Day two roundup: Jennings puts Lancashire in command
On a traditionally overcast Roses Friday, the day meandered towards a crushing Lancashire lead. Keaton Jennings was the master builder, crafting his first red-ball century since he made 146 not out for England against Sri Lanka in November 2018. After a couple of years in the wilderness, this season he has rediscovered both touch and brio. Away he chugged, putting on 19 runs in the first 45 minutes with Luke Wells, but there were occasional boulders as well as bricks, as skimming cover drives and gleaming late cuts were plucked from the level.
Yorkshire plugged away, throwing on Dom Bess, his baggy trousers and shaggy hair a sharp contrast to Jennings’ ironed creases and buttoned cuffs. Yorkshire eventually got their hands on the new ball they had been after all day, and it tookonly five overs to make a breakthrough as Jennings was caught at first slip after a partnership of 175 with Wells. One became three as Wells, then Livingstone followed. But on Lancashire went. For a while it seemed they would try for maximum batting bonus points as Dane Vilas straight drove Steven Patterson for four, then dropped to one knee and pulled him behind square, and Bess was biffed for straight sixes, with Josh Bohannon reaching the scorers’ box high in the media centre. But sense soon prevailed and the grind, grind, grind returned.
A sixth wicket stand of 125 between Ryan ten Doeschate (55) and Adam Wheater (81) rescued Essex from an unbecoming 53 for five to finish the day with a towering lead at Chester-le-Street. Durham were earlier bowled out for 99; such was the haste of their demise that Simon Harmer didn’t even get to wrap his bowling fingers around the ball.
Saif Zaib’s 64 helped Northants to a handy first-innings lead at Hove. After a post-tea wobble, Tom Haines and Ben Brown inched Sussex ahead.
Lewis Hill and Callum Parkinson were the only players to make their mark on Leicestershire’s first innings of 136. Martin Andersson was too much for their middle order, picking up four for 27, his best figures for Middlesex.
Hashim Amla continued to scatter his munificence at The Oval, finishing with 173, and Surrey 473, thanks to a bit of hurry-up from Rikki Clarke and Sean Abbott. Gloucestershire must now bat out two days on a turning pitch, with Amar Virdi already in the wickets shortly before rain stopped play.
A last wicket can-can of 52 for Warwickshire between Liam Norwell and Oliver Hannon-Dalby proved a morning irritation to Nottinghamshire on a day interrupted by showers. Norwell, who had frying-panned three sixes, then nipped in to remove England-bound Haseeb Hameed for 39, Ben Duckett and, later, Ben Slater for 77.
Ed Barnard coaxed the tail into a morning wag with another handy innings, this time of 90, as Worcestershire reached 421. On a rain-interrupted afternoon, Derbyshire lost three wickets.
The end of a long day, with Lancashire firmly on top ,and the pitch starting to wear. As are Surrey, Middlesex and Essex. Still tight at Hove if Sussex can build all day tomorrow. That’s it from me, enjoy your Friday celebrations, goodnight!
Losing my marbles. Just watched this...
21.6 | Kerrigan strikes with a great caught and bowled!
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) May 28, 2021
Sussex 77/2.
Watch live ▶ https://t.co/CU8uwteMyd pic.twitter.com/zHRGyve2kA
and thought - blimey, I didn’t even realise Kerrigan was bowling. Must concentrate.
He left Lancashire in September 2018.
Anyway, well done him, Sussex 79-3, Kerrigan 2-10. Lancashire 287-4; rain at Edgbaston and New Road; Essex still five down; Leicestershire have nurdled another 20 odd but lost Callum Parkinson.
I better think about the round up, it could take my brain a while today. Will try to pop back with stats etc.
How about Dane Vilas smoothing Paterson down the ground for four, then pulling him,down on a hind leg, towards the cagoul clad behind square?
“Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater continue to frustrate the Warwickshire bowlers, who have plugged away with tight lines but found the Nottinghamshire pair their equals. Hameed looking nice and compact, sniffing the ball out in defence and clipping the ball around for runs in workmanlike fashion ... and as I type that he neatly guides one past backward point for four like Ian Bell at his best. Nottinghamshire 50 for no loss in the 21st over with Hameed on 31 and Slater on 19.”
