Solid enough start to Sussex’s innings on a fine north London innings. They’ve pootled along to 19 for no loss with both lefties Joyce and Wells playing nicely to the short boundary. 11 overs left in the day and, with Toby Roland-Jones and his monstrous run up having a bowl, we’ll battle to get them done before midnight.
Middlesex have lost their last four wickets in the hour after tea and are all out for 234.
Rayner was first to go, sending the second ball of the session, hooking straight down fine leg’s throat.
Then, finally, Malan went, feathering Robinson to the keeper down the legside for 93. He played extremely well, although had a slice of luck shortly before, an inside edge off Magoffin narrowly missing the stumps when he had 80. He drove beautifully, though, and had the measure of the pitch, playing with soft hands. Not longer after, Roland-Jones went too, bowled all ends up by one that may just have stayed low from the same bowler. Last of all, Tim Murtagh – who played some nice shots, including a sumptuous and brutal drive down the ground off Wells – picked out deep point. Ravi Patel stood firm to finish six not out.
My hunch is that 234 might not be that bad, you know…
That’s tea. Harris was the next man to go, not doing his claims to stay at number seven any good at all, by slapping the simplest of chances to point, who caught it on its way down. Sussex have bowled really well but Malan has been stoic in resisting them and went to well made 50 from 115 balls, with an outstanding cut behind point a few of overs before the break and brutally pumping Wells to cow for four.
Rayner has played some nice shots against his old county on the day he was awarded his county cap. He really is a vast man and has done well, though he offered a chance to slip – who dropped it - off Zaidi just before the break.
It’s 177 for six and time for a scone. Middlesex fought back well in the last hour there, with Malan and Rayner have sharing 50. Malan has 74.
Richard Gibson reports
Three wickets in seven balls have clawed Yorkshire further into this contest. Typically, Steve Patterson was responsible for two of them - Mark Stoneman shovelling to fine leg and Gordon Muchall leg before - after Bresnan snared Graham Clark in the off-side trap baited for full deliveries outside off-stump. Durham 41-3 and without their middle-order anchor Paul Collingwood.
Richard Gibson reports
Only a last-wicket stand of 67 - the biggest of the innings - salvaged some respectability for Yorkshire after they won the toss and opted to bat. Tim Bresnan did the majority of the scoring but fell for 47, swishing at a delivery sent down from around the wicket by left-armer Jamie Harrison. Bresnan and his 10th-wicket pal Ryan Sidebottom have since taken the new ball in defence of 162.
Franklin went, then so did John Simpson – a position too high at six, for me – and Sussex have the reward for some really good bowling. Franklin fended Ollie Robinson to second slip then Simpson prodded half-forward to Liddle and the keeper did the rest. James Harris – who has made no secret of his desire to bat higher – is in at seven, with Ollie Rayner due in next. Difficult to overstate the importance of Dawid Malan here. He’s 48 and it’s 121 for five.
I told you all that, then Compton went and prodded Magoffin – with the keeper stood up – straight to slip, which was just a bit careless. Not a great shot at all and, as his way, Compo took an absolute age to drag himself from the ground, 39 to his name. That’s not the sort of score that would get chins wagging about Adam Lyth’s place, and Compo blooming well knows it.
Lord’s-Tour-watch continues. Another big one in at the mo, with a couple of confused Americans, which is great. Also rather curiously, John Emburey is in the box giving some guided tour or another of his own to a group of blazer-clad schoolboys and a couple of teachery types. Photos abound.
Just ticking along at Lord’s, aren’t we. Sussex have bowled well today but their bowling resources do feel painfully shallow, as, might I add, any county would when shorn of the services of Messrs Shahzad, Jordan, Hobden, Anyon and all sorts of others who aren’t on the tip of my tongue. Compo and Malan just flitting along in tandem, with an any-ball-you-can-cut-I-can-cut-better kinda attitude. The short boundary up to the Mound Stand is unsurprisingly staying busy and Joyce’s finding it difficult to cover. It’s 112 for four.
