Here’s Tanya’s roundup of the day’s action
Close of play scores
Wickets fell regularly pretty much everywhere play was possible today, and things look like this:
Hampshire 290 & 163-8; Worcestershire 211
Lancashire 158; Notts 127-6
Kent 64; Gloucestershire 110-8
Middlesex 214 & 159; Northants 71 & 9-0
Warwickshire 284-9 v Sussex
Gloucestershire have recovered against Kent, Gareth Roderick reaching his half-century to guide his side to 98-6, a first-innings lead of 34. Middlesex are now 81-5 in their second innings against Northants, which gives them a likely decisive lead of more than 200. In the top flight, Hampshire are now 113-4, with Roussow and Amla having added 40.
Graham Onions has his first Lancashire wicket, that of Jake Libby caught behind for 15. Notts are 20-1 in response to Lancs’ 158. Elsewhere Hampshire have nudged along to 69-3 in their second innings against Worcestershire, 138 ahead in total. While wickets continue to fall at Canterbury, Gloucestershire struggling to 56-6 in reply to Kent’s 64 all out. Batting bonus points, or indeed any side getting to 100, looking a tough ask in that one.
Latest from Southampton: Hampshire 53-3 after losing three wickets in four balls against Worcestershire.
Tea round-up:
Headingley: no play today
Edgbaston: Steady: Warwickshire 127-4. Bell 57 not out; Ishant Sharma 2-18
Canterbury: Carnage: Kent 64 all out; Gloucestershire 24-3
Lord’s: Chaos: Northants 71 all out; Middx lead by 143 and 0-0 in second innings.
Southampton: Steady: Worcerstshire 211 all out, Hammpshire second innings 20/0.
Old Trafford: Borderline: Lancashire 158 all out; Jake Ball 5-43, great little performance by him
phew....
Updated
Two in two balls for Jake Ball at Old Trafford: Lancashire 149/8. And a first catch for Tom Moores behind the stumps.
Questions being asked through the twittersphere about early-season Championship cricket
Could anyone from @ECB_cricket tell me how playing all the County Championship games at the start and end of the season- but not the summer - helps test cricket? #countycricket pic.twitter.com/43IHS8WiMk
— Hazel (@hackneyhaz) April 14, 2018
And Worcs a respectable 211 all out, which gives Hampshire a lead of 79. Tea there so you can take a breather.
Northants all out 71, James Harris 5-9. Middlesex lead by 143 .
Gloucs now 21/3; Northants 63/9 - and still only one for Roland-Jones!
A huge moment for @tjmurtagh as he takes his 700th first-class wicket!
— Middlesex Cricket (@Middlesex_CCC) April 14, 2018
What a servant to @Middlesex_CCC he has been! 🙌 #legend #TeamMiddlesex pic.twitter.com/Fa0EfZmxp6
Another wicket here at Old Trafford, Vilas b Gurney 49. Lancashire 131/6
Fifty for Ian Bell at Edgbaston, with 10 fours.
Gloucestershire 10/2 at Kent
Someone with something nice to say about Northants, to make people feel better:
I really like how Northants show you don't have to take the 'orthodox' route to be a success in county cricket. Sanderson was out of the county game for four years, Gleeson made his debut at 27, Jack Brooks was 25.
— Rowena Haigh (@thetwoshortlegs) April 14, 2018
Holy smoke: Northants now 48-8 which will upset the Wisden editor. Four for Murtagh, three for Harris and one for Roland Jones. Top score 20 by Levi.
If you’re a Kent fan cover your eyes but that was ...
Kent's lowest FC total for five years, since 63 v Worcs at Canterbury in 2013.
— Marcus Hook (@_Marcus_Hook) April 14, 2018
And here we got again at Canterbury: Gloucestershire 4-1, Howell lbw Henry 0
And, another wicket here: Chanderpaul caught at square leg off the deserving Fletcher for 11. Lancashire 124/5
Updated
Warwickshire 86 for 3, Trott out for 15. Bell 38 not out.
At Lord’s everyone has drunk some nettle tea and things have calmed a little, with Levi and Wakely putting on an unbeaten 29.
