Roundup
As the victorious Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale, the subject of recent scathing criticism on social media, stood on the outfield contemplating a much brighter future for the county his opposite number, Lancashire’s Glen Chapple, was fielding questions about his future.
It was a brief snapshot of the cut-throat nature of this week’s Roses battle and the Division One relegation fight. The week had started with Yorkshire second bottom and a point behind Lancashire. While the Whites had three to play, the Reds had only two. For the latter in particular it was a must-win affair.
So, with a 95-run defeat to add to a catalogue of nightmare results, Lancashire’s fate is all but sealed. They cannot officially be relegated next week, when they are fixture-free, but it is already clear that an escape even Houdini would be proud of is required.
Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, the two teams directly above them in sixth and seventh place, need five points from one game and 10 from two respectively to relegate them, assuming Lancashire beat Hampshire with the maximum haul of 24 during the final round.
Lancashire, chasing 230, started yesterday on 109 for seven and fell to 134 all out, with the new-ball pair Ben Coad (five for 24) and Jack Brooks (four for 47) sharing nine wickets. The visitors had slipped from 66 for two to 95 for seven late on day three, described by the Yorkshire captain, Steve Patterson, as “a mad hour”.
Gale said: “I haven’t seen a lot of the stuff [criticism] but I know things must have been bad when a lot of people have texted me asking if I’m OK. There’s massive expectation that comes with Yorkshire and it’s been a challenging time. But we know what we’re trying to achieve. We are going through a transition.”
“As a coach you have to look at what you can do to help the team improve,” Chapple said. “The players have to look to themselves but everybody has to. We have to work out how to improve and get ourselves back into Division One. I want to help build a stronger team.”
Last season’s champions, Essex, ended any outside relegation threat by completing an eight-wicket win chasing 282 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. The India opener Murali Vijay scored 100 on debut while Tom Westley finished on 110 not out. They shared 204 for the second wicket after they had started day four on 147 for one.
Derbyshire, meanwhile, won a thriller at Northamptonshire by one wicket chasing 233, with the wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein the key man with 54 not out. Gloucestershire also won, at Glamorgan, but neither match affected the promotion race.
Results
Division One
Yorkshire 209 & 272, Lancashire 252 & 134
Yorkshire win by 95 runs
Worcestershire 336 & 203, Surrey 268 & 274-7
Surrey win by three wickets
Nottinghamshire 177 & 337, Essex 233 & 282-2
Essex win by eight wickets
Division Two
Northamptonshire 255 & 199, Derbyshire 222 & 234-9
Derbyshire win by one wicket
Glamorgan 137 & 251, Gloucestershire 354 & 35-1
Gloucestershire win by nine wickets
Surrey have won it
And it falls to Morne Morkel. He pulls Pennington behind square and down to the pavilion boundary for four. And Surrey have done it! Their first championship since 2002. The first time they have won nine games in a row since 1957. And they’ve done it with their own home-grown little broad-beans young men who’ve been given the chance to bloom. All the players on the pitch shake hands, Morkel and Clarke walk off arm in arm. A champagne cork shoots into the air.
*With a special mention to Dillon Pennington 12.2-3-41-3 - but he was better than that.
Updated
Pennington has the ball again. Two needed
Surrey 260/7: Curran c Whiteley b Pennington 7 pic.twitter.com/fMLPdDK97h
— Worcestershire CCC (@WorcsCCC) September 13, 2018
Updated
Damn! Two fours from the masters of experience, Morkel and Clarke.
Morkel ducks under a Pennington bouncer. Two balls left of his over.
Not yet! Pennington comes charging in and find some extra pace and height and Curran is surprised, gets in a tangle and is caught by Ross Whitely at first slip, diving to his left behind the keeper. Surrey 260/7. Twelve required!
A strangled lbw appeal from Barnard against Rikki Clarke, but Surrey have pocketed this now. A few blows from the big man have written the season’s finale. Twelve needed.
