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Tanya's roundup
An injury scare to England’s Ollie Robinson overshadowed glorious centuries by Marnus Labuschagne and Kiran Carlson at Hove. Robinson bowled an eight-over spell during the morning session but didn’t return after lunch. Paul Farbrace, Sussex’s head coach, confirmed after play that Robinson has a sore ankle, is going for a scan on Sunday and is unlikely to bowl again against Glamorgan.
“It was precautionary. There was no point in making it worse,” Farbrace said. “It’s the walking more than the running in. He was all right running in down the slope. It’s a joint decision between the Sussex medical team and the England medical team. Much as we want him out there bowling and taking wickets, it’s not fair on him to make the injury worse.”
Robinson’s warm up for the international summer had been going nicely, with 20 wickets in two-and-a-bit Championship games, though he had to spend the last few overs of the match against Worcestershire, in early May, off the field suffering from cramp after returning career-best match figures of 14 for 117. He was then rested for a game.
Any injury to Robinson would be worrying for England, whose fast-bowling stocks are increasingly crocked: Jofra Archer (elbow and out for the summer), Olly Stone (hamstring and out until at least the second Ashes Test), Brydon Carse (trunk strain), Jimmy Anderson (twinged groin) and Ben Stokes (chronic knee pain) are all sidelined.
Without Robinson, Sussex struggled to make headway against an increasingly confident Glamorgan. Labuschagne, buttons polished, hair brushed and Ashes-ready, finished his Welsh mini-break with 502 runs in eight innings at an average of 71.71, including two hundreds and two fifties. It was a watchful innings at Hove, with occasional flourishes of brilliance, and he reached his century with two consecutive fours.
He was congratulated with a bear hug by Carlson and applause from the slips, his teammates on the balcony and round the ground. Carlson, Glamorgan’s captain, came in on a hat-trick, but was 187 runs richer at stumps. He and Labuschagne had turned the game around.
Surrey thrashed Kent by 10 wickets before lunch, going into the T20 Blast break top of Division One, with a 25-point lead over second-placed Warwickshire (who have played a game less). Sam Billings collected a pair and Zak Crawley could only add three runs to his overnight score, as 20-year-old Tom Lawes pocketed his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. There was a warning to the chasing pack from a delighted Lawes: “We reckon there is still more to come from us as a team.” It was Kent’s third defeat of the summer.
Liam Dawson was Northamptonshire’s bogey man as they slumped to their third consecutive defeat. It was always going to be difficult to escape a first innings score of 56, and so it proved, with Dawson’s six for 61 ensuring Hampshire won by an innings. Northants have only secured one batting bonus point all season, but there was a bright spark in Saif Zaib, who finished unbeaten with 57, as well as being top scorer in the first-innings dog’s breakfast.
Five wickets for Craig Overton hurried Somerset over the line against Middlesex at Lord’s, only their second Championship win away from home in over two years. An impressive new-ball spell by Matthew Potts, and 121 from Michael Jones, put Durham on top against Gloucestershire.
At New Road, Adam Hose and Gareth Roderick hauled Worcestershire to a most unexpected three-wicket win over Leicestershire, after being bowled out for 83 on Thursday. Alastair Cook can dream of a hundred, as he and Tom Westley soaked up the deficit for Essex against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Matthew Montgomery made 177.
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Ollie Robinson going for "precuationary" scan on his ankle
Not ideal news to finish the day with:
Ollie Robinson set for a scan on Monday with a sore ankle. Scan described as precautionary by Sussex. Didn’t take the field at Hove after lunch. Suboptimal
— Ali Martin (@Cricket_Ali) May 20, 2023
A full on day, with just three matches still to play out . We’ll be back tomorrow – till then, good night!
CLose of play scores
DIVISION ONE
The Rose Bowl:Hampshire 367 BEAT Northamptonshire 56 and 176
Lord’s: Somerset 404 BEAT Middlesex 175 and 216 by an innings and 13 runs.
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 442 v Essex 298 and 199-1
The Oval: Surrey 362 and 58-0 BEAT Kent 278 and 141 by ten wickets.
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire 292 and 181-6 v Durham 445 and 272-4dec Gloucs need 245 to win
Hove: Sussex 481 v Glamorgan 123 and 499-5
New Road: Worcestershire 83 and 274-7 BEAT Leicestershire 173 and 180 by three wickets
Worcestershire beat Leicestershire by three wickets!
Worcestershire 83 and 274-7 BEAT Leicestershire 173 and 180 by three wickets
We never doubted them.