At Southampton, Worcs 189 for 7 with a super little fifty for Ben Cox.
Here at Old Trafford Chanderpaul and Vilas bat on almost sleepily now the morning sharpness has waned a little.
Updated
Make that 64 all out in 18.5 overs.
Worrall 2-20
Taylor 4-20
Miles 3-11
Higgins 1-9
Strap in for Gloucester’s innings
Updated
61-9 at Kent; Crawley lbw Higgins 15. The only man yet to reach double figures in what is an absolute dogs-breakfast of a start to the season
This is the only picture I can find from Kent, but well done Gloucestershire. A fifty partnership betw.een Chanderpaul and Vilas here at Old Trafford; Vitas made 35 of them. Chanderpaul stands and watches and waits.
WELL WELL!!
— Gloucestershire CCC (@Gloscricket) April 14, 2018
What a bowling display this is by @frankyworrall & @matt_taylor94
Kent are currently on 33/6. Taylor with 4 & Worrall with 2.
👉 https://t.co/M4ijmmc3wB pic.twitter.com/yDCAlbCL5P
Kent now 51-8, Zak Crawley not out 12, Taylor 4-20, Worrall 2-20, Miles 2-5. Anyone there who could send me a photo?
Kent 46-7. Crawley, not out 8.
Northants 12-3, another wicket for Murtagh
Further chaos: At Lord’s: Northants 7-2, with a wicket each for Toby Roland-Jones and Tim Murtagh
At Edgbaston, Warwickshire are 41-2 with Trott and Bell the not-out batsmen, which kindly knocks a few years off for all of us. I read in the Times pre-season that Bell hadn’t entirely ruled out an England return, if they were short like.
Still, a chance for Zak Crawley who lots of people are whispering nicely about.
Blimey, I’ve come back from a stroll round the ground to find Kent 29-6, four wickets for eight runs for Matt Taylor, 2 for Daniel Worrall. And play has been called off for the day at Headingley.
Headingley:
UPDATE: Discussions ongoing between the umpires and coaches. #YourYorkshire pic.twitter.com/73GoBTPCkx
— Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) April 14, 2018
Sorry, those entries were a bit OT-centric.
Lunchtime round-up:
Headingley: no play, inspection 1.40
Edgbaston: play delayed: revised start 1pm
Canterbury: play delayed; revised start 1.10pm
Lord’s: Middlesex moved on for 136/4 overnight to 208 for 9 at lunch. Four wickets each for Brett Hutton and Ben Sanderson and an unbeaten 40 for James Harris.
Southampton: Worcestershire moved on from 40 for 2 overnight to 114-6; two wickets each for Kyle Abbott, Gareth Berg and Fidel Edwards. Trouble here for Worcs who are 176 runs behind with four wickets in hand.
Old Trafford: Lancashire 77 for 4: Luke Wood 2-27, Harry Gurney 1-10, Jake Ball 1-13. Lancashire’s fancied top four, all who played Lions cricket in the winter, struggled against the moving ball, with only Davies passing 20.
Sorry, if I jinxed Davies there: LBW Wood, 23. Lancashire 60/4
Just in case he too is out before I have a chance to post this, Christian Ryan wrote a wonderful and award-winning piece for The Nightwatchman on Chanderpaul. I can’t find a link to post it too, but this was a paragraph:
“Where it matters, in the heart, and head, he is the unprogrammable man. In his hotel room before batting he bats each ball in his head. After batting he often does not look at the tape. Yet he still watches the replay - in his head. Sportspeople sometimes claim they do this. Chanders honestly does it, every ball. Studying the tape would seek to make explicable, predictable, repeatable, something that should, morally, be left mysterious and free-floating, inside our heads - cricket - so that to see Chanders batting, though it may not involve notions like sexy, is to dream possibility, and be lifted out of our selves, by the simple act of watching”
Out! Stumps splayed. Livingstone b Wood 9: Lancashire 59/3.
Davies is playing a cracking little innings here, as he smacks Luke Wood’s first ball for four in his fiftieth first-class game for Lancashire.
