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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Will Macpherson at the Ageas Bowl and Ali Martin at Edgbaston

County cricket – as it happened

Hampshire’s Jimmy Adams bats during the County Championship match against Nottinghamshire.
Hampshire’s Jimmy Adams bats during the County Championship match against Nottinghamshire. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

That’s the close of play at the Ageas, where Hampshire have fought back well to finish 149 for four. I have a report to write, so that’s me signing off but thank you for your company and see you all (sort of) tomorrow. Toodle pip!

Andy Umeed! Well batted the Glaswegian!

Sorry Surrey fans. Burns has gone for 92 and it’s all my fault. Bowled by Wagner, and Surrey are all out for 191, which I suppose is very passable from 40-5.

Will Rory Burns reach his hundred? He has 92 and just Stuart Meaker - presumably donning a box this time - for company.

And we’re playing again. Harry Gurney with the ball in hand. One’s just landed an inch or two short of first slip. Gonna be that kind of mini-session, I reckon.... 13 overs to bowl.

We will resume at the Ageas Bowl at five minutes to six.

Early one for Glamorgan, I see. Their live stream, an excellent initiative that you should really make use of, is here, by the way.

The sun is coming out here (somehow it is still raining), so we may yet see more cricket.

I see Rory Burns is on the move; four boundaries in the space of six balls for him, and he’s into the 80s. What a vital knock that looks.

Big covers coming out and bigger rain falling. :-(

Five for Graham Napier! He remains a dogged old seadog, doesn’t he? Glamorgan all out for 260.

Ali’s got his crystal ball out - well, it’s a bit better informed than that - and is looking ahead at what may or may not happen should one Ben Stokes be ruled out of his home Test at Durham.

Swept aside. Wahay.

Sorry.

Oh, and more from Lord’s, where they’ve also headed off.

Lots of conflicting emotions at Lord’s today, then. The tenants have been done over by one of their own.

And now we are going off for bad light, unfortunately. Might be rain as well. Who knows, that might be us for day one. Hope not.

Middlesex have been Rogersed. That’s his 100. He’s shared 121 with Hildreth, who has 60.

At the Ageas, it’s really rather dark. And it’s raining a bit, too. Might not be out here for long...

Ball is a dreamboat and he’s just pinned Will Smith in front with one that possibly nipped back a touch. Might have been a little high but Smith is a short man so, err, who knows. Wicket No21 for the season, and a well-timed one at that. 84-4 and I reckon they will be all out for about 160.

Well batted Rory Burns. Looked in fine form at the Oval on Tuesday, and he’s giving his side hope at the mo. Shame about the rest of them, really...

A couple of seasoned campaigners doing the job for Somerset at the HoC:

SIX for Jarvis:

Lots and lots of respect for this #positive #thinking from a Surrey fan.

There’s a Michelle for Kyle Jarvis... Surrey’s strife continues.

Meanwhile, a few more details about the same wicket!

Updated

I’m always extremely comforted by the sight of other sports being given the run around by the rain.

We’ll have 39 overs to bowl, which is quite a scary thought.

News from Lord’s:

WE WILL HAVE CRICKET AT 4.15 THANK THE LORD

It sure ain’t easy being a Glamorgan supporter...

Good news if, like me, you really like cricket and really can’t stand rain.

Well batted that man. Cracking fightback from Derbyshire after Matt Coles did as Matt Coles does early doors.

This is a very enthusiastic tweet that paints a nice picture of events at Lord’s.

The inspection will be at 3.40, so perhaps I was a little optimistic. The conditions right now are pretty good for cricket. It’s tea at the moment.

Updated

Well it’s stopped raining and the mop-up is underway. News as I have it. Would think play at 3.45 or 4pm would be a reasonable guess.

Unfortunately the news at the Ageas is that the very light rain has started again. Proper wouldn’t-start-in-it-but-would-stay-on-it territory, sadly.

Gah, rain in Birmingham falling and the players are making way for the hover cover with Warwickshire 116 for one from 46.2 overs. Ian Bell has frictionlessly moved to 20 not out with Andrew Umeed on 63. Good probing spell from Brydon Carse has been interrupted. Fingers crossed it’s a passing shower.

News from Old Trafford:

Looks to me rather like our shower hath passed at the Ageas. Much brighter and the brollies are down. Shouldn’t be long until the umps inspect, I’d say.

Since the Test ended yesterday afternoon, young Vic Marks has spoken about nothing but these five things. Give them a read. Elegant as ever from Victor.

Leave them alone, young Tom Abell.

And here’s news from Bristol:

The absolute state of this from Neil Broom. Shot.

This is about the measure of things at the Ageas.

Afternoon from Edgbaston, where I’m making a guest appearance for a couple of hours while I write up some gubbins from the Test match. Just seen a wicket fall too, with Varun Chopra trapped lbw by right-armer James Weighell just after lunch (from around the wicket). Fell over a bit in defence.

At the other end Andrew Umeed looks an assured young right-hander, having come in for Ian Westwood following a binary start to the season. The 20-year-old Glaswegian is playing his first championship fixture and just his second first-class match - Scotland v Afghanistan in the ICC Intercontinental Cup last year being the last one - and he sits 40 not out with Warwickshire 120-1 from 37 overs. The Duke of Bellington has joined him.