And with Alastair Cook (60) and Tom Westley (35) breezily eating up the Notts deficit, and Worcestershire so nearly (36 runs) there, it is time for me to write up. BTL remains open for your Saturday evening.
A wicket at New Road! It’s Matthew Waite, for 22. A third wicket for Mulder. Worcs 228-6, need 43. Getting nail-nibbly.
Gloucestershire have just lost two quick wickets – Hammon for 16 and Jack Taylor for duck, pressing forward, missing and stumped off Ajaz Patel first ball. Gloucs 58-4 and looking unlikely to still be batting this time tomorrow.
150 for Kiran Carlson!
A sensational knock – 208 balls, 17 fours and a six. So fluent, even though the Glamorgan lead is only 61. Billy Root on a watchful 16 ball duck.
Labuschagne out for 138!
The bowler? James Coles, who is having a match for the ages. Fabulous, watchful, occasionally joyful, match (possibly) saving innings. The boy will go far. The partnership with Kiran Carlson, 288.
Worcestershire have got the runs needed down to 53. With five wicket in hand.Don’t @ me but this is theirs to lose now.
Still no news on Ollie Robinson...
….as Glamorgan – the lead now 42 – make untroubled seaside progress. Labuschagne 137, Carlson 143. Run-tastic against a Sussex bowling side somewhat labouring without their talisman. Glamorgan 400-3
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Miles Hammond avoids being the third victim in a potential Matthew Potts hat-trick, but it isn’t the greatest of starts for Gloucestershire, now 32-2 needing another 394 for the win.
Just grabbing a quick cup of tea in the garden.
Tea-time-ish scores
DIVISION ONE
The Rose Bowl:Hampshire 367 BEAT Northamptonshire 56 and 176
Lord’s: Somerset 404 BEAT Middlesex 175 and 216 by an innings and 13 runs.
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 442 v Essex 298 and 85-1
The Oval: Surrey 362 and 58-0 BEAT Kent 278 and 141 by ten wickets.
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire 292 v Durham 445 and 272-4dec Gloucs need 426 to win
Hove: Sussex 481 v Glamorgan 123 and 376-3
New Road: Worcestershire 83 and 193-4 v Leicestershire 173 and 180 Worcs need 78 to win
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Durham declare! Gloucestershire need 426 to win
Apologies to Michael Jones, whose 121, off just 148 balls, fell off my radar. Accompanied by 40 from Lees and 67 from the other Ollie Robinson, Durham are able to declare on 272-4 off just 48 overs. Gloucestershire have four sessions to survive.
Gary Naylor, I hope you’re still reading…
Thank you to Tim Sanders: “Humidity is part of the strange mix of practice wisdom and mythology that surrounds swung bowling. The science says that stillness of the air is the crucial thing, and humidity makes no difference on its own. Cloudy, humid days in summer tend to be still days; cloud cover also reduces convection currents on very hot days, as warm air rises from a baking pitch. I even have a reference for the science…
Somerset beat Middlesex by an innings and 13 runs!
A two and a half day stuffing at home for Middlesex.
Somerset 404 BEAT Middlesex 175 and 216 by an innings and 13 runs.
Somerset chalk up their first Championship win of the season, Craig Overton collects 5-46, his best bowling of the summer.
So we should check up on Worcestershire: who are doing very nicely, thank you.Just 94 needed, though Adam Hose has just been caught off Wiaan Mulder for an excellent 85. Worcs 177-4, 51 slow and steady runs for the determined Roderick.
A hundred for Marnus Labuschagne!
Hair brushed, buttons polished, Ashes ready. Two consecutive fours take him to three figures, a gorgeous cover drive and a pull. He gets a bear hug by return from Carlson, applause by the slips, his teammates on the balcony and all round the ground. Glamorgan 328-3.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the Surrey juggernaut.
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A hundred for Kiran Carlson!
Superb century for Carlson, in a pressure situation, to a hat-trick ball, and against Ollie Robinson with his tail up. He was dropped twice, on 3 and 21, but made the most of the chances. He pulls off his helmet and is enveloped in a hug by Labuschagne. Glamorgan, 309-3 now trail by just 39.
Sussex prepare to take the new ball – and still Ollie Robinson – who walked off before lunch – is off the field.
Hampshire beat Northamptonshire by an innings and 135 runs!
