Roundup: Somerset go top with win, Lancashire promoted
It was the afternoon someone put a rocket-booster up county cricket, six games finishing with a day still to go. At Taunton, Somerset traced the outline of the championship on to their brows after wrapping up a 298-run win against Yorkshire who, set 426 to win, were bowled out for 127.
Keshav Maharaj had become Yorkshire’s leading wicket-taker after grabbing five Somerset wickets to make it 10 for the match, but Josh Davey’s career-best five for 21 left Yorkshire scrambling for hope. An unbeaten 123 from Tom Westley steered Essex towards, but not past, the follow-on target at Edgbaston, as they slipped into second place in Division One.
Darren Stevens finished off a marvellous match for Kent with five for 53 against Nottinghamshire, who sunk to their sixth defeat in a row and will be relegated if Warwickshire avoid defeat at Edgbaston. “I’m embarrassed, everyone’s embarrassed,” the Notts captain, Steven Mullaney, said. “We’ve got a bit of pride left to play for but that’s pretty much it.”
A year and a day after they won the championship, Surrey folded to a 272-run defeat against Hampshire after being bowled out for 151. Felix Organ took a career‑best five for 25, while Ollie Pope top-scored with 40.
At Old Trafford, Lancashire confirmed their promotion to Division One with victory by an innings. Derbyshire were bowled out for 129, with three wickets each for Matt Parkinson, Glenn Maxwell and Tom Bailey.
Durham elbowed Middlesex out of the promotion race by defeating them by 44 runs in a close game at Lord’s. Sam Robson had defied Durham till lunch, when Brydon Carse decided to take the advice of fellow bowler Chris Rushworth. “Chris has said all week that the lamb chops are unbelievable at Lord’s, so when they were on the menu for lunch today I dug in.”
Middlesex then lost six for 44, Carse finishing with a career best six for 26. Worcestershire collected their third championship win of the season after beating Glamorgan at New Road thanks to a tireless century from Daryl Mitchell before the visitors were bowled out within 39 overs.
In Division Two’s unfinished games, Northamptonshire need another 119 to win at Grace Road after equalling the world record with eight lbws against Leicestershire, while Gloucestershire look likely to slip from second place after stumbling against Sussex.
Close of play scores
Only three county games will require a fourth day ...
Division One: Warwickshire 517; Essex 278-6. Essex trail by 239 runs with four wickets remaining (first innings).
Division Two: Gloucestershire 200 & 197-6; Sussex 370. Gloucs lead by 27 runs with four wickets remaining (second innings).
Division Two: Leicestershire 308 & 189; Northants 357 & 22-0. Northants need 119 runs to win.
Results
Division One: Hampshire (149 & 436) beat Surrey (162 & 151) by 272 runs.
Kent (304 & 259) beat Nottinghamshire (124 & 212) by 227 runs.
Somerset (199 & 329) beat Yorkshire (103-9 & 127-9) by 298 runs.
Division Two: Middlesex (143 & 151) beat Durham (147 & 191) by 155 runs.
Lancashire (418) beat Derbyshire (244 & 129) by an innings and 45 runs.
Worcestershire (205 & 299) beat Glamorgan (193 & 156) by 155 runs.
Lancashire are promoted to Division One
Lancashire have wrapped up an innings win over Derbyshire to seal an immediate return to the top tier. Here’s the catch that secured promotion:
PROMOTION WATCH! Here's the moment that Lancashire clinched a return to Division One. Congratulations to @DaneVilas and the team! #LANvDER pic.twitter.com/BhXNTch4N7
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) September 12, 2019
Hampshire beat Surrey by 272 runs.
Surrey 151 all out. Top scorer Ollie Pope with 40. Felix Organ 5-25.
That’s four games over and five still going. I’d better write up my round-up - be back later. Live coverage of the Test with our OBO team here - England 226-8.
Worcestershire beat Glamorgan by 155 runs
Glamorgan bowled out for 156. Moeen 2-37. And that’s an angry 10-pints and a donner kebab dent in Glamorgan’s promotion chances - 11 points behind third placed Durham.
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Bravo Felix Organ! His first five-wicket haul in the Championship - 5-25. Surrey 151-9 and hurriedly folding away their whites.
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I’m still puzzled how Surrey have gone from a runaway first to sixth - even accounting for injuries, Test calls etc, I just assumed their academy production line never stopped. In fact looking at that Division One table again - Yorkshire are the odd ones out. Four of the top five counties are Not Test match counties. The bottom three are all Test match counties.
WICKET: Three now for Felix Organ! ☝️🔥
— Hampshire Cricket (@hantscricket) September 12, 2019
The off-spinner is on fire and he strikes again, Clarke (9) picking out @IanHolland22 at deep mid-wicket this time - @surreycricket 131-7 (292 behind).
