Well done Middlesex! Good night all – till tomorrow.
Close of play scores
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire 221 and 86-3 v Worcestershire 679-7dec
Taunton: Somerset 379 and 4-1 v Nottinghamshire 509
The Oval: Surrey 820-9 v Durham 343-9
Hove: Sussex 533 v Warwickshire 415 and 88-1
York: Yorkshire 459-8 v Essex 368 and 33-3
DIVISION TWO
Chesterfield: Derbyshire 261 and 139-3 v Lancashire 367 and 406-6dec
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 528 v Gloucestershire 380 and 12-0
Canterbury: Kent 566-8dec v Northamptonshire 624-6
Grace Road: Middlesex 534 BEAT Leicestershire 205 and 202 BY AN INNNINGS AND 127 RUNS
Leicestershire stunned by Middlesex, Yorkshire set up intriguing final day
Leicestershire dropped the form book in a puddle, tumbling to an innings defeat in three days. After Middlesex had flayed 534, Leicestershire collapsed to 204 and then 202, despite some stoical tail wagging. Naavya Sharma and Noah Cornwell, 19 and 20 and playing in only their third first-class games, finished with six and four wickets in the match.
Yorkshire’s Matthew Revis and Ben Coad bashed their highest first-class scores, turning the game on its head at York. Coad then grabbed two Essex second-innings wickets to set up an intriguing final day. Tom Taylor tickled Worcestershire towards victory over Hampshire while James Coles’ 150 and six wickets for Warwickshire off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli enlivened a hot day against Sussex at Hove.
Dan Worrall’s new ball brilliance gave Surrey a sniff of a chance against Durham, despite Alex Lees’ 125; Lancashire are on the brink of their first victory after a wonderful century from Ashton Turner against Derbyshire.
Ben Kellaway and Colin Ingram, ingenu and veteran, made twin hundreds for Glamorgan against Gloucestershire as events at Sophia Gardens drifted towards a draw.
There were four hundreds for Northamptonshire at Canterbury – for Ricardo Vasconcelos, Justin Broad, Saif Zaib and Calvin Harrison. Zaib’s unbeaten 150 was his fifth hundred of a prolific season, while Harrison continued his campaign to become loan signing of the year.
Jack Leach toiled through 53 overs for Somerset, finishing with six for 121 as leaders Nottinghamshire built a lead of 130. The main architects were Jack Haynes (157) and Indian IPL star Ishan Kishan with a sparky 77. Somerset had one over to face before stumps, and nightwatchman Matt Henry chopped the final ball into his stumps.
Thank you Stephen! Time for me to write up for the paper, as they take a yawn and a stretch and a drink and a rest at The Oval. Do chat on BTL, with Derbyshire three down and that first Lancs win really, truly in sight.
Hove may not be quite lively enough to manage a champagne moment. Ovaltine moment perhaps. But whatever we call it, we just had it - Ollie Robinson (EFM - see earlier post) sending Rob Yates’ middle stump cartwheeling with a beaut. Gurinder Sandhu, at the other end, should also be mentioned in dispatches. He has been ill served, with a couple of half-chances going begging and two good lbw shouts rejected.
“I know we’ve had some big scores the past couple of days” writes Richard Metcalf, “but... Yorkshire 2397=8?” Ah, yes, a slip of the tea-time finger. But they did make it to 459 (a lead of 91), from a wobbly 273-8, thanks to 150 from Revis and 89 from Ben Coad. Four wickets for Snater, just two for Harmer. Now Essex could be in trouble if their second innings crumbles (currently 1-0).
And a big hello to Huw Richards at The Oval!
“Where Jordan Clark bowls to brother Graham, who hopes to find the 380 or so more runs Durham’s last three wickets must find to avoid the follow-on…”
Hang on – Jordan and Graham Clark are brothers?
OK, they do look alike. Back to Huw
“ I notice that at Yor,k Revis and Coad have both made their highest first-class score while in partnership - that can’t happen often, at least with two players who have been around for a while….”
A rather lovely ceremony at Canterbury at the tea break:
During the Tea Interval, the #CanterburyCricketWeek tradition of wreath laying at the Colin Blythe Memorial continued, remembering the Kent Cricketers to have died in War. pic.twitter.com/9linSat8fA
— Kent Cricket (@KentCricket) July 1, 2025
On the pitch, Saif Zaib is in touching distance of (yet another) hundred, currently 84 not out in Northants’ 454-6, trail Kent by 112.