Take that!
22 needed. pic.twitter.com/XjjHIhYiEp
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) September 13, 2018
Pennngton! The force is with him. Tom Curran gets an edge through to the slips. And beats him again!
Game on! What a cracking little battle between Dillon Pennington and Ollie Pope. First Pope cover-drove him for four. Then he tried the same shot next ball and was beaten. Then Pope cut, beautifully for another four. Then Pennington BOWLED him with one that kept low! Suddenly the Worcestershire fielders are alive. Voices raised in encouragement. Surrey need 32, four wickets left.
Updated
Just 49 needed and Surrey will be the 2018 County Champions. But , wait....there goes WIll Jacks, caught at extra-cover off Ed Barnard. Surrey 228/5. Hmmm. Here comes the man mountain range that is Rikki Clarke.
49 needed. pic.twitter.com/BEA6XkyvUO
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) September 13, 2018
Derbyshire lose another wicket, Tom Lace for 39. With eight wickets in hand, they need another 128.
And this might tickle someone’s fancy.
Question of Sport Cricket vs Football is back! 🏏⚽️
— CDFoundation (@CrickDerbyFound) September 12, 2018
Two teams consisting of @DerbyshireCCC and @dcfcofficial past/present players will battle it out.
Tickets ➡️ https://t.co/5JPmca5FJb pic.twitter.com/88AnOfg3MT
There will be no trophy presentation today. Just a firm handshake and a manly pat or two. The trophy will make its way to The Oval for Surrey’s last game of the season against Essex.
And a superb running catch from Whitely, running backwards from leg-gully, dismisses Foakes who top-edges a hook off Parnell. Surrey 210/4.
A little more on Dillon Pennington: “He was a late inclusion in the Under-19s World Cup last winter and formed a terrific new ball pair with Ethan Bamber - who’s been doing well for Middlesex recently.”
Pope edges through the slips for four, to move on to 31 and a slightly half-hearted, one-sheet-to-the-wind “Su-rrey, Su-rrey” is bellowed from the stands.
Updated
Surrey need just 85 now, Pope and Foakes are in no hurry. Wayne Parnell comes back. Clouds are closing in from behind both the cathedral and the Graeme Hick pavilion, but still a space for the sun for now.
See, Chris Adams was right!
Oh look there’s that lad I signed for @surreycricket doing that stuff again that they told me he wouldn’t be able to do #growthmindset #next https://t.co/muQ6QrN18A
— Chris Adams (@grizz598) September 11, 2018
Updated
Here is Rory Burns in action in the slips, thanks to Liam Burns.
— Liam Burns (@Burnsy3585) September 13, 2018
A message: “Much as Guardianistas love a bit of challenge to everyday sexism Tanya, do you reckon you could forgive A Cook for missing the word male and name your best ever xy chromosomed England player? Opinion seems split, you might have the casting vote.”
It is so hard. I don’t know. Before I plumped for RHF I had written 100 words on Harold Larwood, for skill, speed, history-making aggression, and sticking two fingers up at the establishment. I’ve just asked that eminence grise Scyld Berry and he’s gone for WG Grace. “Nobody has popularised the game like he has.”
And at Wantage Road, Derby need 148 to win with nine wickets in hand.
Surrey need a hundred now to seal the Championship, with seven wickets in hand. And that’s lunch on a glorious day in Worcester.
Over at Trent Bridge, Essex have won by eight wickets. Murali Vijay was out just before the close for 100 but Tom Westley was still there, 110 not out at the end. And what a happy conclusion to that match. I think that makes Essex safe and Notts teetering? Is that right?
And another wicket down at New Road. Dean Elgar bowled by Josh Tongue who hits the top of off stump, which tumbles out of the ground. All three batsmen out today have been bowled . Well, well, well. One hundred and 13 more needed. It’s clouded over. Worcester -could they?
