Tanya's county roundup
Two games scurried to a conclusion as Essex and Kent celebrated innings victories.
Essex, whose title was lost in the first part of the summer, and boosted by righteous indignation, have dominated both their Division Two games. They half-inched the five Gloucestershire wickets they needed before lunch, Simon Harmer walking off with four.
A “Stevo is God” flag dedicated to Darren Stevens flew over Canterbury as fans celebrated their wicket and run diva. Kent, who went into the Divisional phase without a victory, toppled Worcestershire with ease to chalk up their second win on the trot. Nathan Gilchrist, Grant Stewart and Stevens himself took three wickets apiece.
It was runs galore at Hove, as Sam Robson moved to a double hundred and Robbie White a century. Middlesex’s 676 for five declared was their highest ever total, as Sussex’s young bowlers toiled away on a picnic table of a pitch. Tom Haines and Ali Orr took Sussex to 103 for nought at stumps.
The other games were a celebration of the rearguard. In the zig-zagging Division one game at Edgbaston, Hampshire set Warwickshire 296 to win after Keith Barker and Brad Wheal shimmied the bat. Rob Yates and Dom Sibley then ground their way to a solid start, before Sibley tried a rogue sweep and was out for 47.
Lancashire, meanwhile, need another 329 runs to beat Nottinghamshire, an unlikely chase emboldened by the good start of George Balderson and Luke Wells who took them to 115 for one.
Maiden centuries for Brooke Guest and Anuj Dal, whose contact lens fell out mid-innings, gave Derbyshire a sniff of survival in their match against Leicestershire, with 65 more needed to avoid the follow-on.
While at the Riverside, Dan Douthwaite, caught for 96 going for a big one, and Andrew Salter, 82 not out, shovelled and nudged 163 for the seventh wicket to hold up Durham’s popping of the champagne. Still 73 shy of an innings defeat, it was a day of solid, if theoretical, defiance by Glamorgan.
A last wicket stand of 83 by Amar Virdi and Gus Atkinson helped Surrey set a formidable run-chase. After a couple of early Northamptonshire wickets, Rob Keogh and Emilio Gay played with panache to set the game up for an intriguing final day.
Updated
After the carnage of Sunday, today was a celebration of rearguard actions. Which leaves tomorrow free for run chases. Northants, Lancs and Warwicks all in with various degrees of probability, while Sussex and Middlesex threaten to bat till Christmas. The future doesn’t look so rosy for Glamorgan, while Derbyshire stretch towards the follow-on. Join us tomorrow to read the runes. Thanks for all the messages, now get out into that glorious evening! Good night!
Updated
Close of play scores
Division one
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 272 and 339-8dec v Lancashire 168 and 115-1. Lancashire need 329 to win
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 116 and 139-2 v Hampshire 89 and 322 Warwicks need 157 to win
Scarborough: Yorkshire 308 BEAT Somerset 134 and 141 by an innings and 33 runs
Division two
Riverside: Durham 503-8dec v Glamorgan 97 and 333-7
Chelmsford: Essex 276 BEAT Gloucestershire 76 and 197 by an innings and 3 runs
The County Ground: Northants 171 and 106-2 v Surrey 252 and 238 Northants need 214 to win
Division three
Derby: Derbyshire 313-8 v Leicestershire 528 all out
Canterbury: Kent 393 BEAT Worcestershire 133 and 204 BY AN INNINGS AND 56 RUNS
DAY TWO: Hove 103-0: Sussex v Middlesex 676-5
Updated
Time for me to concentrate on the round-up for a while, as batsman round the country make hay.
Hundred and out for Anuj Dal!
Another Derbyhire maiden century in a huge stand of 227 with Guest. But, then he’s bowled. You’d guess one will bring two, and Derbys aren’t out of the woods yet, still 240 behind.
Oh no! I had hopes that Sibley would rescue his season by guiding Warwickshire to a the win. Alas. out for 47 after putting on Warwickshire’s highest opening partnership of the season with Yates. Yates, has just moved on to fifty. Warwicks 115-1. 181 to win. It’s on!
Anthony McGrath on Essex's happy thrashing of Gloucestershire
“We spoke last week about not letting the season peter out and that there is a lot to play for individually and as a team and from ball one we were magnificent. Winning two games back-to-back by an innings takes some effort.