Hampshire 367 BEAT Northamptonshire 56 and 176
Hampshire 22 points, Northants 3
The unsung Liam Dawson 6-61. A game to forget for Northants, and a third straight defeat. But a quiet round of applause for Saif Zaib, unbeaten with 57, and top scorer in the 56 all out debacle.
A second wicket for Coverton, Hollman for 28, Middx 175-7 – will they yet beat Northants to handshakes.
Tom Lawes on the Surrey juggernaut
After Surrey’s ten wicket win over Kent, Tom Lawes, who grabbed 8 for 63 in the match, said: “It was a very special moment for me to get my first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket and it is something I’ll never forget.
“In particular, walking off the field at the end of the Kent innings, in front of the Oval pavilion and crowd and with all my teammates around me, will be a wonderful memory for me in years to come.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to get on to bowl last night, so when I was thrown the ball I just wanted to steam in and try to make something happen. There was a real intensity out there in the field when Sean (Abbott) and I took those three wickets in the last three overs of the second day, and we took that into this morning too.
“That’s how we want to play our cricket, and we reckon there is still more to come from us as a team so we will be looking to keep on improving during the rest of the season. But this win is a great way to finish this first block of six championship games and we have played this block as we planned to do. It sets us up for the next two matches in June, which will be played with a Kookaburra ball.”
Oh yes! The Kookaburra ball.
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Browne and Cook have knocked 32 runs off the deficit at Trent Bridge, but Essex need another 112 before parity. While Hollman and Higgins do their best to drag Middlesex towards making Somerset bat again. Middx 175-6, 54 behind.
All over bar the reckoning at the Rose Bowl. Northants 169-9. Liam Dawson 6-58
An email from Andy (“not that one”) Flintoff drifts into my inbox. Hello!
“I’ve always suspected that it’s air humidity that assists swing (probably due to something like the air being slightly more viscous, so the boundary layer around the ball is ‘thicker’ or something), and while cloud cover is the most obvious indicator that there’s moisture in the air, there may also be humidity due to local evaporation, which would explain Gary Naylor’s observation.”
Surrey certainly made the best of whatever it was.
Durham lose a quick couple: Lees for 40, Borthwick lbw for Zafar for two. Jones still there, 75 not out. The lead an imposing 279.
And whisper it, but Worcestershire, bowled out for 83 in the first innings, are making the run-chase look easy. Gareth Roderick and Adam Hose have put on 128 – 113 needed, seven wickets in hand.
At Hove, the new ball is available in 11 overs. We wait to see if Ollie Robinson will be.
Elsewhere Northants, after plucky morning resistance, are seven down. Saif Zaib looks as if he’ll be the top scorer again, 42 not out.
Glamorgan enjoying themselves here at Hove – Kiran Carlson (70) jumps in front of Marnus (67). Glamorgan 261-3, the deficit down to two figures.
Ollie Robinson watch
Ollie Robinson hasn’t emerged since lunch – I’m guessing/hoping/speculating that he just needs a thoroughbred rubdown. Or has cramp similar to the last match . He bowled eight overs this morning.
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
The Rose Bowl: Hampshire 367 v Northamptonshire 56 and 143-5
Lord’s: Middlesex 175 and 140-6 v Somerset 404
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 442 v Essex 298
The Oval: Surrey 362 and 58-0 BEAT Kent 278 and 141 by ten wickets.
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire 292 v Durham 445 and 101-0
Hove: Sussex 481 v Glamorgan 123 and 223-3
New Road: Worcestershire 83 and 128-3 v Leicestershire 173 and 180 Worcs need 143 to win
Labuschagne reaches fifty with a six!
Glamorgan having fun in the sun, 217-3, 141 behind Sussex.
Surrey beat Kent by ten wickets!
Surrey 362 and 58-0 BEAT Kent 278 and 141 by ten wickets.
An absolute shellacking. Well played 2022 Champions, supreme even without Kemar Roach. They complete the first, and biggest, block of Championship cricket with four wins and a 25 point lead over second-placed Warwickshire (who’ve played a game less). It will now be a big surprise if the Championship pennant leaves The Oval in September.
"This guy is just class!" 🎙️ @collinsadam
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket) May 20, 2023
What a start to day three for Surrey 👊
🤎 | #SurreyCricket pic.twitter.com/86upmS4TcQ
In Division One, Muscateer Rory Burns is in a hurry, 30 off 27 balls – Surrey need 20 to thrash Kent into next week.
