That’s a wrap. Sussex close 44-2 and 257 behind with Machan 11 and Joyce scoreless. The sun is set to shine tomorrow and the wicket is pretty flat (there have been a few that have misbehaved, mind), so they’ll be looking for parity at the very least, you’d think.
Sussex’s top order are struggling once more; Luke Wells is the second man to be bowled by Rushworth. He played on and goes for 13. Joyce and Machan in the middle, 33 for two.
Sussex have lost their first wicket as Mike Yardy shouldered arms and was bowled by Chris Rushworth, which strikes me as unwise. Durham fielders are ticking and chatting very loudly. Batting not looking that much fun right now. Eight overs left in the day and Sussex are 28 for one.
Durham are all out for 301. Muchall produced a lovely cut off Dockrell to bring up the 300, then Onions bunted Wells to mid on very next ball. Don’t think they’ll mind that score considering they were put in on an overcast morning. Testy 16 overs coming up this evening. We’re set to finish on time, for once.
Sussex CCC have just announced that those at the unfortunately abandoned game with Surrey yesterday are able to exchange their ticket for a day at a Championship or Royal London One Day Cup match this season. More good news coming from St Richard’s in Chichester too, which is great after a very tough day yesterday.
Graham Hardcastle sends another update from Old Trafford
Leicestershire have their second wicket, that of Alviro Petersen for 46. He was trapped lbw by Jigar Naik as he moved across to off and tried to leg glance the off-spinner, leaving Lancashire at 174-2 inside the last half hour of the afternoon session. Petersen and Karl Brown, unbeaten on 68, shared 83 inside 25 overs for the second wicket. Although nothing to write home about, there has been a small increase in the crowd during the last couple of hours. Maybe this 12.30pm start lark has legs.
This was just getting very frustrating for Sussex, who’d bowled poorly since tea, but Rushworth has just top-edged Luke Wells to square leg for 39. The stand with Muchall was 63. Linley returned with a weaker spell (he’s had a big workload in Shahzad’s absence and won’t have bowled much in recent weeks), while Dockrell was just smashed over long-off for six by Muchall. Onions in now, batting point approaching. It’s 296 for nine.
Graham Hardcastle writes from Old Trafford
Leicestershire have been unable to build on that pre-lunch wicket, with Karl Brown reaching his third fifty in three innings and sharing an unbroken half-century stand with Alviro Petersen. Lancashire are now 142-1 after 48 overs, which means we are halfway through the day. They are 65 runs behind.
That’s your tea break. It’s 246 for eight, so 99 for four that session. A bit more sedate after the earlier madness. Bit cloudier now. If it stays this way, Durham will fancy stealing themselves another 50 or 60 then letting Onions and Rushworth loose with 15 or 20 overs to spare tonight. Forecast set fair for the next couple of days.
Graham Hardcastle writes from Lancashire v Leicestershire
An interested onlooker in the press box today is former Lancashire seamer Kyle Hogg, who had to retire at the end of last season due to a degenerative back injury aged 31. Hogg, who has a passion for music, is currently working for concert promoters SJM, liaising between the promoters and the bands. Anyway, I digress.
Hogg was sat with injured Lancashire captain Tom Smith when their former team-mate Andrea Agathangelou took that aforementioned stunner at second slip to get rid of Paul Horton for 54: “It was unbelievable catch, but I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “Me and Tom said ‘if there was one person who was going to take that catch, it was Aggers’. He is an unbelievable athlete. When you watch him train, he’s stronger than everybody else, he’s faster than everybody else. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen him drop a catch, and you can include training in that. You can put him anywhere. He even kept wicket for Lancashire in the second team.
“He’s such a great lad as well, and I’m pleased for him. Some people wait around at a club too long waiting to play. He’s had the confidence to go somewhere else and show people how good he is. He batted well yesterday, and hopefully he’ll play for Leicester in all three forms and do well. We all know how good he is. He just needs the opportunity to prove it.”
Sorry, realised there was something I’d failed to mention earlier. Ajmal Shahzad – in his first game for five weeks since a pectoral injury – has been off the field since shortly before lunch. He only bowled four overs. There’s no news on what or how bad the injury is (recurrence assumed), but he’s tracksuited up and not showing any intentions of playing again today. Performance of Linley even more pleasing for the seasiders in that light.