📲 iOS: https://t.co/3H80EnOA4p
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So Essex have a second batting point, and look, a century for Tom Westley, hooray!, but it doesn’t look like they’ll take much more from this game with only a day to go. Which gives Somerset a huge advantage going into the last two games.
A reminder of the run-in:September 16: Hampshire v Somerset (Ageas); Essex v Surrey (Chelmsford); September 23: Somerset v Essex, Taunton.
Leicestershire’s resistance crumbling at Grace Road, despite 60 from Colin Ackermann and 42 from Neil Dexter - eight down, just 124 ahead. Ben Sanderson 3-37.
You’ll remember how all those wickets fell after lunch at Lord’s? You’ll remember that Brydon Carse finished with a career-best 6-26? It turns out that Chris Rushworth had had a word....
“Funnily enough, Chris has said all week that the lamb chops are unbelievable at Lord’s, so when they were on the menu for lunch today I proper dug in.”
Surrey in the soup as Foakes follows Pope back into the pavilion: 121-5, needing an ethereal 303 to win. Jamie Smith still there, 34 not out.
This is Hoppsy at his most tart. He mentions Darren Stevens. I think you’ll like it.
Look, I went into Wetherspoons briefly, once OK.... it was the Lincolnshire Poacher last night. Anyway, this is indeed a nihilistic piece on Kent's great win, the evergreen genius that is Darren Stevens and whether Trevor Bayliss even cares https://t.co/crf6CHIUua
— David Hopps 🔶 (@DavidKHopps) September 12, 2019
I think that Somerset coach Jason Kerr may be a below the line lurker: “I am NOT mentioning the title in the dressing room. Of course, we are aware of people outside discussing it because it would be a first for the club and has long been described as the ‘Holy Grail’.
Poor Adam Lyth was sent out for Yorkshire: “ It was a very disappointing game for us. We were well and truly outplayed by a good young side and now all we can do is put everything into our last two games and finish as high as possible in the table.
“We were in a good position at the end of day one. When you bowl a side out for 199 you think you are in the game, but to lose all our remaining wickets in 50 minutes at the start of day two was unacceptable.
And Finbar please take a look BTL for much, much information about bonus points.
Tea scores
Division One
Hampshire 149 & 436: Vince 91, Northeast 73, Dawson 88 Surrey 162: Pope 68; Barker 4-38 and 100-4.
Kent 304 & 259 Billings 100, Crawley 82; Fletcher 3-40, Ashwin 5-89 Notts 124: Mullaney 22; Stevens 5-39, Podmore 3-27 and 212 Stevens 5-53. Kent win by 227 runs.
Somerset 199 &329: Abell 62, Hildreth 58 Yorkshire 103: Ballance 35; Van der Merwe 3-14 and 127-9 Davey 5-21. Somerset win by 298 runs.
Warwickshire 517: Lamb 173, Hain 82, Patel 51*, Sibley 51; Harmer 6-143 Essex 207-3 Westley 81 not out NOT TEA
Division Two
Gloucestershire 200 and 131-4: Sussex 370
Derbyshire 244 Godleman 111; Gleeson 5-64) and 49-2 v Lancashire 418( Bohannon 174, Livingstone 71*, Vilas 51)
Leicestershire 308: Azad 86, Cosgrove 65, Rhodes 61; Procter 3-54, Hutton 3-62 and 134-6 Northamptonshire 357: Keogh 132
Durham 147: Finn 4-41, Murtagh 3-32, Harris 2-33 & 191: A Robson 64; Harris 3-43 Finn 3-49 Middlesex 143: Raine 5-26, Rushworth 3-46 & 191: S Robson 65, Carse 6-26. Durham win by 44 runs.
Worcestershire 205 & 299 v Glamorgan 193 Lloyd 35; Morris 5-73 and 77-5. Glamorgan need 235 to win.
Updated
We think that Durham last beat Middlesex at Lord’s five years ago to the very day!
DARREN STEVENS, in tooth and claw: 10-92 and 88.
— Kent Cricket (@KentCricket) September 12, 2019
Kent beat Nottinghamshire by 227 runs
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE’S RELEGATION will be confirmed if Warwickshire draw, or win, against Essex at Edgbaston. Essex currently 205-3, trailing Essex by 312. Tom Westley 79 not out.
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Somerset beat Yorkshire by 298 runs
Top score in Yorkshire’s second innings - Steven Patterson, 24 not out. Josh Davey 5-45, Jamie Overton 2-21. Yorkshire 127-9. And that, my friends, is a what you call a pasting -Yorkshire’s fifth heaviest first-class defeat in terms of runs. Yorkshire’s tilt at the title is officially OVER. Somerset’s is very much alive - they go the Ageas Bowl for the penultimate match of the year.