Richard Gibson reports
Chris Rushworth was on a hat-trick for the second Championship match in a row here but could not follow his unusual trio against Hampshire - completed in three different overs, across two innings - by polishing off Yorkshire’s innings. Liam Plunkett and Steven Patterson both nicked into the cordon but Ryan Sidebottom has stuck around long enough to share in the second biggest stand of the day. Yorkshire 125-9.
Richard Gibson reports
An injudicious stroke by an Australian batsman (bit of a theme here methinks) has left Yorkshire mired in further trouble at lunch. Glenn Maxwell had played nicely but then wafted at a tennis ball bouncer from Graham Onions and nicked behind. Durham then claimed a seventh wicket on the stroke of lunch when debutant Jack Burnham, at third slip, clung to an edge from Adil Rashid to provide Onions with a third success.
That’s lunch at Lord’s then, which no doubt the players will be very excited about. No more wickets since I last checked in, and Compton and Malan have both played a selection of fine drives. Steve Magoffin’s been bowling nicely from the Nursery End – not the end I expected him to bowl, to be honest – and had a couple of leg before shouts and plays and misses to Compton. At the other end, Joyce has given his spinners a twirl. Ashar Zaidi – one of my favourite chubby-funsters on the county ciricuit got first go and didn’t really threaten before Luke Wells, who has 20 Championship wickets with his funky mix of leggies and googlies and other stuff, also hasn’t done much, although he beat the outside edge last ball before the great. They’ve still got Mike Yardy and Chris Nash to spin it if required.
It’s 83 for two at the break. Just been announced here that James Franklin and Ollie Rayner are to get their county caps – well done those men!
Richard Gibson writes from Scarborough
Yorkshire are in a spot of bother here against one of only three teams to have defeated them in the past 60 County Championship contests. Graham Onions and John Hastings are pretty useful change bowlers and both have struck, with first slip Gordon Muchall the accomplice on each occasion. First, Hastings’ extra bounce accounted for Leaning before Ballance pushed at one angled across him.
That will not have done much for the mood in the home dressing room. It’s not so bad in the press box, mind. The Scarborough Festival is in full swing and the wonderful Timothy Taylor’s brewery have sent bottles of their award-winning Boltmaker beer for our pleasure. Landlord is my preferred tipple but I will look forward to sampling one of these later. Yorkshire 62-5.
Well hello again. Things ticking along just fine here. Nick Gubbins had just started to get into his stride when he nicked Chris Liddle’s fourth ball to first slip, just after slaying behind point for a lovely cut four. Since, Compo and Malan have been fairly watchful, throwing in the occasional flourish. The fields have been #funky from Captain Joyce at his old home ground. At one stage he had three slips, a gully, a short leg, short midwicket, short cover and silly mid-off for Compo, who responded by dissecting the tiny gap between the two fellas close in front of square on the off side. Spectacular, as was Malan’s stunning cut to get off the mark.
It’s 45 for two and we’ve got a good crowd in, which is just great. Those of you who’ve read my updates from Lord’s before will know of my mild obsession with the tour groups that come into the media centre. Currently got a vast one in, all snapping away. Glad to know I’ll be in a few Indian facebook albums at some stage over the next few weeks. Will keep you posted on the cricket and the tours as they unfold.
Richard Gibson checks in from North Yorkshire
Scarborough looks glorious this morning for the re-match of the best County Championship fixture - in terms of quality - I have covered. The fixture in question two years ago saw Durham defeat Yorkshire on their way to the Division One title with England players Ben Stokes and Mark Wood to the fore.
They are both missing here, of course, as is Paul Collingwood, the captain, who is absent for the first time in Championship cricket since July 2013 due to a back spasm. Jack Burnham, a teenage batsman from the city of Durham, replaces him and Mark Stoneman captains the visiting side.
Jack Brooks, the Yorkshire fast bowler, had been an ever-present for an even longer stretch but was not deemed fit enough to get through a full four-day match due to back issues of his own. His run of 34 consecutive Championship appearances represented the club’s longest stretch and highlighted that they do not rest players lightly.
