Morning all,
Today we have Graham Hardcastle at The Oval for Surrey v Lancashire and Will Macpherson at Lord’s for Middlesex v Warwickshire. Here are the reports from yesterday’s play:
Surrey v Lancashire
Lancashire make promising start to shackle Surrey and Kevin Pietersen
It is a funny old game. The last time Kevin Pietersen batted, he hit 36 fours and 15 sixes off 396 balls in scoring 355 runs against Leicestershire here in early May. Having recovered from a calf injury, he strode to the crease on Sunday and made two off three, edging a beauty from Kyle Jarvis to first slip. Pietersen could do little about his dismissal during a day badly affected by weather. Three balls into the evening, he was undone by a rising delivery which left him off the pitch and was comfortably taken by Paul Horton, leaving Surrey at 52 for three in the 26th over.
Middlesex v Warwickshire
Steven Finn rattles Warwickshire but Jonathan Trott resists Middlesex
This feels like the match that the national team left behind. The tiniest splattering of supporters at Lord’s as the mizzle drizzled at 11am provided a striking contrast to the famed Wellington Road queue of last Monday’s wondrous conclusion to the summer’s first Test, while three of Alastair Cook’s six post-Strauss opening partners are playing, as well as three others who have played Test cricket for England since 2012.
Enjoy the cricket
Will Macpherson is digging in at Lord’s
So we came back for another five overs and have gone off again, for rain and light. No fun to bat, although Compo and Robson have been digging in. Short leg has been in and the cordon full. Bat beaten and edge found regularly. The rain isn’t heavy but it looks pretty grim all around Lord’s, to be honest. That could be it – much about the weather has to change if we’re to play again today.
Graham Hardcastle sends his final report of the day from The Oval
We have a bad light interruption here too, with Surrey at 435-8 from 113 overs. There are still 29 overs left in the day’s allocation, but we will not get all of those, I would be fancying a declaration if I was in the Surrey dressing room. Oh, hang on, it might not just be bad light. The ground staff are bringing the covers on. This doesn’t look promising.
Will Macpherson writes from Lord’s
We’re off for light at Lord’s. It’s really very dark, very windy and very cold. The umpires have checked their lightmeters three times and finally decided to go off. Batting was very grim for the 35 minutes Middlesex did well to only lose one wicket, with Barker and Wright both looking good. Burns was the man to go, but Robson was beaten a couple of times and the bounce started to look a tad uneven too, as Barker got one to rear up at him. Who knows if we’ll be back – there are peculiar rules about the floodlights here due to the local residents association, so we can’t have them on.
Will Macpherson reports
And before you know it, Burns is out. Third ball of the second over, he’s been given out LBW, but it looked like it was sliding down. First ball he received, Burns produced the most beautiful of pulls for four. Looks like he’s been very unlucky there. The over before, Sammy Robson had unfurled a stunning cover drive to Keith Barker’s second ball of the innings. 38 overs left today. 38 very big overs.
Graham Hardcastle writes from The Oval
Lancashire made a late but failed bid to claim a third bowling bonus point during the final half hour before tea, reducing Surrey to 408-8 after 105 overs. Surrey have since reached tea at 421-8 from 110, claiming five batting points. Tom Bailey trapped Gareth Batty lbw for 36 and Jordan Clark had Tom Curran caught behind down leg by a diving Alex Davies. Debutant Ben Foakes has reached the break at 56 not out. Weather permitting, the likelihood is that Lancashire will bat at some point before close, and it won’t be pleasant. The floodlights are on and the light is closing in. I mentioned yesterday that a draw won’t be a bad result for them this week, so some weather might be welcomed from their point of view.
Will Macpherson reports from Lord’s
This game has moved on. It’s tea and Warwickshire are all out for 342. The extra half hour was taken before the break in search of the final wicket and it took all of four minutes. Ollie Rayner came on and was dispatched for four sixes in his first 13 balls, before Patel tried to nurdle him to leg and was caught by John Simpson. Not long after, Roland-Jones bowled Barker all ends up with a full one. Rayner had two very good looking LBW shouts against Boyd Rankin turned down as the last pair clung on, but Rankin rather gave up, trying a big yahoo and being bowled.
Big session coming up. Sam Robson and Joe Burns to open for Middlesex after the break.
Graham Hardcastle on Surrey v Lancashire
Surrey have more than steadied after the loss of Roy and Davies. They have prospered in gloomy conditions courtesy of seventh-wicket pair Gareth Batty and Ben Foakes, who have added 72 inside 14 overs to take their side to within ten runs of 400 and maximum batting points. Since a miserly first 30 or so overs of the match, Lancashire’s bowlers, be it pace or spin, have just bowled too many boundary balls. After recovering from a 24 hour bug, their cricket director Ashley Giles will probably be feeling a bit queasy again.
