great team effort, not least when Gurney was carting Parkinson for a pair of fours - through midwicket and down the ground on his merry way to 12 not out.

Big challenge lies ahead for Lancs here. They’ve been fairly insipid today.

Well batted that man ... all season, in fact.

Stokes is in for Durham! Burnham gone to McLaren for 74, Jennings two short of a fifth Champo ton of the season.

Updated

A ninth wicket for Lancashire as Tahir fends a Wagner bouncer to Livingstone, running round from slip to gully. 459 for nine, and Gurney in. Salt to rub into wounds.

Clint McKay was obviously reading my praise for Joe Leach, and has got Worcestershire’s last two. All out 1 short of a fourth batting point, with Leach going for 90.

Oh, would you look at that. Parkinson comes on, to bowl his 11th over in the innings’s 122nd (you do the maths), and gets Broad with his first ball. Bowled when defending. Leg bail gone, beautifully, through the gate.

Tahir is in! Should be fun. Brings up 450 with an edge wide of slip first ball. Stunning cover drive next. Lead is 178.

Incredibly frustrating now for Lancashire. But, I’m afraid, they sort of deserve it. Recently, Hutton consecutively edged through second slip - the first very catchable - but of course there was no one to take it, because everyone was on the fence. Except at third man, where there was nobody. Jarvis has just been flayed down the ground for four by Broad. Wagner is bowling round the wicket. It’s pretty rank. The lead is 170.

All of the nine Nottinghamshire players to have batted reached 30, yet the top score is 67. Last night, this looked a little wasteful. Now, with a firm grip on the game, it looks a cracking team effort.

Joe Leach on fire, Leicestershire are terrified.

The great man is 88* in the company of Shantry, with Worcester 70 odd-behind. I’d bet five English pounds - whatever that be worth these days - that they end up with a lead.

Kent heading home from Chelmsford via Struggle Street.

Middlesex’s morning at Scarborough with 132 added to their overnight 130-2 for the single loss of George Bailey for 62. Yorkshire might have expected to make more of the conditions but the seamers were largely indifferent in the first hour, and both Bailey and Stevie Eskinazi were able to play themselves in. There is a buffeting wind blowing straight up the ground towards Trafalgar Square, and while not as challenging as a cross wind can be for bowlers, it does pose its difficulties, with rhythm hard to locate sometimes.


Bailey, in his first championship innings for the county, had played himself through a testing start the previous evening, and was ruthless on anything wayward. When Rafiq came on downwind with his off spin, it was clear that the batsman was champing at the bit to get down the pitch, and he duly obliged, lofting him into the breeze and over the sight screen. A stopped cut against Will Rhodes, whose bowling went some way to keeping things in check, brought the wicket, the ball looping out to backward point.


Eskinazi though, a maiden hundred at Lord’s recently, was playing some punchy drives, one, just to the onside of straight off Rhodes, the best of the morning, the pose held just long enough for the photographers. His has been an innings chanceless beyond a close call when Bailey called him for a quick single and he was adjudged to have just beaten Gary Ballance’s direct hit.

Lunchtime: scores on the doors

In Div One:

  • Notts 415-7 v Lancashire 276
  • Durham 162-2 v Hampshire 472-9d
  • Middlesex 231-3 v Yorkshire 406

In Div Two:

  • Kent 207 & 26-2 v Essex 569
  • Worcs 322-8 v Leics 407
  • Glamorgan 335 & 110-4 v Sussex 552-5d
  • Derbyshire v Northants ... No play on day 1 or 2, sadly

Updated

Lunch at Trent Bridge. Nottinghamshire are in control, and surely will take a minimum of 13 points from this match now. Broad humpty ensured their fifth batting point, and the lead at at the break is 140. Unlike the curious underused Matt Parkinson, Imran Tahir will be preparing for a very long bowl on a pitch with some variable bounce.

You do not need run outs when saving the game on’t final day.

And another!

And Essex are on the move too - Cook has taken a fine catch at slip off Napier to see off Dickson. Kent 18-1.

Lloyds Leach and Shantry having a bat for Worcester. I expect their lead to be three figures about an hour after lunch.

Very good cricket from Broad, who gives Notts their fifth batting point. Just two bowling points for Lancs, who have had a curious morning. Broad pulls Smith for four to leave eight required from the 110th over for that fifth point. Croft turns to young Parkinson to bowl his ninth over of the innings. Notts get those eight runs, half of them courtesy of a lovely Broad sweep for four through square leg. Croft’s captaincy, I’m afraid, has been fairly listless - uber-defensive fields, aversion to spin - this morning. And Notts, with a lead of 125, are right in control.

The lead is 100 as Broad drives Clark through point for four. Pinches the strike last ball of an over that cost seven; two oivers to get 20 and a fifth batting point. Can he?

Riki Wessels, a ball after a delicious whip through midwicket for four, has guided Tom Smith to the lone slip, as the ball got a bit big on him. There has been a bit of inconsistent bounce today ... Hutton and Broad to have some fun, I’d think. The lead is nearing 100 and we have a cracking game in store.