Stoneman lost the toss and was asked to field. His bowlers responded, however, with three quick wickets: Andrew Hodd leg before to Jamie Harrison before two edges, one into the stumps from Alex Lees and the other into the hands of Scott Borthwick at second slip courtesy of Andrew Gale’s forward push, took Chris Rushworth’s Division One tally of scalps to 66 for the season.
Yorkshire, with Gary Ballance batting at five rather than the number three position he occupied for England, are 39-3.
So we’ve had just over half an hour of cricket at the Home of Cricket (note capitalisation), and really very little has happened. Proper cricket, this: leaves, nurdles, plays and misses, full cordon, and not even an attempt at scoring a boundary. Nick Gubbins – who’s scored bags of RLODC runs already this week – and Sam Robson have done well to negotiate Steve Magoffin, who is in his bloody element. Oh, take that back about the boundary, Gubbins has just cover driven Ollie Robinson for four (it’s about a 40 yard hit to the Tavern).
The more interesting news regards the teams and the pitch. The track, as I said before, is pretty much directly beneath Father Time and was used for yesterday’s RLODC match with Nottinghamshire, in which Imran Tahir and Samit Patel did rather well. So Middlesex have picked an extra spinner – Ravi Patel – who was on loan at Essex until late last night, and indeed in their squad for today’s game with Surrey. The knock on effect of that recall is that Essex have picked Monty Panesar, as some of the more eagle-eyed among you have noticed. Sussex are pretty threadbare in the bowling department with all those injuries so Ashar Zaidi and Chris Liddle are playing.
Anyway, it’s taken me so long to type that, that Middlesex have lost their first wicket. Robson inside edged Magoffin onto his pad and – as the bowler appealed for LBW – the ball spooned up to Luke Wright at gully who dived forward to take a fine catch. So it’s 16 for one, and Nick Compton is in, to get his latest “Hey England, Talk Nah” innings under way.
Morning all,
Today we have Will Macpherson at Middlesex v Sussex and Richard Gibson at Yorkshire v Durham.
Here’s Will on the day ahead:
Well, well, well. Cricket, bloody hell. But less about that, more about the stuff that actually matters. The County Championship, that grand old dame, is back after a few weeks off, and she’s back with a vengeance. Or something like that.
We’ve actually already had a sneaky fixture completed this week – no, I didn’t notice either – as Northants walloped Kent, and another Division Two game, Glamorgan against Gloucestershire, started at Swansea yesterday. Looked an even enough day. And they say all eyes are on Nottingham, eh?
But now we’ve got a veritable raft of Champo fixtures starting today, too. What more could you ask for? As ever, the Guardian have sent two of their most intrepid reporty types to cover a couple of them in distant corners of the shires. I type that from the plush – if rather cold - confines of the Lord’s Media Centre. There’s probably a sponsor’s name I should include in their too. And please don’t read the reference to the cold as a moan – all Test ground media facilities, for some unfathomable reason, pump the air con up to arctic levels. It’s 26 degrees outside and I’m freezing! Anyway, soon enough there’s a game of cricket going to break out, Middlesex against Sussex. The hosts have won the toss and are set to have a bat, on a pitch that is so far over that it’s pretty much in the Mound Stand. Middlesex have made some changes, their overseas Joe Burns is now in India, and Eoin Morgan’s taking a well-publicised break.
Richard Gibson is up at Scarborough to watch Yorkshire against Durham, which promises to be a belter. That man Gary Ballance (a penny for his thoughts) returns for the Champions. Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett have left the England mob and will play too. Also in Division One, an increasingly desperate Hampshire meet Warwickshire and Worcestershire play Nottinghamshire. Daryl Mitchell misses out there with injury, so Alex Gidman skips Worcestershire. In Division Two, Surrey are at Colchester to play Essex, and Derbyshire – with Mark Footitt and Mr Dilshan back – take on Leicestershire.
So, divert your eyes from this Trent Bridge japery and tune in for what some people might call proper cricket. It’s bound to be fun.