Updated
Pennington: solidly elastic, rapid run-up, arms body-width apart, fast acceleration. He’s tall, so tall that his trousers finish just quarter-mast above his ankles. And that’s Dean Elgar whacking Twohig down the ground for six. And then a full-toss disappears for four. Twohig puts his head down and kicks the dust. Surrey pass 150.
Updated
One distinguished press box scribe rates Pennington as "the best fast bowling prospect of his age in the country"
— Worcestershire CCC (@WorcsCCC) September 13, 2018
Well, that was unexpected. Surrey 139 for 2. Burns bowled, round his legs for 66, by Dillon Pennington. And Burns walks, every so slowly, trudge, by trudge off the pitch. A shame - how he’d loved to have hit the winning runs. Pennington, running in from the Diglis end, has been rapid and aggressive in this spell.
Oooh, another email. From Simon Trevethick. “Hi Tanya,” Hi Simon!
“A question for you. Ben Coad has a career average of under 20, but his name has never been so much as whispered in connection with an England call up - he’s not even had a Lions cap. Why on earth is no one talking him up?!”
The consensus I think Simon, is that he is just a bit too slow. A fantastic county bowler, but he’s slower than Jamie Porter - and that’s the main worry about him too. But he’s young, so who knows?
A century for Murali Vijay, 173 balls of diligence. Well played!
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Someone give the poor Worcestershire fielders a lemon squash. This is a march. Rory Burns - it’s going to be a century isn’t it. Has any player ever made a better case for an England vacancy sitting glaringly open.
Gloucestershire have won by nine wickets by the way. Glamorgan - next year is only three and a half months away. And with that comes our old friend hope. I think she’s due a visit to Sophia Gardens.
Essex are cruising, all hail Tom Westley and Murali Vijay. Just 90 needed now at Trent Bridge.
Yorkshire have won by 95 runs
Ben Coad 5-24. Well, there you have it. This was Graham Onions yesterday, more like that to follow.
"There's a lot of emotion, a bit of anger and a bit of disappointment."
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) September 13, 2018
Reaction from @BunnyOnions at the close of Day Three at Headingley ⤵️
Updated
A question from Gareth Wilson - does Rory Burns field in the slips? I have asked around and thanks to Scyld Berry and Will Macpherson I have an answer. Burns is indeed a very good fielder - Surrey’s finest. As captain he is normally at mid-on or mid-off but, as I guess you were asking, he would be a more-than-worthy replacement for Cook at slip for England.
And with that Stoneman is bowled by Parnell, playing on. Surrey 111/1
And the Lancashire target falls beneath three figures...
The cathedral clock strikes the hour as the champions-elect hurry towards their target. But it calls not time on the Championship. This will last forever. Won’t it. Won’t it?
And Glamorgan’s resistance comes to an end. Well wagged, tail. Gloucestershire need 35 to win.
And Stoneman wins the race to fifty (69 balls, 10 fours). Surrey 101/0. The less elegant of the two, perhaps, but - what matter that. Now Burns joins him for yet another fifty (90 balls, 8 fours). Is Ed Smith here? I’ll keep my eye out.
I don’t think we can call it a Lancs-up any longer, more an elegy. Maharaj falls, for 18. Yorkshire only need two more wickets.
Updated
Surrey utterly untroubled this morning, Burns and Stoneman easing towards a century partnership under blazing skies.
Updated
And the first wicket of the morning goes to Tony Palladino at Wantage Road, where Hutton goes for a duck, soon to be followed by Sanderson, for another duck. That leaves Derbyshire needing 233 to win.
Updated
Two swans just flew over the ground. And the umpires walk out to the middle, sun hats on, no sign of an autumnal fleece. The green caps of Worcestershire huddle by the side of the pitch and Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman stroll down the steps.
Updated
A big hand too for the Worcester Premier Inn. Where else could you breakfast on muesli and rote grütze while simultaneously watching the groundsmen remove the covers, close enough to examine the grime under their fingernails.