Jennings, surely the county scene’s most in-form batsman, has another score, and a vital one for Durham.

Stat attack:

A fine effort from the nightwatchman.

Which is quite a big lead.

100 partnership between Samit and Wessels, the first of this match, which is drifting Nottinghamshire’s way. Samit’s looked better these last few minutes, but NOW THERE’S A WICKET! Samit just chased a wide swingy one from Tom Smith, and Croft takes a fine diving catch. Smith knew, but Alex Wharf took a while to raise the finger. Broad in now.

Essex are grinding Kent into the dirt in Chelmsford.

I thought the conditions might provide more of a challenge for Middlesex this morning than has proved the case. Instead the Yorkshire bowling has been indifferent , with too much loose stuff, readily disposed by George Bailey and Steve Eskinazi. Yorkshire have turned to spin at the Pavilion end, and both players have taken advantage with Bailey down the pitch and lofting Rafiq over the sight screen, while Eskinazi has just pummelled a brace of cover drives from the same bowler. Bailey reached an excellent half century from 83 balls, with seven fours to go with the six, while Eskinazi was approaching his own 50. Thus far the pair have added 96 for the third wicket.

The great man is going to the cricket tonight!

Speaking of social medias, here’s the excellent Trent Bridge live stream. Watch what I’m watching.

Fairly slow going here with some very defensive Lancashire fields (deep point?!), but Samit - who was rooted on 52 for what felt an age - played one delicious straight drive off Wagner, while Wessels has cover driven tidily. Lead is 56.

I see Worcestershire’s eighth wicket pair of Lloyds Leach and Ed Barnard - who I gather is very good at Fifa - have put on 53 and are 12 shy of avoiding the follow-on. Good on them.

In Taunton, Azhar Ali is having some fun. Somerset, by the way, have been magnificent on the social medias these last 24 hours; I gather they’ve gained themselves a few thousand followers. An example for other counties to follow.

Eight to go for Sussex on the final day of a game that looked pretty dead yesterday morning.

Good to hear.

Bit odd. The ball is six overs old, the sun has gone in, Wagner is bowling, this is surely the match’s most important session - hour, even - and yet Croft has just one slip. He spoke last night about how he felt his bowlers had underperformed yesterday - I agree, although they improved after a very poor start - but this is just very oddly defensive. Lead is 36.

10 sixes in Tom Moores’s 117-ball 155 for Notts 2s yesterday ...

It was Dickie Bird’s charity quiz night last night, and if there are such things as omens, then the Middle Saxons will canter through to win this match just as they trounced the Yorkshire opposition in The Cask. It is an unlikely scenario however, with Middlesex still 276 runs adrift on first innings and a chance that the weather will interfere once again.

We have had a sort of Melbournish morning in which the weather teeters between extremes in the space of half and hour or so. Early on it was horrible, the sort of windy, drizzly, chilly stuff that promotes coats and hats, and a flask of tea while huddled on the prom in front of the amusement arcades. Soon after, the sun was shining and there was warmth. Currently it is betwixt and between, although locals say there is more rain to come.

The early finish to the second day probably helped Middlesex, with George Bailey and Steve Eskinazi hanging in as the ball darted around in the gloom. It is brighter now but there is no reason to suppose that batting will be any less tricky first thing.

Morning all it's the morning call!

Well good morning and happy Tuesday. Here’s to another cracking day of Champo action and no more rain, please.

Bad news on that front already, mind, as the second day - and third of the festival - has been washed out at Chesterfield, which is just rubbish. Rubbish, I tell you.

Just Selve and I today, as Vic has pootled up the road from Taunton to Southampton because England are playing Sri Lanka in a T20i there this evening. Looking forward to hearing about Selve’s Scarborough adventures soon enough.

I’m lucky enough to be at Trent Bridge again where early cloud (I played 7 holes this morning and the blister I picked up yesterday is getting worse, fans of my golf should note) is parting, and the sun is coming out. As his Nottinghamshire team-mates play football - Mullaney fancies himself as a silky No10, I’m told - Luke Fletcher is continuing his recovery from a groin injury by having a bowl in the nets. Never has the rhyming slang jam roll felt more appropriate.

Anyway, here’s where we are at:

In Div One:

  • Notts 303-5 v Lancashire 276
  • Warwickshire 449 & 5-0 beat Surrey 273 & 177 by 10 wickets
  • Durham 79-2 v Hampshire 472-9d
  • Middlesex 130-2 v Yorkshire 406

In Div Two:

  • Essex 480-6 v Kent 207
  • Worcs 193-7 v Leics 407
  • Glamorgan 335 & 30-1 v Sussex 552-5d
  • Derbyshire v Northants ... No play on day 1 or 2, sadly

Enjoy the cricket, and be sure to keep life lively BTL. We love hearing from you. Ta.

Morning all,

Today we have Will Macpherson at Trent Bridge and Mike Selvey at Scarborough. Here are their reports from yesterday:

Nottinghamshire v Lancashire

Yorkshire v Middlesex

Enjoy the cricket

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