“The sort of batsman who people haven’t noticed because they are watching Hameed and Livingstone in their different ways,” says Paul Edwards, seasoned red-rose watcher and romantic. He also tells me that last year Davies was the first Lancashire wicketkeeper to score 1000 first-class runs: 1046 at 43.58.
Updated
“Lots of empty stands in the pictures,” writes Andrew Benton. “How do counties even break-even on county cricket?” I’m no expert but I think the simple answer is, they don’t. Money comes from the ECB handout, T20 games and as many non-cricket bits as counties can dream up, concerts etc. The Championship is the thread that runs through it all, the breeding ground for Test players, a simple cheap day’s pleasure, and a small joy for a surprising number of people, including BTL readers!
Unbelievably, sun has now delayed play at Old Trafford, a reflection coming from somewhere below the sightscreen in front of the pavilion. Some handymen are now draping the offending area in a black tablecloth.
A tidy little stand at Lord’s where Toby Roland-Jones (2x4) and James Harris have put on 24 but another wicket at Southampton, where Worcester are in trouble at 78-5, Head gone for 9.
And that’s Jennings out, a leading edge straight back to Gurney’s third ball. Jennings swishes his bat in disappointment. Lancs 28-2. Nothing for the selectors to see here yet but that brings in Livingstone.
Darn it. Hameed out, lbw Ball 7. Lancs 21-1.
Also, play due to start at one at Edgbaston, waiting for news from Canterbury.
Updated
Don’t head off to Headingley yet
ICYMI: Inspection at 1:40PM - the main problem area is on the Rugby ground side of Headingley, approximately around wide mid-off, where a significant amount of standing water remains.#YourYorkshire
— Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) April 14, 2018
Quick round-up:
Headingley: no play
Canterbury: inspection at 11.30
Edgbaston: inspection at 11
Old Trafford: Lancashire 5-0
Southampton: Worcs 47- 3, JC Tongue c Rossouw b Abbott 4
Lord’s: Middx 142-6: Stirling c †Rossington b Sanderson 44;
JA Simpson lbw b Sanderson 32
Here goes..
And we're off! pic.twitter.com/mCJmwcYY06
— tanya aldred (@tjaldred) April 14, 2018
And before play starts, just wanted to say a huge thank you to the OBO reader who emailed Malcolm Lorrimer with details of one of the Lancashire WWI fallen. He was thrilled. If anyone else has any details on: Alfred Hartley, Williams Knowles Tyldesley, John Nelson, Harold Gwyer Garnett or Egerton Lownes Wright, please contact maxcricket@btinternet.com
The sun has actually come out here. Meanwhile Vince’s creamy cameo of yesterday has activated the grrrr in seasoned cricket watchers...
Please can we have a moratorium on James Vince's " creamy" etc effing cover drive. You need rather more than that to succeed as an international batsman. Perhaps if people didn't go on about it, he might twig that.
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) April 14, 2018
Another inspection at 11.30 at Kent while the outfield dries out, no news from Southampton but the forecast is for 15 degree HEAT so play should start on time.
At Old Trafford, Peter Moores is looking typically youthful down on his knees angling slip catches. The toss has been uncontested so Nottinghamshire will bowl first, with Tom Moores, Peter’s son, to keep wicket, and Luke Fletcher in for Mark Footit. Lancashire with their long batting line-up have left out Parkinson on the early season pitch.
Uncontested toss here @EmiratesOT and @LancsCCC will bat first.
— Lancashire CCC (@LancsCCC) April 14, 2018
🌹 #RedRoseTogether pic.twitter.com/DrFPb0UUr2
Preamble
Good morning from Old Trafford where the lawnmowers are marching up and down, both teams are practising on the outfield and the scene is set for an 11 o’clock start with an extra half hour to try and make up for yesterday’s washout.
Around the counties: there will be no play before lunch at Headingley with a further inspection at 1.40 because of a very soggy outfield towards the Football Stand end. At Canterbury, the umpires are inspecting again at ten o’clock, but it is warm and sunny and they are hopeful of play. The sun is also out at Edgbaston and Lord’s and play will start on time.
Play to start on time at Old Trafford pic.twitter.com/cd3uZouCIg
— tanya aldred (@tjaldred) April 14, 2018
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