“The lads just want the team to win and all the lads don’t care who get the plaudits. You can take Simon, Sam and Jamie for granted because it is very rare they have a bad game. In this game they never missed their line or length and when they aren’t taking wickets they are in the batsmen’s head.”
A maiden first-class century for Brooke Guest!
Well played! And a a stand of 203 between him and Anuj Dal (89). Quite the recovery for Derbyshire.
Updated
I think we’ve entered the waiting stage of the afternoon.
Sussex 26-0 and not deflated by Middlesex’s bounty. Sibley and Yates are becalmed but still there, Warwickshire 94-0. Balderson is leading Notts a pretty little dance, with boundaries galore, Lancashire 70-1. Northants have just lost Vasconcelos for 12, another for Rikki Clarke in his long farewell, 30-1. And unexpected defiance from Derbyshire 243-5 and Glamorgan 278-6.
In the big Div one games, Lancashire and Warwickshire are making steady progress, though Warwickshire’s target (another 216, ten wickets in hand and with an injured Abbas) looks an easier bet than Lancashire’s (another 397, nine wickets left) . Should both sides win, Warwickshire would be top of the table, Lancs second.
Middlesex declare on 676-4!
Their highest first-class score, with a double hundred (Robson), a daddy hundred (Stoneman), and a hundred (White). The Sussex bowling figures are to be locked in a draw and may see sunlight in 100 years.
So, plucky young Sussex pups, what now?
And rotten news for Hampshire, as poor Mohammad Abbas hobbles off at Edgbaston clutching his hamstring.
Tea time scores
Division one
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 272 and 339-8dec all out v Lancashire 168 and 30-1. Lancashire need 414 to win
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 116 and 74-0 v Hampshire 89 and 322 Warwicks need 222 to win
Scarborough: Yorkshire 308 BEAT Somerset 134 and 141 by an innings and 33 runs
Division two
Riverside: Durham 503-8dec v Glamorgan 97 and 239-6 NOT TEA
Chelmsford: Essex 276 BEAT Gloucestershire 76 and 197 by an innings and 3 runs
The County Ground: Northants 171 v Surrey 252 and 238 all out Northants need 320 to win
Division three
Derby: Derbyshire 212-5 v Leicestershire 528 all out NOT TEA
Canterbury: Kent 393 BEAT Worcestershire 133 and 204 BY AN INNINGS AND 56 RUNS
DAY TWO: Hove: Sussex v Middlesex 673-5
And what a rearguard at Surrey! Atkinson and Virdi have put on 81 to grind Northants into submission. Surrey 237-9.
Steady as she blows for Warwickshire, Sibley, 26, and Yates, 26, crocheting their way along, need another 239 to win.
A plucky performance by Glamorgan today: Dan Douthwaite (51) and Andrew Salter inching towards taking the match into the final day, 225-6, 181 runs behind the Durham Goliath.
How much do I love a September day like this? More than a HH cover drive, more than a Jasprit Bumrah yorker. More even than a Darren Stevens cheesecake.
Alex Davies collects a pair after deciding not to play a shot to Luke Fletcher, in the first over of Lancashire’s mammoth chase of 444.
At Trent Bridge, George Balderson has just dropped Brett Hutton as Lancashire’s agony continues and they resort to Tom Bailey’s off spin - which does remove Hutton, for one. The Notts lead now 423.
And I’ve just glanced at matters at The County Ground, where Simon Kerrigan has grabbed four wickets. It’s been a pretty fruitful season, 10 years after his breakthrough summer with Lancashire’s Championship winning year. Surrey 195-9, hard-fought on a tough pitch., the lead 276.
Will Middlesex ever stop? Is it like the magic porridge pot? Currently, 584-4, White and Andersson now have fifties and are greedy for more.
Aha! Gary Naylor thinks he can pick a county XI to beat England’s squad. Can you raise him? I think we might need some initials Gary so we are sure which Clarke etc you mean..
Fletcher, Libby, Stevens, Cooke, Rushworth, Hain, Clarke, Bohannon, Parkinson, Brook, Carlson, Robson.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) September 7, 2021
Ah, sympathy for Tom Moores, falls to the might of Luke Wells for 97. His second nearly-but-no-cigar of the season after being stranded in the nineties in the spring. Notts 284-6, a lead of nearly 400.