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A question from Finbar Anslow to which I should, but don’t, know the answer. Over to you BTLers: A question for you; my favourite county has a charming habit of scoring more runs in the second innings than the first but are penalised for this due to the bonus points system, do you know of any particular reason why points are only given for the first innings?
And at Trent Bridge Ravi Ashwin goes too - not even he can save the good ship Notts, though he went down with style with 55, 36 of them in boundaries. 183-8 and the sharks are circling.
Two England batsmen out after lunch and Surrey post this -hee, hee, hee.
👍 Ollie Pope finds the boundary for the sixth time and moves to 31.
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) September 12, 2019
Surrey - 60/3 pic.twitter.com/oG4U6Z4MX6
Durham beat Middlesex by 44 runs
I’m back! But the stands are empty, a man is mowing the outfield and the digger, for once, is silent. The sky is brightest blue, just right for batti-n-g....oh dear. Alas Middlesex, it turned out Sam Robson was the only door between hope and despair. They lost 6-44 after lunch as Brydon Carse finished with a career-best 6-26. Durham skip off to Northampton with promotion fantasises. Middlesex have nothing left to fight for other than the fact that never in their history have they finished bottom of the Championship....
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Yorkshire three down, Leicester four down, Middlesex five down, Notts six down, Worcester seven down.... please excuse me briefly for half an hour - I’ll update the numbers then.
Hampshire all out - Surrey have to chase 424. You’d give Surrey circa 2018 a fighting chance. In fact, it was a year ago tomorrow when an all-conquering Surrey clinched the title at lovely New Road. I assumed they’d dominate for the next four or five years. I was wrong! Perhaps they are more suited to a heatwave summer - Morkel is better suited to it.
Memories, of a year past.
👌 Sharp as ever from Ben Foakes. pic.twitter.com/zdDYJKwg6K
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) September 12, 2019
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Give Rushworth a Lord’s lunch? He’ll storm in and grab you a wicket with his fourth ball. And it is the big one - Robson for 65. Middx 107-5.
Well played!
📽 Some way to go to 1,000 First-Class runs for the season, @DaneVilas!
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) September 12, 2019
Great work, skipper 👏
🌹 #RedRoseTogether pic.twitter.com/FCW7vgvnVA
Lunch-time scores
Division One
Hampshire 149 & 427-8: Vince 91, Northeast 73, Dawson 88 Surrey 162: Pope 68; Barker 4-38
Kent 304 & 259 Billings 100, Crawley 82; Fletcher 3-40, Ashwin 5-89 Notts 124: Mullaney 22; Stevens 5-39, Podmore 3-27 and 91-5 Stevens 3-22
Somerset 199 &329: Abell 62, Hildreth 58 Yorkshire 103: Ballance 35; Van der Merwe 3-14 and 47-2
Warwickshire 517: Lamb 173, Hain 82, Patel 51*, Sibley 51; Harmer 6-143 Essex 131-2:
Warwickshire 517 (Lamb 173) v Essex 127-2
Division Two
Gloucestershire 200 and 24-0: Sussex 370
Derbyshire 244 all out (Godleman 111; Gleeson 5-64) v Lancashire 365-6: Bohannon 174*, Livingstone 71*, Vilas 51
Leicestershire 308: Azad 86, Cosgrove 65, Rhodes 61; Procter 3-54, Hutton 3-62 and 36-2 Northamptonshire 357: Keogh 132
Durham 147: Finn 4-41, Murtagh 3-32, Harris 2-33 & 191: A Robson 64; Harris 3-43 Finn 3-49Middlesex 143: Raine 5-26, Rushworth 3-46 & 106-5: S Robson 65 not out
Worcestershire 205 & 272-6 Glamorgan 193 Lloyd 35; Morris 5-73
Updated
Lunch at Lord’s where things are too close to call. At 106-4, Middlesex need 90 to win. All depends on Sam Robson (65 not out).
Lunch scores to follow.
This will gladden many hearts, though not those of the white rose, to whom apologies. Yorkshire 30/1, chasing the sun, the moon, the stars. Ballance is your man.
REPLAY: First one on the board for Somerset! #WeAreSomerset#SOMvYOR pic.twitter.com/lnzjTdHcnx
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) September 12, 2019
And a wicket falls ten minutes before lunch at Lord’s as the diggers clatter about, shovelling the remains of the bottom tier of the Edrich stand into huge skips. Holden gone after a painfully cautious nine in a stand of 54 with Sam Robson (60 classy not out runs.) Middx 100-4 need another 95 to win.
So I glanced at the score from Trent Bridge, and it wasn’t good. Arise Sir Darren Stevens - 3-22 to go with 5-39 and 88 (and a duck) : gallant and bold indeed.
Where will he go? Who will have him? Sides lacking the experience of a seasoned pro who has seen it all before... Worcestershire? Middlesex? Have Kent lost their mind?