Hello! from a quite beautiful morning in Worcester. The sky really is cloudless, a milky blue darkening from horizon to summit, and the grass is glistening with September dew. During a morning walk to the cathedral (free entry), I stumbled upon holy communion in the Crypt, late-summer roses in magenta bloom and a sign for the lesser horseshoe bat, a resident of Worcester and one of the rarest bats in England.
Is there a more lovely place to win the Championship? Is there a more lovely place in England – right now I can’t think of one.
But enough foolish maudlin whimsy, the players are out on the grass playing football. The maths is easy enough – if Surrey score 202 they win the Championship. If they draw, they also win the Championship. If Worcester win, they are in with a chance of staying in Division One. If they lose, that becomes very unlikely. But stranger things have happened – the last time these two sides played at Worcester was Shantry’s match when Jack Shantry single-handedly dragged Worcestershire back from a lost-cause to gain the win that sealed promotion to Division One in September 2014. Paul Edwards was there for cricinfo:
“They will call it “Shantry’s Match” and men reading about it will think themselves accursed they were not there.
“On a mellow September afternoon when Worcestershire’s hopes of winning promotion were in severe and unexpected peril, the county’s No. 9 batsman, Jack Shantry, fresh from taking his 50th wicket of the season on the second evening of the game, strode out to the middle at New Road and struck his maiden first-class century with some of the cleanest and simplest hitting you are likely to see.”
Meanwhile over at Headingley, Yorkshire need three wickets to leap-frog Lancashire and out of the relegation zone.
And what poignant news for Durham, Paul Collingwood has announced his retirement after 23 years of service at Chester-le-Street. His last match will be Durham’s County Championship game against Middlesex at The Riverside, which begins Monday, September 24. Be there to say your goodbyes (but bring a blanket.) Not a bad little club record: 304 first-class appearances, 16,844 runs and 164 wickets.
And in other news, Nottinghamshire have been raiding Leicestershire’s vaults again, Zak Chappell the man to move this time, on a three-year deal.
How are you feeling? 😬 pic.twitter.com/81DRAdSpYM
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) September 13, 2018
Updated
State of play … and Paul Collingwood retires
Good morning. Tanya will be here a little bit later on. But let’s get the blog up in good time. Here’s where we are:
Division One
Nottinghamshire 177 & 337; Essex 233 & 147/1 (target 282)
Somerset 106 & 116; Hampshire 148 & 75/4: Hampshire win by six wickets
Yorkshire 209 & 272; Lancashire 252 & 109/7 (target 230)
Worcestershire, 336 & 203; Surrey 268 & 70/0 (target 272)
Division Two
Durham 103 & 340; Sussex 122 & 135: Durham win by 186 runs
Glamorgan 137 & 235/9; Gloucestershire 354
Leicestershire 100 & 196; Warwickshire 400/9d: Warwickshire win by an innings and 104 runs
Middlesex 161 & 186; Kent 192 & 157/7: Kent win by 3 wickets
Northamptonshire 255 & 198/8; Derbyshire 222
… and Colly has called time. PA reports:
Durham captain and former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood has announced he will end his 23-year professional career at the end of the season. Collingwood made his debut for his hometown county in 1996 and has gone on to feature in nearly 900 matches across all formats.
The 42-year-old has been described by Durham as their “greatest ever run scorer and most illustrious player” and he will bring the curtain down in the club’s final County Championship fixture of the season against Middlesex later this month.
“After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to announce my retirement from cricket at the end of the current season,” Collingwood said. “I knew this day would eventually come but it hasn’t made it any easier – although it’s an emotional decision, I know that the time is right and I’m comfortable knowing that I have given every last ounce of energy to the sport.”
A three-time Ashes winner and the only man to captain England to a global trophy after leading them to glory in the 2010 World Twenty20, Collingwood’s international career comprised of 68 Tests, 197 one-dayers and 36 T20s.