An email winds it way through overblown sweet peas and ripening rowan berries:
“As a Bristol native for 7 years (now back in the NE and dealing with Durham’s woes - although this is good vs Glamorgan), having seen that performance vs Essex, I wonder, how do sides with pretensions of what was formerly Division 1 cricket cope in this sort of set-up, assuming this set-up continues in future days?
Also, “Righteous Fury” - would make a great title for Sir Alistair Cook’s autobiography in the way mine would be “World Class Athlete” LOL “
Ha! And yes, the whole mindset thing is interesting in this particular segment of the season. I presume (dangerous), that in years to come, should the counties decide to stick with this format, teams in the lower divisions will know what they are playing for - a better seeding, more dosh, etc - but this year they play blind.
Lunch time scores
Division one
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 272 and 230-5 all out v Lancashire 168 all out
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 116 and 10-0 v Hampshire 89 and 322
Scarborough: Yorkshire 308 BEAT Somerset 134 and 141 by an innings and 33 runs
Division two
Riverside: Durham 503-8dec v Glamorgan 97 and 145-5
Chelmsford: Essex 276 BEAT Gloucestershire 76 and 197 by an innings and 3 runs
The County Ground: Northants 171 v Surrey 252 and 166-9
Division three
Derby: Derbyshire 108-5 v Leicestershire 528 all out
Canterbury: Kent 393 BEAT Worcestershire 133 and 204 BY AN INNINGS AND 56 RUNS
DAY TWO: Hove: Sussex v Middlesex 518-4
Kent beat Worcesteshire by an innings and 56 runs!
The three-wicket trio of Stevens, Gilchrist and Stewart do the business, as Kent win their second consecutive game in Division 3 despite not winning a single red-ball game for the rest of the season.
Canterbury: Kent 393 BEAT Worcestershire 133 and 204 BY AN INNINGS AND 56 RUNS
Updated
Essex beat Gloucestershire by an innings and three runs!
Essex’s righteous fury at being dumped in Div two continues to be bad news for opposing teams.
Chelmsford: Essex 276 BEAT Gloucestershire 76 and 197 by an innings and 3 runs
Contrasting fortunes, at Trent Bridge where Lyndon James and Tom Moores have hurried to fifty each in a six-wicket partnership of doom for Lancashire; and at Canterbury, where Worcestershire are nine down against the three-wicket chesterfield sofa that is Darren Stevens. 200-9
England squad for the fifth and final Test at Old Trafford
England call up Jack Leach, which will cheer up Somerset fans no end.
Joe Root (Yorkshire) Captain
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Rory Burns (Surrey)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire)
Dan Lawrence (Essex)
Jack Leach (Somerset)
Dawid Malan (Yorkshire)
Craig Overton (Somerset)
Ollie Pope (Surrey)
Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Mark Wood (Durham)
Much talk of Luke Fletcher hauling new-look sparkly-toed Notts towards the title. So, a quick peak at the five highest wicket-takers to date this season:
Luke Fletcher (56), Chris Rushworth (48), Simon Harmer (48), Sam Cook (46), Kyle Abbott (46)
and the leading run-scorers:
David Bedingham (992), Jake Libby (976), Sam Robson (967)*, Kiran Carlson (838), Ricky Vasconcelos (803)
I THINK this means that Robson will reach a thousand runs if he makes 280 today. (please check my working.)
One of the Guardian’s own is watching at Hove as Sam Robson goes on, and on... His ultimate target that of near namesake JDB Robertson, who made 331 not out against Worcestershire at New Road in 1949.
Sam still going pic.twitter.com/HxR8JtH45b
— mike selvey (@selvecricket) September 7, 2021
Eyes right, what’s been happening round the grounds in the first half hour?
Keith Barker and Brad Wheal are continuing to irritate Warwickshire like partying fleas, their partnership now 64. Hampshire’s lead a billowing 245.
Lancashire are eyeing up the ball as if it is the problem at Trent Bridge; meanwhile Notts party away, their lead 263.
Gloucestershire 137-8 and Worcestershire -124-7 - nearly down and out in their respective games.
Derbyshire are 58-5, after Leicester knocked up 500; Rutherford and Byron showing solidity in what is probably a lost cause at The Riverside, 99-2; Surrey haven’t had the greatest morning, losing two wickets, 124-6 and Sam Robson has passed 200 in the run fest at Hove, 440-2.