Tea-time scores
Group One
Riverside: Durham 99 all out v Essex 182 all out and 160-5*
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 341 all out v Nottinghamshire 51-0 took an early tea
New Road: Worcestershire 421 all out v Derbyshire 2-0
Group Two
Grace Road: Leicestershire 108-7 v Middlesex 295 all out
The Oval: Surrey 473 all out v Gloucestershire
Group Three
Old Trafford: Lancashire 266-4 v Yorkshire 159 all out
Hove: Sussex 175 all out and 65-1 v Northants 256 all out
The Lancashire lead passes one hundred on the brink of tea.
We’ve slumped back into slow-go land here at OT, Lancs 257-4; while Ten Doeschate and Wheater are picking up runs for fun at Chester le Street. Their partnership more than a hundred, Durham’s target galloping over the horizon.
Great to see the ECB adding a little more diversity to the match referee’s panel.
Devon Malcolm and Dean Headley are amongst the new names on the list of the new Supplementary Panel (created to give more opportunities to match refereees). They join Will Smith, Alec Swann and Simon Hinks.
Sue Laister has been appointed to match referee this weekend’s Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy match between Northern Diamonds and Central Sparks at Headingley, becoming, in the process, the first female Match Referee of a professional domestic match in England and Wales.
An email awaits. Hello Tim(would you like a cold flannel?)
“Just got back from a rare post-COVID trip to the pub to watch my beloved Western Bulldogs get their arses handed to them on a plate by the evil Melbourne Demons in a much-anticipated yet bitterly disappointing top-of-the-table clash.
As a result, I am in the mood to burn something down and can think of no better victim than LBW.
Here goes.
We need to give umpire’s call to the batsman and adjust games not being ruled/ruined (your choice) by TV umpires in the same way. It was never intended to be one of the primary methods of dismissal, but was only introduced to deal with cads and bounders standing in front of the stumps. The world - and the game - would be a better place if we put it in its proper place.
A nice GIF of someone lighting the blue touch paper and retreating to a safe distance would go very nicely here.
P.S. Next week we allow injured batsmen to have runners but allow fielders to go full Rollerball on them: bodychecks and blindside hits all fair game.
P.P.S. Also it’s time to let go of your pro-Lancashire smugness and accept what you know from your time spent in Yorkshire: this game is an utter disaster, isn’t proper cricket and the balls are clearly fixed in favour of the red rosers.”
Still raining at Worcesters and at Edgbaston, where they’ve taken tea with Notts 28-0.
And at Chester-le-Street, ten Doeschate and Wheater have decided that speed is of the essence, putting on 81 in 17 overs from the ignominy of 53-5. Essexc currently 139-5, a lead of 222.
At The Oval, Hashim Amla has been bowled for a mammoth 173, by Miles Hammond. Surrey 430-8. Sussex have only lost the one wicket in their second innings, Thomason for 8, still trail Northants by 51.
Parkinson (C) and Lewis Hill rattling a few for the seventh wicket against Middlesex, though they seem but dust in the wind. Leics 86-6, trail by 209.
And another! Wells is furious with himself, giving Kohler-Cadmore his second catch at first slip. An invaluable 60 in a stand of 175 with Jennings in 66.4 overs
Updated
And just as he was cutting loose.... caught off Ben Coad at first slip for 114. Jennings tucks his bat under his left armpit as he departs. Then pauses to salute the crowd, to the fans huddling under the point, to the pavilion, to A and B stand.
And with a drive through the covers, Keaton Jennings reaches his hundred! A hug with Luke Wells, a two-step of delight, and off with his helmet as he raises his bat to the dressing-room and all round the ground to the crowd, many on their feet. Hi first first-class hundred since he made 146 not out for England v Sri Lanka in November 2018.
