Stumps
That’s close of play around the grounds. Here is how it’s poised after the first day of play:
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Middlesex 208-5 v Yorkshire
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Hampshire 370-6 v Durham
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Somerset 322-9 v Nottinghamshire
- Warwickshire 219 v Lancashire 14-0
Durham have made a couple of breakthroughs at the Ageas Bowl but from the Hampshire angle they were pretty soft dismissals.
Vince had made 92 and was clearly in boots-filling mood when Sean Ervine, who had played a stroke to Stokes in the covers, called for a sharp single.
Too sharp, as it happened. It was not a direct hit from Stokes but it gave the keeper plenty of time to gather and break the wicket. That was 275 for four in the 69th and Hampshire, who are looking for 400 and maximum batting points, lost Ervine at 323.
The left-hander had just completed his fifth fifty in six knocks when he backed away to thump Pringle through the covers. But the ball turned and was a little fuller than Ervine expected and he edged to first slip. At 325 Durham took the new ball.
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Tea at Lord’s and Middlesex, largely through the diligence of Nick Gubbins, are hanging on to their innings. Gubbins is at the end of a prolific season that has taken him close to England selection and has made 96 of Middlesex’s 168 for 5.
It has been a battle, in keeping with the status of the fixture and no less than we might have expected. There is not a huge amount to be gained from the pitch for Yorkshire’s five seamers, although there has been what appears to be some reverse swing for Tim Bresnan, who sent down a challenging spell from the Pavilion end that tested Gubbins to the full.
When the hardness goes from the ball it is playing sluggishly. Yorkshire have not helped their cause, though, with their catching – or lack of it. Three chances have gone down, two of them offered by Gubbins, and the other by the Middlesex captain Franklin.
It was lovely at lunchtime to see old colleagues: Gatt, Peter Parfitt, JT Murray, Harry Latchman, Clive Radley as well as John Hampshire. It was an abstemious affair for me but I suspect that they might still be at it, making their way steadily through the MCC claret.
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Well, the pessimists down here are fretting. Perhaps this pitch is too flat. Somerset’s three victories here have come without them achieving any batting points but at tea they have reached the dizzy heights of 215-2. Chris Rogers has hit his second century for the club, an exhibition of supreme efficiency rather than elegance, but no one gives a fig about that.
Meanwhile, James Hildreth has produced one of his gutsiest innings. He has faced more demanding bowling but never in such pain. He was hit on the right foot on 7 and has been hobbling ever since, with Tom Abell acting as his runner. Once when Hildreth swivelled to hook a bouncer from Hutton he was obviously in agony. Otherwise he seems to have made a virtue of his movements being restricted. His head has been textbook static and he has not been able to indulge in his usual array of sweeps, whether orthodox or reverse. Instead he has simply played everything on merit.
No Nottinghamshire spinner has taken a wicket yet. So far the most profligate has been the most exalted, Imran Tahir. Samit Patel has been the most dangerous. But the wicket is sleeping at Ciderabad.
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It’s tea here at the Ageas Bowl and Hampshire are 267 for three, with Vince on 89. Tea at 3.10, would you believe, instead of 64 overs, because we’ve had a lot of spin.
Mark Stoneman became Durham’s seventh bowler just before the break.
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Tea at Edgbaston and these are nervous times for Warwickshire, who sit 165 for six and have been a bit passive all day, to be honest.
A hangover from Saturday’s Lord’s final win? Or simply in keeping with what has been an underwhelming red ball season?
Lancashire have stuck to their task on a pitch offering a little bit of encouragement and now have two bonus points to show for it. Three wickets fell in the afternoon session for 82 runs, the first two via Kyle Jarvis, who trapped Ian Bell lbw for 37 and then, in the following over, produced a slingshot direct hit from mid-off to see Tim Ambrose run out for a duck. Ambrose did hesitate, although Sam Hain’s call was not exactly what the situation called for. He and Rikki Clarke then added 37 for the sixth wicket until the returning Jordan Clark had the latter lbw playing the pull shot to a ball that kept low.
The Ambrose wicket aside, Hain has looked very competent – Trott-esque, even – and is now 46 not out, with Keith Barker on seven for company.
Spinners Borthwick and Pringle have been twirling away as if to suggest they own the match on day one. The temerity of it all!
But James Vince, thrillingly, is having none of it and has counterattacked in eye-catching style, driving both through the covers for four. Then, in the same over, he swept Pringle to square-leg for four before lofting him over mid-on for six.
At the other end Smith looked in danger of being overtaken by the new dasher – so he got out. He had made 90 when he miscued a drive off Carse and was caught by Pringle at point.
Vince has sprinted to 70. Pringle, who was hit out of the attack at one stage, has returned to attack the left-handed Sean Ervine. Hampshire are 240 for three and could be on the way to making a match-winning score on a pitch that can only get more difficult.
I have just bumped into the delightful Mike Taylor, who played for Notts and Hampshire and once took 99 wickets in a season, so no mean bowler. At 73 he keeps sprightly by playing golf and recalling tales of the great Sir Garfield Sobers, who joined Notts in 1968 and immediately lifted them from bottom but one to fourth in the championship.