Plus a sensational scrambled egg discussion on the BBC’s coverage at Trent Bridge.
Thanks to Alextheglorious BTL for pointing out that Daryl Mitchell is retiring at the end of this season after nearly 20 years pulling on his pads at New Road
Mitchell made his debut in 2005 and has scored 13874 first-class runs at an average of 38.75, with 38 centuries since his debut in 2005, often propping up a fragile batting line-up.
He also captained Worcestershire for six seasons . and spent four years as the PCA chairman, where he will take on a full-time role after retirement.
“I have nothing but fond memories here at New Road,”he said. “I’ve had a brilliant career here and played with some fantastic people and looking forward to coming next year as a fan.
“This place is very close to my heart, and I guess I’ll go full circle and bring the kids down next year just like my dad used to bring me.”
The first Gloucestershire wicket of the day falls, they will punctuate the morning. Gloucs now 134-6, a wing and a prayer away from making Essex bat again.
Scores on the doors
Division one
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 272 and 127-5 all out v Lancashire 168 all out
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 116 all out v Hampshire 89 and 260-8
Scarborough: Yorkshire 308 BEAT Somerset 134 and 141 by an innings and 33 runs
Division two
Riverside: Durham 503-8dec v Glamorgan 97 and 71-2
Chelmsford: Essex 276 v Gloucestershire 76 and 132-5
The County Ground: Northants 171 v Surrey 252 and 102-4
Division three
Derby: Derbyshire 41-3 v Leicestershire 528 all out
Canterbury: Kent 393 v Worcestershire 133 and 91-6
DAY TWO: Hove: Sussex v Middlesex 400-2
Monday's round-up
Yorkshire demolished Somerset in under two days at Scarborough, an innings and 33-run victory guided by a superb century from Harry Brook, capped at the start of the match, and a career-best nine wickets for Matthew Fisher.
In a clash between two teams without a bean in the title soup, Middlesex had a day to remember at Hove, as Mark Stoneman and Sam Robson put on 376 – a club record opening partnership, beating Mike Gatting and Justin Langer’s 372. With new ball in hand Sussex finally had Stoneman caught behind for 174, his first hundred since moving to Lord’s. Robson remains, on 192, the pitch friendly and the forecast good.
The Division One clash at Edgbaston swerved one way, then the other, as Hampshire batted through the second day, finishing with a useful lead. Keith Barker, five-wicket destroyer in the first innings, was top scorer against his old county team. James Vince made a typically skittish 48, before holing out to long leg. Liam Norwell grabbed 4-64. In the other top of the table clash, Nottinghamshire hold the upper hand after bowling Lancashire out for 168, Saqib Mahmood batting with a runner after injuring his side on Sunday.
Despite 50 from James Bracey, Gloucestershire are in a sticky position against Essex. Paul Walter, 96, and an autumnal jig of an innings from Simon Harmer built a first-innings lead. Harmer then grabbed two wickets, a catch and watched with interest as Ollie Price was run out off the last ball of the day.
Rikki Clarke, in the final month of his final season, hushed the passing years as he took his 800th career wicket against Northants, helping to put Surrey in a healthy position.
Leicestershire scrubbed up nicely to reach 528 thanks to a hundred from Lewis Hill and a career-best 87 from Chris Wright. Derbyshire slipped to 41-3 at stumps. At the Riverside, Durham played with uncharacteristic panache, revving up a 406-run first innings lead, before browbeaten Glamorgan lost two wickets.
An innings defeat looks on the cards for Worcestershire, who sloshed along to 91-6 in their second innings, undone by Kent’s Grant Stewart, Nathan Gilchrist and, yes, Darren Stevens.
Preamble
It’s day three and Yorkshire have already spanked Somerset by an innings and 33 runs. But a bright sun has burst through for one last hurrah and a butterfly lands on the late blooming buddleia.
Here, with thanks to Lancashire’s Ken Grime, is the Division One championship table as it stands this morning:
Yorkshire (game completed) 38.5
Warwickshire 36
Nottinghamshire 33
Lancashire 31.5
Somerset (game completed) 23.5
Hampshire 22.5
It’s going to be a thriller...