Will Macpherson on Middlesex v Warwickshire
No more wickets since we last spoke, but 50 runs put on between Barker and Patel, who’ve taken a no-nonsense approach to the new ball. We’ve just seen spin for the first time in the match when the ball became 15 overs old, Ollie Rayner wiling away for an over at the Nursery End. Patel dunked the second and fourth ball over mid-on for sixes. A couple of overs earlier, we had five off the helmet as John Simpson fumbled from Finn, whose wait for a five-fer will have to wait.
We’ve just had Jonathan Trott (as well as another Lord’s tour group; Indians this time) up in the Media Centre. He reckons his side are in a good position and at 306/7, I’m inclined to agree. Batting hasn’t looked easy at any stage.
Graham Hardcastle from The Oval
See the first line of Will’s latest post and just swap Laurie Evans for Steven Davies, who has fallen for 86 to Tom Bailey. Davies, a bit flat footed and playing away from his body, was caught at first slip by Paul Horton, leaving Surrey at 318-6. The second new ball has done the trick for Lancashire, but you can’t help that Surrey have already got between 50 and 75 runs more than the visitors would have hoped for. Gareth Batty is at the crease now.
Will Macpherson reports from Middlesex v Warwickshire
Oh dear, poor Laurie Evans. He’s battled blooming hard for his 98 but has been bowled off his pad by one that nipped back from Finn with the new nut. Finn, who has four now, had him dropped on zero by Morgan last night, he played and missed a lot and Clarke reckons he ran him out, but he’d got his head down and done the hard yards for Warwickshire. They’re 253 for seven and will be looking to Keith Barker and Jeetan Patel – who’s just been beaten all ends up by Finn – to haul them toward 300.
Graham Hardcastle writes from The Oval
Lancashire have the breakthrough, and it’s Jason Roy for 140. He was caught at gully off Kyle Jarvis, bowling with the second new ball, and Surrey are now 313-5. The departure ended a fifth-wicket partnership 236 with Steven Davies, who is 82 not out. Ben Foakes is at the crease for his Surrey debut. Roy hit 19 fours and two sixes.
Will Macpherson reports
Ten minutes after the break, we’ve had an absolutely shambolic run out. As he had done earlier in the over, Laurie Evans nudged James Harris to the left of the man at deep-point and immediately called for two, getting his head down and running hard. Rikki Clarke was far less urgent and, while seeming surprised to see Evans coming back for two, didn’t run particularly fast once he turned. Dexter was told to throw to the bowlers end and found Harris a couple of metres from the stumps, who ran Clarke out with a little throw of his own. Looked a marginal call from and the batsman looked furious, but really only has himself to blame, he looked very dawdly indeed. Mindless cricket.
Evans is 87 and the new ball has been taken. It’s going to be tough going for Warwickshire here.
Graham Hardcastle writes from The Oval
What a session that was for Surrey and Jason Roy. Lancashire, who have erred in line and length, have been run ragged by an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 215 inside 41 between Roy and Steven Davies, 71 not out at lunch. Surrey have reached the break at 289-4. Roy is unbeaten on 132, and 144 runs have come in just 28 overs. We all know that this is not a happy hunting ground for Simon Kerrigan, and that has continued this morning. He has figures of 7-1-39-0.
Will Macpherson’s lunchtime report from Middlesex v Warwickshire
And that’s lunch. Evans is looking better. He’s meatily cut Dexter through point for four, and pulled Franklin square with the same result. He dines on 82, with his side 216 for five and the game finely poised. Evans has played and missed plenty and looked pretty scratchy at times, but he’s ridden the storm and has the chance to shape the game before tea. Rikki Clarke unfurled a glorious off drive in the session’s final over. See you in 40, time for a feed.
Will Macpherson writes from Lord’s
Twenty minutes until lunch and Tim Ambrose is out after his luck – he played and missed a lot – ran out. Neil Dexter dropped slightly short outside off, it got up a little and Ambrose tried to steer it over the slips, only to steer it straight to the slips. Ollie Rayner, who has a very safe pair of hands, did the rest. 201-5 with Evans on 72 and with plenty more to do. Rikki Clarke has joined him out there.
We had another 10-minute rain delay a short while ago but the sun is out now. Lord’s looks lovely.
Graham Hardcastle reports from The Oval
Jason Roy has just scored his sixth first-class hundred and his second in the Championship this season. Upon reaching 65, the right-hander brought up his 3,000th first-class run in his 56th match. Surrey are going great guns at 243-4, but they have been interrupted by a five-minute rain break. The players are on their way back out now.
Roy, 103 not out, recently hit the lion’s share of 18 runs off a Simon Kerrigan over, including one straight six which landed just short of us in the press box and another over mid-off. He brought up his hundred off 114 balls, with his second 50 coming off just 34. He has scored 82 off 74 this morning having started on 21. Quite a knock. Steven Davies, meanwhile, has scored only 16 in the first hour and a quarter of play to move to 57 not out.