Mike has countless yarns about Garry’s wild declarations and inspired batting and bowling performances. Many say he was the finest batsman they ever saw. I also remember Tom Graveney telling me he was the best bowler he ever faced – and Tom played for a long time. If Don Bradman was the greatest batsman of them all there must be an argument for Sobers – 80 earlier this year - being the finest cricketer.
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Now then, Kyle Jarvis has certainly changed things at Edgbaston after lunch. First came the wicket of Ian Bell, lbw for 37 to a ball that nipped back. And then in the next over from Simon Kerrigan, the Zimbabwean pounced at mid-off with a one-handed pick up and throw that levelled the stumps at the striker’s end to see Tim Ambrose run out for a duck.
Crazy single from Sam Hain, who sits unbeaten on 11 and now needs to drag his side from 105 for five in the 44th over with Rikki Clarke for company. Lancashire in control here.
We’ve had a really excellent morning’s cricket at the Ageas Bowl – and the highest scoring match in the country so far.
Hampshire are 116 for one at lunch, with Will Smith 52 not out and Tom Alsop, who has only just come in, unbeaten on one. The batting has been very positive against a varied attack in which Rushworth and Onions were followed by Ryan Pringle, Brydon Carse, Ben Stokes and Steve Borthwick. Off-spinner Pringle and leg-spinner Borthwick have already got substantial turn, so it might really rip later on.
Talking of which, I’ve seen some strange pitches in the second half of the season. At the start most surfaces were flat and with rain about we had plenty of draws. But now they have gone the other way and we are getting result pitches all over the place.
The one at Taunton for the recent game against Warwickshire was so green it reminded me of a vast bottle of Gordon’s Special Dry – apart from the rough brown patches at both ends.
The one wicket to fall here – and we have a wonderful view from the top of the Arlott Atrium – was that of Jimmy Adams, who chopped on attempting to cut Borthwick.
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The hobbling Hildreth and the dutiful Rogers have taken Somerset to 99-2 at lunch with an unbroken 66 run partnership.
Whether Hildreth’s right foot is unbroken remains to be seen. A full length delivery from Jake Ball hit that foot and he can barely move. He has had Tom Abell to run for him – although you can be more or less guaranteed that Marcus Trescothick would have volunteered. Hildreth has stayed still at the crease and watched the ball carefully, hitting a couple of back-foot boundaries along the way. Rogers has eked out his runs stealthily.
There are at least six spinners playing in this match – nirvana for Andrew Strauss – but so far the wickets have fallen to the intelligent pace of Jake Ball. Trescothick lunged and was caught behind; Abell clipped one straight to mid-wicket.
Samit Patel has spun the ball most among the trio of Nottinghamshire tweakers; that may be because he has bowled from the Somerset Pavilion End. The odd ball has turned but – and I strive for objectivity here – there has not been much to alarm any visiting pitch inspector. Batting has obviously been easier than in Somerset’s last game at Taunton against Warwickshire.
At lunch the experts will be working hard on Hildreth’s foot. He is Somerset’s last specialist batsman unless we now give Trego that status (I’m assuming he would take such pigeon-holing as an insult to his bowling).
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Lunch at Lord’s, where Middlesex are 84 for three. It’s been a hard morning’s batting and the situation could easily have been worse still, since Yorkshire have dropped two catches. Nick Compton played one lovely on-drive but was out for eight soon after, another lbw for Jack Brooks.
The next man in, Dawid Malan, rattled along to 22 at a run a ball. He was dropped once by Adam Lyth at slip and then played on attempting another luxurious cover drive off of David Willey, the ball shooting off the inside edge into his stumps.
In between those two moments, Nick Gubbins was dropped, too, by Azeem Rafiq at point. Gubbins also survived a hearty lbw appeal from Steve Patterson. Since then, things have settled down. Gubbins is still there, on 42, along with Stevie Eskinazi, 7, “the evil eskimo” as Selve called him when he came in. You might have to think about that a little bit. I did. It got me to wondering whether or not Eskinazi, who was born in South Africa, is Jewish.
A website called “Hebrew T Shirts” http://www.hebrewtshirts.com/view/28162/i-love-stevie-eskinazi-hebrew-sports-athletes-t-shirt seems to suggest that he is. And that, in turn, led to a long conversation that produced a short list of Jewish Test cricketers. It is, I think, at least the third time Selve and I have had this conversation in the 10 years we’ve been working together. This is, of course, his Lordship’s last match for the Guardian. Perhaps this time we’ll finally manage to get our list of Jewish Test cricketers to stretch beyond one long (Ali Bacher).
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What felt like something of a sleepy morning at Edgbaston burst into life six minutes before lunch when Jordan Clark, who had struggled for any sort of rhythm up until that point, got one to leave Jonathan Trott and had him caught behind for 25.