A nice little story on Moeen Ali playing in the Birmingham League on Saturday. The England management have agreed he can play for West Bromwich Dartmouth against Walsall in Premier Division One. He’ll be joined by his brother, Omar, his cousin, the former England swing bowler, Kabir, and another cousin, Ismail Mohammed, who is on the staff at Worcestershire
And with a six off a no ball, a Bess high, high, full toss, Luke Wells reaches his first fifty for Lancashire.
Wi\th Lancs 214-1, Yorkshire take the new ball. They’ve been asking for a new one all day. Now let’s see if they can do owt with this one.
Updated
Northants are all out for 256, Sanderson and Berg uoompa loompaing 51 for the last wicket. A prickly lead over Sussex of 81. Four wickets for the promising Garton, two to the equally promising Crocombe.
UPDATE
“We’ve just had the first “gerronwithit” from the Edgbaston crowd in 18 months (not sure why they had a Nottinghamshire accent.)”
Updated
Andersson picks up three quick wickets, 3-6 to be exact, at Grace Road, as Leicestershire stumble and fall face down in a puddle. 48-6, trail Middlesex by 247.
Will it be curtains tonight at CLS? Essex 68-5, though disappointingly Walter and Pepper were both caught. The Essex lead 155.
Keaton reverse-sweeps Bess for four. Easy as pie. Just saying whispering that... if KJ were to reach three figures, it would be for the first time in first-class cricket since November 2018 when he scored 146 for England against Sri Lanka.
Updated
Off for rain at Edgbaston too.
When I walked round the ground at lunch and heard someone in the nets, my first thought was: I bet that’s Has. Old habits, etc.
Hameed watch:
Hello Tanya at Old Trafford, Ali Martin at Edgbaston here. In between penning a Test series preview for the Observer and a big interview with Tim Southee for Monday’s paper - and before taking my eldest to All Stars cricket later - I’ve been watching Haseeb Hameed bat ahead of his return to the England fold.
Some wonderful tail-end swish from Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Liam Norwell (the former giving it both barrels) took Warwickshire to 341 and set up a tricky period of play before lunch for the Nottinghamshire openers. Hameed and Ben Slater survived and have now resumed after vittles (fish and chips in the press box). Hameed, he of the recent England call-up, has taken one blow to the hand from Norwell - a slightly worrying feature of his game - but otherwise the pair have held firm with Notts 28 for none.
Rain at Worcestershire. Pepper and Walter have doubled the score, and more, at The Riverside - Essex 38-3. Amla moving inevitably towards 150 at The Oval; and Northants have a lead of 38 with one wicket left at Hove.
Celebrity fan.
@lancscricket wonderful 🌹 pic.twitter.com/kJyVaGdndI
— Peter Reid 💙 (@reid6peter) May 28, 2021
A lap of the ground and back in time to see Keaton Jennings unleash his inner David Gower. I can tell you that it costs £5 for a pint of ice-cold Fosters, which seems on the extortionate side, but what do I know of matters beer. Lots of members warming up in the OT Cafe Nero, others milling round the Members’ Representative desk outside the pavilion. A murmur, a content murmur.
Essex?!?!?! Alastair Cook gone for single figures for the second time in the match. Browne and Westley fell either side. Two more lbws to make it 14 in the match, and the last 18 wickets have been lost for 117 runs.
Time for lunch and a stretch. Back in 40. mins.
Lunchtime scores
Group One
Riverside: Durham 99 all out v Essex 182 all out and 15-3!!!!
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 341 all out v Nottinghamshire 6-0
New Road: Worcestershire 421 all out v Derbyshire
Group Two
Grace Road: Leicestershire 21-3 v Middlesex 295 all out
The Oval: Surrey 363-7 v Gloucestershire
Group Three
Old Trafford: Lancashire 150-1 v Yorkshire 159 all out
Hove: Sussex 175 all out v Northants 195-8
Lunch! Scores to follow. Drizzle in the Manchester air so the covers come on.
Updated
Thanks to Hoppsy for tweeting this - and to point out that these figures do not include the scholarship kids like Joe and Billy Root and Haseeb Hameed.