Notts have an ominous lead of 130 against Essex, Montgomery 177 not out. Middlesex are folding like an MCC lunchbox at Lord’s: three wickets to Siddle, one each to Coverton and Jack Leach. And Northants have discovered some fighting spirit – just Whiteman and VAsconcelos gone this morning. Keogh and Saif Zaib have. Ah, Keogh joins them with just ten minutes till sandwiches, becoming Liam Dawson’s third wicket.
Ollie Robinson into his 17th over at Hove, groving the action ahead of the Ireland Test. Glamorgan 180-3, both wickets this morning to Jack Carson. They still trail Sussex by 180.
In the two other Division two games: Lees and Jones are racing along in now traditional style at Bristol. Durham 46-0, lead Gloucestershire by 199.
And Worcestershire, 91-3, have lost only the one wicket this morning, JAck Haynes a third wicket for loan man Josh Davey. The target is down to 180.
Carlson charges Carson, and pings him just out of reach of his leap. Four. Glammy 168-3, Labuschagne 40, Carlson 26. And that’s the fifty partnership as Marnus swats Carlson for six.
Er……. BTL hive mind, can you help Gary?
The ball has swung in the sunshine at The Oval @tjaldred. Can there be anything in my hypothesis that evaporation from nearby bodies of water helps bowlers more than cloud cover at some grounds?
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) May 20, 2023
Surrey need 58 to win!
Alas, poor Kent – lasted less than 70 minutes against the Surrey machine. Lawes 5-22 – his first five-fer – Clark 3-36. Eight single figure scores on that Kent card – Muyeye, Crawley and Cox making starts, but unable to go on. Crawley leaves for the international summer with 384 runs at 38, one hundred and two fifties under his belt. By contrast, Dan Lawrence has 287 runs at 31, Ollie Pope 379 at 54, Labuschagne 363 at 72.
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“Hello Tanya,” Andrew Benton, good morning!
“I seem to remember there was talk of Jofra Archer being given too much to do too soon when he joined England a few years back - do you think those calls might have been right, and are his continuing fitness issues the result?
“Hoping all grounds are blessed with copious sunbeams today!”
Funnily enough, I was asking colleagues this last week. The consensus was – possibly, but more likely it is the very way his elbow works – the hyper-extension , the magic– that makes him so vulnerable to injury.
Kent eight down, the lead just43, Jordan Cox sent on his way – this time by Abbott. The lead is 43 and the Surrey juggernaut looks forward to an afternoon of leisure.
James Coles, after batting with Steve Smith yesterday, now fields next to him at slip. Happy days
Durham decide not to enforce the follow-on after Gloucestershire are bowled out with a deficit of 153. While at Hove, Ollie Robinson is bowling to Marnus Labuschagne, take 2.
Distracted by a plaintive request for chocolate milk, come back to find Northants still haven’t lost a wicket, but Kent have lost another. Joey Evison misplaces his stump to a cock-a-hoop yorker. Kent 107-7. A maiden five-wicket collection for Tom Lawes. That’s five for two runs. The 19 year olds are buzzing this round!
Oh dear. Crawley dabs to second slip, where Ollie Pope gathers in the air, after adding only three runs to his overnight 31. Kent 83-6 – still one run behind, not one run ahead. Tom Lawes now 4-3.
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The first wicket falls. It was’t the one I’d have bet on. Sam Billings, for a pair, caught by Foakes off Tom Lawes who now has 3-3. Kent 83-5, lead by one run.
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They’re off round the grounds, and Northants have survived the first over from Keith Barker. This was Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler last night:
“We are low on confidence, you always will be if you keep getting bowled out. We have one batting point this year which is just no acceptable.
“It has been a reality check for some. There has been a lot of talk about how we are going to play and what we are going to do but it is time for them to stand up.
“The gist of it [post-day team talk] was that if the game could talk to you, what would it be telling you? The game judges you in the end and what would it say right now? You need to go away and reflect and come back and show some fight, graft and resilience.
“I still trust every one of our coaching team and I trust what we are doing. We are all on the same page. We are hurting. We are trying and we are talking about how we can change things. We are taking responsibility.
“But there are professional cricketers up there and we can’t keep getting bowled out for 50-odd or 60-odd or 70-odd like we have done in the last three or four games.
“When it rains it pours, when you have all these things against you they all come at once. There have been some dismissals today where we have got out; they are a good bowling attack.
“But it should be a reality check for some that two of their most important players aren’t playing, last week Luke Fletcher couldn’t bowl in the second innings, when we were bowled out for 70-odd at home to Hampshire Keith Barker wasn’t there. That’s the reality check that we need to be better and we aren’t quite as good as what some of us thought we were.