It means the home side are 83 for three at the interval, with Ian Bell unbeaten on 24. Trott had been at the crease since the first over of the day after Ian Westwood was trapped lbw by Tom Bailey, while Bell, who has had an underwhelming first-class season, joined him for the start of the 14th when the same man had Alex Mellor caught at first slip.
Five bowlers used by Lancashire on a pitch that has something for everybody and we’ve seen some left-arm spin from Simon Kerrigan, who had a vocal shout for lbw against Sam Hain turned down in the final over of the session.
Much brighter here at Edgbaston following a cloudy start, with Warwickshire finding themselves 43 for two, with Tom Bailey the man to pick up both wickets for Lancashire.
Ian Westwood was jackknifed in the first over for a simple lbw and just now his opening partner, Alex Mellor, has edged to Liam Livingstone at first slip for 27 off the last ball of the 13th over.
Ian Bell joins the rock-solid Jonathan Trott in the middle, who earlier received a polite ripple of applause for his 1,000th first-class run this summer.
33-2 at Taunton. Tom Abell has just clipped a full length ball from Ball straight to mid-wicket. There will be many fluctuations over the next few days. But just at the moment the Tykes around the country must be smiling (“What’s new?” I hear you ask). Meanwhile, it’s quiet as a library at Taunton.
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Trescothick c Read b Ball 25 – a bit of a lunge outside the off-stump. Tahir bowled the 10th over and there is some evidence to suggest that Abell has yet to pick his googly. Somerset folk reckon they need 350 – for the bonus points and to win the game. That looks a long way off with the departure of Trescothick. 33-1
It’s a soupy sort of morning at Lord’s, where the air is thick and a bit sticky, a little like a canteen kitchen the vegetables are on the boil. The toss went uncontested and Yorkshire are bowling. They’ve already taken their first wicket, Sam Robson lbw to Jack Brooks, falling over a full ball like a man who had stepped on his own shoelaces.
As I type this Middlesex are 24 for one. There are a couple of hundred fans gathered in Mound and Tavern Stands, a couple hundred more in the pavilion. Up in the press box, the Guardian are mob-handed, with myself and his Lordship Mike Selvey both at the match. Feels a little like a throwback, that, to the time when newspapers really cared about the County Championship.
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Welcome to a rather damp and cool Ageas Bowl where all the interest is at the other end of the table.
Relegation is the ugly word in these parts. We will go through the various permutations over the next few days but basically Hampshire have to beat Durham over the next four days to avoid going down with Notts.
They have brought in Mason Crane for Gareth Andrew. Durham, of course, are safe, after a burst of wickets from Ben Stokes saw them home in their penultimate game against Surrey.
Hampshire are batting first here against the lively new ball attack of Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth and after 10 overs are 32 without loss.
It was no surprise that this toss was contested. Somerset won it and are batting. No surprise there either.
Both teams are playing three spinners; the pitch is not so green as the last one against Warwickshire and Somerset are hoping that they fare better in their first innings than they did then (they were all out for 95 before lunch yet went on to win the game).
So the locals are in a state of excitement and tension. “Trego at five” is not just an observation but an expression of anxiety. As is the observation: “Trego first change”. Somerset are playing two seamers. The Trescothick Stand is almost full but there is plenty of space elsewhere. And Marcus Trescothick has just made his way to the middle with Tom Abell. Here we go.
Preamble
Morning all and welcome to what looks like a rather tasty final round of County Championship fixtures, with both the title and the final relegation spot up for grabs in Division One.
We have got all bases covered in the top flight this week, with Mike Selvey leading the charge at Lord’s for leaders Middlesex v second-placed Yorkshire and Vic Marks poised at Taunton for title hopefuls Somerset v relegated Nottinghamshire. Paul Weaver will be at Hampshire v Durham, which will dictate whether my time watching Warwickshire v Lancashire at Edgbaston is a relegation battle or not.
All the permutations are here. But to keep it simple … if Middlesex win it’s a first title since 1993; a Yorkshire win (and finish with more points than Somerset) it’s a first hat-trick of title since the 1960s; and if those two draw and Somerset win, it’s a first title for them since … er … ever. If Yorkshire and Somerset both win and finish level on points, the latter take it on fewest defeats. At the other end, Hampshire need 22 points to be guaranteed of safety, opening up the trapdoor for one of Warwickshire and Lancashire.
This time of year is always tinged with a spot of sadness too, bidding farewell to another season as the protagonists all go their separate ways over the winter. The Middlesex v Yorkshire match is a goodbye of sorts for followers of the Guardian’s cricket coverage for the past 30 years too, with Mike Selvey reporting on his final game for the paper.
At a dinner we held at Lord’s on the eve of his final Test as correspondent, I felt a little unworthy speaking as a relative newcomer and likewise now, at the end of just my second season with the paper, I find myself penning a few words that can’t scarcely begin to do justice to his career (that said, it pretty much speaks for itself). What I can say with some authority, however, is that he has been a terrific colleague to work alongside and above all, has become a very good friend. Cheers all and hope everyone enjoys this final week.
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