Good news! Ali Martin is joining us from Edgbaston. First update incoming....

As so often this season, perhaps this is our most important resource today.

Will it rain today?

All of a sudden, that rain is really rather heavy. Could be off the field for some time at the Ageas...

Here’s Surrey’s roll of dishonour; that is some brute Arun Harinath got...

I can confirm that it is now raining here. A little delay coming up.

Same drill in Manchester, it seems....

As the lunchbreak draws to a close, the pitch at the Ageas has been covered. Don’t think it’s raining just yet (I’m behind thick glass), but we might be due a shower. Umps are wandering out to see what’s what.

Is that relief I hear?

Here’s the three wickets we’ve had here so far today. Don’t watch them for the wickets, watch them for Luke Fletcher’s celebration of the caught and bowled of Jimmy Adams...

I notice Glamorgan are having a Q&A with Robert Croft. They’ve made a decent start against Essex, but you sense there are some serious questions to be asked about what’s going on down there....

So that’s lunch here to end a good session for Nottinghamshire, who have deserved their three wickets having bowled excellently, probing away. Three down is perhaps harsh on Hampshire, whose openers acquitted themselves well in a tough situation.

Looking round the grounds, what a tough morning for Surrey. Good on Rory Burns for sticking at it; he looked in good form against Middlesex last week. Warwickshire have fared rather better, and, remarkably, they’ve got through 32 overs up there! All from seamers, including five from Collingwood. Outstanding.

We have another couple of wickets at the Ageas Bowl, and it’s Luke Fletcher! The great man strikes in consecutive balls. Adams had played really well but he’s just sort of pulled out of a drive and knocked it back to the bowler. Then Dawson came out and was pinned in front first ball; the umpire took an age to decide and that’s Dawson second golden duck in consecutive matches.

And the pressure tells. Ball has bowled beautifully this morning and in his second over since swapping ends, he’s got Carberry driving, edging, and caught at third slip by Dan Christian. Well bowled that man. That’s wicket No20 this season. Skipper Will Smith in at three and the first ball rears up at him, but he plays it well.

My word, I’ve only just seen this.

Really good cricket for the first hour here. Ball’s spell from the Pavilion End was constantly probing, and he’s been replaced by Gurney, who is getting good carry. At t’other end, Fletch is plodding in and just nagging. There’s a bit in the pitch, and the outfield is slow, but Adams and Carberry have done really well against high quality bowling. As Ball swaps ends and produces a jaffa first up to Adams, it’s 38 without loss.

Still raining in Brizzle

Here’s how you get Kumar Sangakkara out.

Hell hath no fury like a Matt Coles scorned. Ban him at your peril.

Surrey struggling having chosen to bat up at Old Trafford.

By the way, that England were a bit good, weren’t they? Or maybe Sri Lanka would just fishys out of water. Either way, an emphatic win for England. Obviously my esteemed colleagues at Edgbaston wrote some lovely stuff about it. Here it all is, if that’s your thang.

Here’s Victor’s beautiful prose on the day itself:

And here’s Selve getting into Jimmy’s swing:

Meanwhile, here’s the latest from Ali on Ben Stokes’s injury, Alastair Cook on Jimmy burying his demons, and on Chris Gayle being sexist again. He’s a busy boy is Ali Martin.

Right, now I’ve caught my breath I’ve had a chance to have a look at some scorecards and see who is actually playing in these games.

I notice Andrew Umeed, of Glasgow, makes his Championship debut for Warwickshire, opening the batting in place of Ian Westwood, which was probably a little overdue. Ian Bell and Ollie Hannon-Dalby also back for them. At Lord’s, Somerset have swapped their Overtons, with Craig in for Jamie, while STUART MEAKER IS BACK FOR SURREY at Lancashire after his wee ball-based issue.

It hasn’t taken Matt Coles long to get among the wickets on his return, has it? He’s got The One And Only for a duck to break a fine run of form for Mr Hughes. By the way, it’s good to see Charlie Morris back in the Worcester XI.

Jake Ball is bowling like a king at the Ageas.

Good morning!

Hello hello and welcome to another round of County cricket - live!

Will Macpherson here at the Ageas Bowl - sorry I’m a bit late, this place is a monster to get to - where Nottinghamshire have gone without the toss and stuck a rather weak looking Hampshire side in to bat. Dan Christian is playing, and Jake Libby is back from his loan at Northants. As I type, Jake Ball has just served up a beauty to Michael Carberry first up. Ball will stay for two days before joining up with England again. Oh my! Chris Read has just dropped a catch, it’s kissed the outside edge and flown miles to Read’s right. Maybe he did well to get a hand to it.

As ever, there are a load of other games going on. In Div Two it’s raining in Bristol, where Northants are visiting Gloucestershire, but we’ve started on time everywhere else. Glamorgan host Essex, Kent are at Derbyshire and Worcestershire meet Leicestershire, who are having a bat.

Up in Division One, Somerset are batting at Lord’s against Middlesex, Durham put Warwickshire in, and Surrey have chosen to bat against Lancashire.

Anyway, let’s get this show on the road. I look forward to hearing from you all BTL. Enjoy the cricket.

Updated

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