Josh Bohannon out for a cracker of a maiden century - I think 174 is a daddy in anyone’s book. My son told me he and his friends had gone down to Old Trafford yesterday after school and that it had been “brilliant.” Lancashire 328-5 and recovering from a mid-morning ravaging by Rampaul: two in two balls - Livingstone for 71 and Maxwell for nought.
Maharaj finishes the summer with 5-122, and 38 for the season, leaving Yorkshire just the 426 to win.
At the Test Joe Denly has gone leaving this remarkable stat, care of Alan Gardner: the highest opening partnership of the English summer remains Will Porterfield and James McCollum for Ireland at Lord’s (32).
🎥 Some highlights of an interesting morning session so far! #SOMvYOR#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/5rLU3GKpA0
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) September 12, 2019
A sensational email has arrived in the inbox of the Middlesex media manager from Urban paws - offering highly trained fluffy models and actors for their next campaign including Fraser, the terrifying cat.
I just thought I’d post this of a Notts batsman playing well.
UPDATE | Ben Duckett has hit three boundaries in his 14*, with this off Podmore being the pick of the bunch. Notts are 25-0 in their second innings.
— Nottinghamshire CCC (@TrentBridge) September 12, 2019
Follow #NottsvKent live 👉 https://t.co/kpvKNrrRr6 pic.twitter.com/YYZFyLnfMK
Elsewhere, wickets have been tumbling at Taunton where Maharaj has taken a quick three - but the Somerset lead over Yorkshire is 416. Northants are all out with a lead of 47 against Leicestershire. The World Cup’s forgotten man Liam Dawson has reached 50 for Hampshire (318-6) and nightwatchman Sam Cook is second man out as Essex battle on at Edgbaston - 72-2.
Muchos despair in the box. Malan lbw by an exultant Raine for just 3. Middx 45 for 3.
Raine gets Malan, 45/3
— Durham Cricket 🏏 (@DurhamCricket) September 12, 2019
Match centre and live stream: https://t.co/B7sRLnKrVj#ForTheNorth pic.twitter.com/4oVLgRgXBr
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Stephen Eskinazi plays an immaculate defensive shot, unfortunately it is as he trudges walks back to the pavilion, lbw to Rushworth for not a bean. Middlesex 41 for 2.
And at The Oval, Australia have won the toss for the fourth time in the series, and are having a bowl. Marsh replaces Head, Siddle replaces Starc.
Follow it all over by over with our kick-ass Guardian team.
Eeek! Gubbins nicks Carse to slip in the third over of the day. Middlesex 31 for 1.
Start of play scores
Division One
Hampshire 149 & 296-6: Vince 91, Northeast 73Surrey 162: Pope 68; Barker 4-38
Kent 304 & 236-8:Billings 100, Crawley 82; Fletcher 3-40, Ashwin 3-71Notts 124: Mullaney 22; Stevens 5-39, Podmore 3-27
Somerset 199 & 269-5: Abell 62, Hildreth 58Yorkshire 103: Ballance 35; Van der Merwe 3-14
Warwickshire 517: Lamb 173, Hain 82, Patel 51*, Sibley 51; Harmer 6-143Essex 31-1: Browne 16*, A Cook 7; Patel 1-1Warwickshire 468-7 (Lamb 173*, Hain 82, Sibley 51) v Essex
Division Two
Gloucestershire 200: Bracey 61; Jordan 3-49Sussex 313-7: Salt 64; Payne 3-58
Derbyshire 244 all out (Godleman 111; Gleeson 5-64) v Lancashire 269-2: Bohannon 150*, Livingstone 70*, Jennings 38
Leicestershire 308: Azad 86, Cosgrove 65, Rhodes 61; Procter 3-54, Hutton 3-62Northamptonshire 325-7: Keogh 132, Rossington 63; Evans 3-65
Durham 147: Finn 4-41, Murtagh 3-32, Harris 2-33 & 191: A Robson 64; Harris 3-43 Finn 3-49Middlesex 143: Raine 5-26, Rushworth 3-46 & 21-0: S Robson 9*
Worcestershire 205 & 153-2 Mitchell 52*, Rutherford 52 Glamorgan 193 Lloyd 35; Morris 5-73
Preamble
Good morning from Lord’s where a glorious September morning has been smothered by cloud. The Middlesex and Durham press are having a gloom-off about their sides chances, and the prize of keeping the season alive, but expect resolution sometime after lunch.
Round the grounds the weather is set fair, except at Bristol where the covers are on.
And a little snippet for you to read with your elevenses below.
Add this ‘postponement’ to the inaugural Euro Slam being canned, players refusing to play until they were paid in Canada last month and yesterday the BCB announcing the end of franchises in the Bangladesh league. Do we spot a trend @ECB_cricket? https://t.co/HNBagnxYpr
— David Townsend (@dtcricket) September 12, 2019
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