Anyway, Hastings has just gone for a spritely 23. He’d been bunting Luke Wells down the ground but, trying to do it again, top-edged and found Machan at point. Muchall has 50 too, he’s played patiently but has a bit of work to do yet. Durham are 233 for eight.
Michael Richardson had looked good for his 46 but Magoffin produced a sharp bouncer and, with the batsman late on his shot, Nash took a very sharp diving catch at midwicket. Ryan Pringle, playing his first Champo match of the season, was then beaten outside off first up but since, he and Muchall settled for 30 minutes or so. The latter just creamed a super drive through the covers off Luke Wells, who seems to decide if he’s going to bowl an offie or a leggie during his run-up.
Oh, and with that Pringle has been bowled by Linley, who has four now and is bowling well. Looked to keep a tad low. It’s 197-6, Muchall is 41 and pretty crucial to any Durham hopes of getting 300, which would seem a decent enough score.
... And immediately after another! Coughlin slashed at Linley second ball and was caught very sharply indeed by Yardy at second slip. Great grab and Durham in trouble – 197 for seven. Five for Linley on his return to Sussex! The Duke Hastings striding to the crease.
Graham Hardcastle reports from Old Trafford
Paul Horton has posted his 50th first-class fifty to go with 21 hundreds, but he has just fallen to a one-handed stunner from Andrea Agathangelou at second slip off Rob Taylor. If the Lancashire dressing room had forgotten just how good their former team-mate is in the slips, they have just been given a reminder in spectacular fashion - one-handed diving to his right approximately head height. The hosts have reached lunch at 91-1 in the 32nd over, with Horton falling for 54.
After a tight start from the visiting attack, they have struggled to maintain the pressure, even accounting for that wicket. The Division Two leaders have reached lunch only 116 behind. Karl Brown is still there on 31 not out.
Updated
Things have calmed a little since lunch. New boys Dockrell and Linley – so new that neither have numbers on their shirts – are wiling away and 30 runs have been scored, which is a touch more chilled than the 143 in 120 minutes earlier. The session started with a 12-run over, too. Richardson and Muchall both set, and with the sun out, could go big. It’s 177-4. I’m off to sit on a bank, speak shortly.
Graham Hardcastle writes from Old Trafford
Lancashire have moved to 63-0 after 23 overs in reply to 207, with Paul Horton and Karl Brown sharing the county’s first half-century stand for the first wicket since last August when Horton and Luis Reece added 138 in the win over Durham here. This is the pair’s seventh innings together, with Brown replacing injured Reece last month. Reece broke a hand in a dressing room accident after a cheap second-innings dismissal during the home defeat against Gloucestershire, with the left-hander punching a wall in frustration following a nightmare start to the season. Horton is 38 and Brown on 19, with the former just reaching 500 Championship runs for the season.
Warwickshire overcame a challenging start to the day to go into lunch only 16 adrift of Worcestershire. With the national selector James Whitaker watching, Ian Bell completed an accomplished hundred, the 50th of his first class career, in the penultimate over before lunch. This was Bell at his best, for he was made to work extremely hard at first by Jack Shantry, bowling his quirky left arm medium pace from around the wicket, and Joe Leach, who found some early life. But a let off for Rikki Clarke when 9 proved the last opportunity of the session for Worcestershire to break a partnership that is now worth 121, with Clarke unbeaten on 60.
Excellent 100 for Ian Bell in penultimate over before lunch. His 50th in first class cricket. Good morning for Warwicks - 227-5, Clarke 60*
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) June 15, 2015
Graham Hardcastle writes from Old Trafford
Quiet opening 40 minutes of play as Lancashire openers Karl Brown and Paul Horton bid for a rare opening stand of note. In six previous Championship innings together, their best partnership was 41 in the corresponding fixture at Grace Road last month, which Lancashire won by 244 runs.
Leicestershire trio Jigar Naik, Atif Sheikh and Ben Raine bowled five successive maidens between the end of the fourth over and the start of the tenth, and the hosts are now 19-0 in the eleventh. Off-spinner Naik bowled the fifth over as Sheikh and Raine changed ends. Although the bowling from Sheikh and Raine has been tidy enough, they could just do with making their opponents play a bit more.