Will Macpherson reports from Middlesex v Warwickshire
Since Trott got out it’s been pretty quiet here but the players are going off because we’ve had a light burst of rain come through. Shouldn’t be gone for long. In fact, the hover cover isn’t even coming out and the umpires haven’t left the field.
Tim Ambrose has done plenty of playing and missing, Laurie Evans has passed 50 from 133 balls and the score is 180 for four. Finn and TR-J are beating the bat regularly and Ambrose just edged wide of Compo at gully for four. Batting not looking easy, although Middlesex could do with making them play just slightly more.
The umps have called the players - huddled in the Long Room - back out. Happy days.
Gary Naylor’s weekly county cricket roundup has just been published over here:
Graham Hardcastle writes from The Oval
Jason Roy has dominated the first half hour of play, scoring 25 of 33 runs inside the first seven overs. There is an unexpected race on between him and Steven Davies to reach their respective fifties. Davies, who started the day on 41, has 49 and Roy has 46 having started on 21. They have just recorded their century stand for the fifth wicket. With Surrey at 178-4, Lancashire need a wicket.
Will Macpherson writes from Lord’s
So, 10 balls in and my main man Trotty has gone for 44. Roland-Jones had him nibble at one that looked to nip away a little and John Simpson did the rest. Tim Ambrose is in at six and played and missed at his second delivery. Finn bowling at the other end, looking to continue after a fine performance yesterday. Decent crowd in already, which is great to see.
In case you missed it last week, here’s a fascinating piece by Alex Massie on Douglas Jardine:
Graham Hardcastle sends his first report of the day from The Oval
The sun is shining and The Oval looks resplendent this morning. We will certainly get away on time as Surrey look to build on an extremely positive end to day one through fifth-wicket pair Steven Davies and Jason Roy, who played in a very New Zealand-esque manner to recover from 74-4 with an unbroken 71-run stand.
Lancashire have just had their pre-day team meeting on the outfield. Kyle Jarvis admitted their bowling performance was hot and cold yesterday, so was is no surprise to see first-team coach and bowling guru Glen Chapple leading the discussion. One notable inclusion in morning preparations is cricket director and head coach Ashley Giles, who missed yesterday due to a sickness bug and was laid low back at the team hotel. Giles is Surrey born and made a handful of appearances for their seconds and Young Cricketers team in 1990 and 1991 before moving to Warwickshire.
Davies and Roy chanced their arm in tricky conditions, maybe taking the view that there was likely to be one with their name on it at some point. Conditions should be easier for batting today, but the first hour still promises to be a challenging one. I suspect they will adopt the same approach.
Will Macpherson sets up the day
Morning all, and happy Monday.
We had a rain-affected first day of Champo action but – weather-based pun alert – it was strong winds in Somerset that really caught the headlines as the Gayle Storm made his home debut with a not-quite-match-winning 151 at Taunton. So that’s 243 runs in two T20 Blast innings. Cheers to that. Oh, and Sam Northeast continued his other-worldly form, too: he’s 40, 60*, 20, 96 and 114 since the T20 started. Shame there’s no weather-based nickname that fits with his surname – Strong Northeasterly? Anyone?
Anyway, this is the County Championship live blog, so let’s not talk about all that Blasty stuff. Six games got underway yesterday and another – Nottinghamshire (who could rather do with a win) against Sussex at Trent Bridge - starts today.
Yesterday in Division Two, Leicestershire did very, very good things. Could this be the one? They had Essex 67/6 before Jesse Ryder semi-intervened to carry them to 166. Boyce and Robson guided Leicestershire to the close 28-0. I’m sure unless you’re an Essex-ite you’ll have your fingers and toes crossed for the Foxes. In Derby, Michael Klinger did what Michael Klinger does and carried Gloucestershire to 251/6, while in the least rain-affected game, Craig Meschede’s fine season continued – this time with the bat – as he made 107 in Glamorgan’s 371. One over of Northants reply took went scoreless and wicketless, but not nightwatchmanless, as regular No11 Azharullah dead-batted six back to Michael Hogan. There was more rain in Division One, where Hampshire’s nightwatchman James Tomlinson half did his job, getting out (so failing), but getting out so late that the next man didn’t have to come in (so succeeding). Funny one that. Hants are 119/4 against Worcestershire.
In our two featured games, there was yet more rain. At the Oval, where Graham Hardcastle is reporting, Surrey endured a tricky start in the top-of-the-table, promotion-favourites, sleeping-giants clash against Lancashire. The openers are out, Kumar’s out, you-know-who is out and Surrey are 145/4, but with Steve Davies and Jason Roy styling their way back into it. At Lord’s, where I’m headed in a matter of minutes, Steven Finn bowled beautifully up top at Warwickshire – pace, bounce, accuracy – to dismiss the top three. But Jonathan Trott and Laurie Evans got in Middlesex’s way in the evening session. It’s nicely poised at 148/3.
Right, I’m off to get the tube. While I’m underground, do your anti-rain dances. There’s less forecast for today, but could still be a bit about. Over to you, team.