“We don’t want to make excuses but we are missing our captain and vice-captain (Luke Procter and Lewis McManus), who are both senior batters, and we are missing our strike bowler Ben Sanderson and a Test player in Simon Kerrigan. There is 500 odd games of cricket in there. When you are up against it and your backs are to the wall you want to call on that experience.
“Keogh and Whiteman showed some fight at the end of the day there but we can’t just fight for 20 overs. We need to fight for the full day or a session. We need to get back into the mode of batting in red ball cricket.
“There has been a lot of talk about Baz Ball and how other players are going to take us on. Only one player has really taken us on this year -Kohler-Cadmore – but James Vince has played Test cricket and is one of the best players in the country and he played old school red ball cricket. He fought and batted and batted and batted and ground us down. The old school methods of red ball cricket are still very much alive and important.
“We need to go back to the strategy of fighting until the last ball of day four that we had last year. It seems to have gone missing for us.”
A fabulous piece by Geoff Lemon on the magnificent Jofra Archer and the magic of that last Ashes spell. Wishing him a speedy recovery.
And Simon looks at the the T20 Blast which…blasts off today at Edgbaston, with Warwickshire v Yorkshire, and Derbyshire v Lancashire. The latter three teams will be looking for a morale-boosting win to launch their so far lacklustre seasons.
Ali speaks to Jimmy Anderson – it seems its worth keeping an eye on Ben Stokes’ bowling boots:
Friday's round-up
The Northamptonshire batting van arrived at the crease only to be met with banana skins, buttered bats and a desire to get back to the pavilion. A final total of 56 all out was distinguished by a single double-figure score, Saif Zaib’s 29.
Keith Barker, who had been stranded on 38 after Hampshire were dismissed for 367, pocketed four for 12. There were two wickets apiece for Mohammad Abbas and Ian Holland, plus a comedy run-out to start proceedings when Hassan Azad was out without facing a ball.
It was the lowest score at the Rose Bowl. Rain wiped out much of the afternoon, but Northants were able to start their follow-on, whereupon Hassan Azad completed a pair.
Steve Smith made 89 in what will probably be his final innings for Sussex, a third lbw decision in as many innings as he shuffled to off stump. But the plaudits went to the 19-year-old James Coles, who glided to his maiden first-class century as Sussex built a 358-run lead over Glamorgan, bolstered by Ollie Robinson biffing three successive fours off Michael Neser before being caught.
The Kent debutant Arafat Bhuiyan grabbed four Surrey wickets as the 2022 Champions pinched a first-innings lead of 84 – thanks to some tail-end hitting by Sean Abbot and Gus Atkinson. Zak Crawley, 31 not out at stumps, then had to watch as Kent lost three wickets in the day’s final minutes.
Worcestershire’s second innings started almost as catastrophically as their first, 2 for 2 after 11 balls, but they were saved any further blushes when rain stopped play just after six o’clock. Leicestershire had earlier been dismissed for 180 – five wickets for Joe Leach and four for Matthew Waite, who hurried the tail along nicely with a three-wicket over. Worcestershire need another 245 on a capricious pitch.
Matt Montgomery cartwheeled to an unbeaten 130 at Trent Bridge, for Nottinghamshire against Essex, while at Bristol, Ajaz Patel took five wickets, and Matthew Potts two, to give Durham the upper hand. Somerset were on top at Lord’s after Matt Henry took 5 for 45. Middlesex were bundled out for 175 before following on.
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Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
The Rose Bowl: Hampshire 367 v Northamptonshire 56 and 50-2
Lord’s: Middlesex 175 and 81-1 v Somerset 404
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 326-5 v Essex 298
The Oval: Surrey 362 v Kent 278 and 80-4
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire 255-9 v Durham 445
Hove: Sussex 481 v Glamorgan 123 and 118-1
New Road: Worcestershire 83 and 26-2 v Leicestershire 173 and 180 Worcs need 245 to win
Preamble
Good morning! The weekend sun burns brightly on this last Championship Saturday in May, as the elderflower stretches into flower.
A few games look as if they’ll wrap up today – at New Road, at Lord’s, at the Rose Bowl possibly at Hove – much depends if Worcestershire, Northants, Glamorgan and Middlesex are able to construct their second innings from bricks and mortar rather than the glass previously used in the match.
Hope your parkruns, and morning physical jerks went well, I’m going to put the kettle on.
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