So that’s lunch and Durham dine at 147 for four. It’s all been happening a little in fast-forward. We’ve had 31 overs in the session and they’ve included all those runs and all those wickets on a flat pitch but under cloudy skies. Lots in it for everyone. Ed Joyce has shuffled his hand big time, using seven different bowlers and making eight separate bowling changes. We’ve had 26 fours and one six, too. Manic, in a good way.
“Big 15 minutes here,” bark the Sussex boys. Lunch is approaching fast. Richardson and Muchall have steadied the Durham ship, and they’re 136 for four after 27, so scoring at five an over. Richardson scratched a bit early but has looked good, while Muchall inside edged when a big LBW appeal went up from Linley. Linley and Dockrell’s loan deals were so recent that they’re wearing numberless shirts. For the record, Durham would have also bowled had they won the toss…
Updated
The game is rattling along. 87 runs and three wickets in the first hour. Stoneman weas going along brilliantly, bringing up his 50 from 42 balls with a flick to leg off Linley, but was then caught at slip by Joyce very next ball. He’d hit nine fours and a crunching six, and indeed there’d been 10 boundaries in the first nine overs and Magoffin’s first six overs cost 42. Chris Nash was introduced to stem the flow. Before Stoneman was out, Scott Borthwick had also nibbled at Linley and been caught by Yardy in the cordon for a breezy 24. Run-scoring looks easy, but wickets are falling. It’s now 91 for three and Captain Colly and Michael Richardson are at the crease. Sussex’s fielders are very chirpy. Indeed that’s one of the great pleasures of outgrounds – you can hear exactly what they’re saying…
Cricket is a game riddled with cliche and none more so than the indisputable fact that whatever the circumstance, the first hour is always deemed crucial. So a crucial hour has now passed at New Road and what has it brought? The answer is a challenging time for the Warwickshire batsmen, the early loss of Tim Ambrose to Jack Shantry, a let-off for Rikki Clarke early in his innings, and a really good workout for Ian Bell.
Throughout the 60 minutes, it was Shantry and Leach who bowled, a contrast in styles, the latter robust and full-on, the former quirky, left arm round the wicket almost exclusively, but never to be underestimated even at a pace that is little more than medium. He it was who took the wicket of Ambrose in his first over, the latter not having added to his overnight score and well taken by Ben Cox , standing up to the stumps. Twice in as many deliveries Shantry found unexpected lift from a length, first hitting Bell on the right glove, causing him to wring his fingers, and then doing the same to Clarke, who shortly afterwards, when 9, edged Shantry only for Cox, an otherwise impressive keeper up to the stumps, to miss the chance.
Bell had reached his half century at the start of the day by gliding Shantry to the third man boundary, a trademark Bell shot, and had progressed to 71 while Clarke was still there on 21 as Warwickshire progressed to 155 for five.
Updated
Gary Naylor’s weekly county cricket blog is up...
Hello again. Fine first 30 here. Will have been a very tricky decision for Joyce at the toss, I reckon. With conditions only set to improve throughout the match and it being all a little gloomy this morning, Joyce had a case to have a bowl, especially with the celebrated North-Eastern nibble merchants at large. And his own gun Steve Magoffin gave him reason to celebrate as he jagged one back through Keaton Jennings’ unlatched gate after 15 minutes. Since, there have been some lovely strokes, including three consecutive Stoneman boundaries - driven and cut through off and flicked fine to leg – off Magoffin’s fifth over. Indeed there 10 boundaries (seven of them to Stoneman) in the first nine overs and Durham are 42 for one.
Graham Hardcastle check in from Old Trafford
Good morning from Old Trafford, where the sun is out and we are set for more than 50 overs of play, which will delight the Lancashire hierarchy. They were the ones who pushed for a 12.30pm start in order to attract more punters after work, but 42 overs lost to bad light on day one kind of defeats the object.
I’m not so sure starting 90 minutes later will work wonders for the crowd anyway. I would much rather see play start at 2.30pm and finish under lights, which gives spectators a good three hours of play after work. As things stand, you would be lucky to get an hour’s viewing in. How many people finish work bang on 5pm these days? Not many, I’d wager. It’s more likely to be 5.30pm. Then you have to navigate rush hour traffic, which is not pleasant in Manchester.