THIS remains a huge issue for English cricket. While Yorkshire and so some extent the West Midlands have questions to answer re ethnicity, this often glosses over the fact that other parts of the country have made MINIMAL effort to solve the State v Private school imbalance pic.twitter.com/lxL6KZOu7h
— David Hopps (@DavidKHopps) May 27, 2021
And a thoughtful email from Nat Goodden on a similar theme.
“This is left over from last week – I e’d you a few minutes after you’d (very reasonably) logged off.
Whitchurch High School – someone had e’d you about its interesting (I’d say amazing) record for producing sporting stars – mentioning Gareth Bale, but without adding both Geraint Thomas (Tour de France winner, also a second place, yes?) and Sam Warburton (Wales and Lions rugby captain). All within 2 or 3 years, I believe. And it’s a proper STATE school!
Re Durham LBW’s yesterday – even more extraordinary seems the total number of LBW’s given, Essex ones included – 11 in all by my count. Now is that a record, or what?”
In my book all state schools should have a proper playing field, even if that means requisitioning land from next door office buildings or building new schools elsewhere. Even if pupils hate sport they can benefit from sitting in a green environment at lunchtime with all the benefits we know that brings.
I defy you to listen to this and not have a little cry.
'Marcus, I think, is way ahead of where I was at 23. I was still trying to figure it out.'
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) May 28, 2021
Marcus Rashford and Barack Obama share ‘surreal’ Zoom conversation https://t.co/vHHTNzZwGp pic.twitter.com/WKcvnc6sC2
Ed Barnard’s 2021 season is run-heavy - I’ve just clocked he’s 86 not out, with Dillan Pennington hanging on in there, 22 not out, in an attempts to get him over the line. Worcestershire 417-9.
Through the covers Keaton, head over knee, arcing bat. A hundred and seventy-seven balls of dedication - and 28 of the 53 came in seven fours.
Northants inch into the lead at Hove, as Saif Zaib passes 50 for the third time in his last 4 innings. Nice little fight back from 107-5.
Not the best of starts at Grace Road, where Leicestershire are 2-1. Hassan Azad gone for a duck to Ethan Bamber in what is proving to be rather an unkind season. averaging 31, compared to 54 in 2019.
Much to Gloucestershire’s irritation, Hashim Amla and Sean Abbott have now put on 53 for the seventh wicket, with Amla on a 250-ball 121 not out.
Jennings awakes from his slumbers to crack Patterson for four - three more runs and he’ll have his fourth fifty in five innings. Lancs 136-1.
Time to change the sheets.
Durham all out 99. Essex lead by 83 runs, which is more than generous.
Middlesex 295 all out, John Simpson left high and dry on 95.
Yorkshire try to change the ball in desperation, but the umpires tell them to hurry along.
Durham are down and nearly out at 99-9 against Essex; Harmer hasn’t even had a bowl yet.
Luke Fletcher has grabbed his first wicket of the day at Edgbaston, swiftly followed by Paterson snatching his fifth as Danny Lamb is caught for 67. Warwicks 293-9
Yorkshire are giving Bess a go from the Brian Statham end, Long sleeves, baggy trousers that could do with a hitch, he has a endearingly scruffy air, most unlike his opponent Mister wax and polish Jennings. He dries, dries, dries the ball again on his shirt. Lancashire have scored 19 runs in 45 minutes. Proper Roses.
A pocket of early morning wickets: Ned Eckersley (a sixth lbw) and Brydon Carse at The Riverside, Durham 79-8; Danny Briggs at Edgbaston, as Paterson continues where he left off yesterday, Warwicks 270-7; Tom Helm at Grace Road, Middx 279-8; and in the umbrella-biter at Hove,Simon Kerrigan has been bowled by George Garton, Northants 121-5.
And lo, Keaton Jennings pulls Olivier across the verdant grass and into the boundary boards, with a crack of the bat and to a crescendo of local applause.
An email. Good Morning Brian.
“Morning Tanya
The Durham commentator tells us that yesterday was the only time that Durham have lost their first five wickets lbw. (Judging by the way they were offering their pads so freely I had half-suspected they were on some sort of ‘charity sponsorship’, if that’s the acceptable euphemism for spot fixing.)