Anyway, yesterday was a good day on the field for Lancashire, who bowled Leicestershire out for 207 in 50 overs, with James Faulkner claiming the first hat-trick of his career. He was of the view that the Red Rose did not bowl as well as they could have, but gained that bit of luck. A good day of batting for the hosts and you struggle to see a way back for Mark Cosgrove and company.
A very fine Monday morning to you all from Arundel, which is unfortunately colder but happily a good deal calmer than it was at 4pm yesterday afternoon. As you’ve no doubt heard, Surrey’s Rory Burns and Moises Henriques had a sickening outfield clash that left both players unconscious and many hearts in cricketing mouths for the 40 minutes it took for them to be lifted into ambulances and taken to hospital in Chichester. Thankfully, it appears both are fine – Burns has had a load of stitches on cuts to his face and will leave hospital this afternoon, while last night Henriques had an operation on a jaw broken in three places and will stay in for another 24 hours. We’ll file it under near misses, I think.
Anyway, back to the cricket. Durham are at Arundel today and, on a notorious road, Sussex’s Ed Joyce – presumably spooked by his team’s torrid recent record with the bat on a spitty Hove square – has put Durham in. Maybe he didn’t fancy facing Rushworth, Onions & co on a cloudy morning. Anyway, loanees Tim Linley and George Dockrell go straight into the Sussex side, while Ajmal Shahzad returns from injury too.
Elsewhere, we have Mike Selvey at Worcestershire-Warwickshire, where Ian Bell resumes 46* looking for an Ashes-readying ton after 14 wickets fell on day one. Warwickshire trail by 142. And Graham Hardcastle is at Old Trafford for Lancashire’s trendy late kick off with Leicestershire. He’ll be with us from 12.30 when Lancs will be batting after a Jimmy Faulkner hat-trick reduced Leicestershire to 207.
There are three more games going on. There’s a new-starter at Guildford, where Surrey face Glamorgan with a rather makeshift batting lineup in the absence of Burns, Pietersen, Sangakkara and more. Then Alastair Cook at Chelmsford is looking to go big on a tough wicket. He and his team had a fine first day against Derbyshire, bowling them out for 148 and reaching 108 for none, with the Chef 50 not out. On a Taunton track that seems to fit with the stereotype, Nottinghamshire resume 391/6 after a brilliant 152 from Brendan Taylor.
Enjoy the cricket, folks.
Morning all,
Today we have at Graham Hardcastle at Old Trafford for Lancashire v Leicestershire, Will Macpherson at Arundel for Surrey v Durham and Mike Selvey at Worcester for Worcestershire v Warwickshire. Here are the reports from yesterday’s play:
Lancashire v Leicestershire
James Faulkner takes hat-trick for Lancashire against Leicestershire
The Australia limited-overs specialist James Faulkner has come to Lancashire in a bid to boost his hopes of adding to his solitary Test cap, so claiming a hat-trick on his home Championship debut is not a bad way to go about attracting the attention of his national selectors.
Surrey v Durham
Moises Henriques and Rory Burns hospitalised after horror collision
An unprecedented and shocking moment stunned country cricket on Sunday as Sussex and Surrey’s Natwest T20 Blast match had to be abandoned after Rory Burns and Moises Henriques collided when attempting to take a catch. After an innocuous start, Sussex’s Steffan Piolet top-edged a Tom Curran delivery high into the offside and Burns, coming in from deep cover and Henriques, running back from point, converged, at pace, eyes on the ball. Utterly unaware of each other’s presence, they collided with a sickening blow.
Worcestershire v Warwickshire
Joe Clarke shows promise before Warwickshire fight back
From midday onwards the bell-ringers of Worcester cathedral rang the changes on the 12 bells that hang high in the tower. With King John entombed beneath, Worcester has a special reason for celebrating the octocentenary of the signing of Magna Carta and, if the mathematics tell that to ring all the permutations would require 479,001,600 changes and more than 30 years of continuous ringing, then the four hours they did boom out was more than adequate to do the job.
Enjoy the cricket