More generally, I’m wondering who holds the (presumably unwanted) county record for most consecutive lbw dismissals?”
This is definitely one for BTL.
A tickle brings a trudge: Jamie Overton slopes back over The Oval rope, out to the first ball of the day. Surrey 285-6.
A couple of overs under the belt at Old Trafford, not much to report apart from some deliciously sticky biscotti and a discussion about how much more together Keaton Jennings looks this season.
Home-made biscotti for elevenses in the OT press box, thanks to @mikebirty. pic.twitter.com/RYaRdO8mRb
— tanya aldred (@tjaldred) May 28, 2021
Start of play scores
Group One
Riverside: Durham 58-6 v Essex 182 all out
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 250-6 v Nottinghamshire
New Road: Worcestershire 336-7 v Derbyshire
Group Two
Grace Road: Leicestershire v Middlesex 260-7
The Oval: Surrey 285-5 v Gloucestershire
Group Three
Old Trafford: Lancashire 95-1 v Yorkshire 159 all out
Hove: Sussex 175 all out v Northants 91-4
Updated
Round-up from Thursday
The swifts darted over the tram lines for the 221st Roses Championship match, and in the car park a man carefully folded his jacket over his arm and picked up his picnic bag. The crowds were back at Old Trafford for the first time in 617 days and, what’s more, the sun obliged, a distant heat haze rippling over the Manchester skyscrapers.
Yorkshire, who won the toss and chose to bat, took the opportunity to flirt with a record – their lowest ever total at Old Trafford. At 21 for six, and 40 for seven, 51 looked a stretch, with Lancashire’s Saqib Mahmood and Tom Bailey in particular bowling searching spells. Bailey’s figures were a parsimonious 14-11-6-3.
But Yorkshire had a gem in Harry Duke, the 19-year old wicketkeeper playing in only his second first-class match, and who had collected a golden duck in his one previous innings. From nervous bolter walking out at 21 for 5, he found his mojo and, full of youthful vim, stroked the ball simply and through the covers. He and Steven Patterson, all elbows and knees, put on 77 for the 10th wicket before Ben Coad and Duanne Olivier thrashed about to take the total over 150.
Alex Davies then teed off from the start, reaching his 50 to a happy crescendo of applause before tickling Olivier behind for 52. Jennings and Wells played out till the close, with just under 2,000 people watching Dom Bess twirling in from the Brian Statham End and revelling in Lancashire’s day.
Sixteen wickets fell at The Riverside as both Essex and Durham suffered batting malfunctions. First, Essex lost five wickets for three runs after Michael Pepper was out for 92, as Durham hoovered up their tail. Durham, in turn, collapsed to 58 for six post-tea, five of them lbw.
Northamptonshire’s Ben Sanderson filched five wickets at Hove for the third time in the past four innings, though it could not prevent a Sussex fightback. They had been in deep trouble at 67 for eight, before Jack Carson and Henry Crocombe tickled 99 for the ninth wicket. Facing 175, Northants then lost four wickets by the close.
Three wickets for Leicestershire’s Callum Parkinson, including two in two balls, failed to pin Middlesex down as a seventh-wicket stand of 90 between John Simpson and Luke Hollman took them to respectability at stumps.
A steady day at Edgbaston, led by 91 from Warwickshire’s Will Rhodes at the top of the order, was hijacked by Dane Paterson who snatched three wickets for Nottinghamshire in evening sunshine; while the England Under-19 batsman Jack Haynes hit a career best 97 for Worcestershire against Derbyshire at New Road before being caught on the boundary. Hashim Amla, leading Surrey for the first time, made an unbeaten century against Gloucestershire, and received a standing ovation from the Oval crowd.
Good morning!
It’s day two and there’s a dampness to the air. Paul Allott is walking gingerly over the outfield in his hush puppies, while over on the white rose side of the ground, Yorkshire are playing touch rugby. Adam Lyth is resplendent in knee high white socks, not a sign of surrender of course.
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