Six wickets for Rocchiccioli!
Rocchiccioli has trapped Robinson leg before, giving him a well-deserved five-fer, celebrated in extravagant style and with a shriek that woke the slumberers in the top deck of the pavilion. “Rocky”, as his team-mates call him, has Henry Crocombe caught at slip off the very next ball to finish with six for 173. Sussex finish on 533 and lead by 118.
Updated
They restart ater tea at The Oval, Dan Worrall and the second new ball winkled out four wickets in ten overs beforehand. Rory Burns polishes with gusto on his sleeve. I can’t see the sky but it feels (from 200 miles away) as if the clouds have come over.
Warwickshire have grabbed two wickets immediately after tea, with Rocchiccioli finally getting his fourth wicket in his 53rd over, dismissing his off-spinning opposite number Jack Carson. The crowd - if the smallish number of faithful here can be called a crowd - have rather taken to Rocchiccioli and gave him a rousing cheer when he clocked up 50 overs. Ollie Robinson, England’s forgotten man, is now looking to provide some much-needed acceleration and the Sussex lead has passed a hundred.
While I was away, more of the same. Leicestershire inexplicably collapsing; Hampshire following on; Jimmy removing a Derbyshire opener and runs, more and more runs.
Updated
Apologies to all, Stephen sent this some time ago but it was too good to waste
I was in the middle of writing several thousand words on the joys of a torpid afternoon in the sun at Hove when, irritatingly, SOMETHING HAPPENED. Coles was out, caught behind off Bamber, for a well-struck 150.
Bamber’s enthusiasm is remarkable. Fielding on the boundary he keeps up a stream of loud, if impenetrable, encouragement to his fellow bowlers. And, brought back to replace Hannon-Dalby, he bounds in in the heat, getting a bit of bounce to undo Coles and making up for the absence of Rushworth, who bowled a handful of overs yesterday and hasn’t reappeared since.
Nonetheless the Sussex lead is now close to 50, and they are grinding out a position where only they can win.
After Tea-time-ish scores
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire 221 and 6-0 v Worcestershire 679-7dec
Taunton: Somerset 379 v Nottinghamshire 436-5
The Oval: Surrey 820-9 v Durham 284-6
Hove: Sussex 509-6 v Warwickshire 415
York: Yorkshire 2397-8 v Essex 368
DIVISION TWO
Chesterfield: Derbyshire 261 and 51-1 v Lancashire 367 and 406-6dec
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 462-6 v Gloucestershire 380
Canterbury: Kent 566-8dec v Northamptonshire 416=5
Grace Road: Leicestershire 205 and 80-6 v Middlesex 534
Jimmy with the new ball under the crooked spire.
Hampshire giving Leicestershire a run for their money – 195 for eight. I’ve now got to disappear for a while for an appointment, but will be back. Please do chat on BTL.
Lancashire declare! Derbyshire need 513 to win
Balderson chips a catch on 82 and Jimmy calls them in. Turner is undefeated on 121 and there’s a mountain for Derbyshire to climb.
Following on, Leicestershire’s second innings has started much as the first did– Sol Budinger caught off Tom Helm for five. Leics 7-1.
A hundred for Ashton Turner!
Aptly, with a boundary, his tenth – a wonderful innings - the declaration must come soon.
Ishan Kishan is having fun in the sun at Taunton – IPL in one pocket, Kookaburra-ball CC in the other. He’s on 77, Jack Haynes 107 – Notts 372-4, just seven behind Somerset.
Embarrassment averted. Arrived back at the ground just in time to see the Sussex wicketkeeper-captain John Simpson caught behind off part-time off-spinner Rob Yates. Now reporting in wet trunks and hoping the stewards in the pavilion don’t notice.
Updated
Looks scorchio at The Oval, the sun bleaching the back of Matt Fisher’s shirt. Sensible long sleeves by the umpire. A caramel pitch with a scattering of mint. Lees (70) and Robinson have put on 57.
Updated
Lancs didn’t declare at lunch, and Ashton Turner (88) and George Balderson (44) have taken the lead to more than 400.
With an over until a delayed lunch, Middlesex finally got rid of Leicestershire’s last man after partnerships of 106 for the last two wickets – eight more than the previous eight men managed. Which Leicestershire will come out to bat out the next five sessions?
Updated
Sussex are 385 for four at lunch after a meandering kind of morning in which they added a largely untroubled 107 runs. Warwickshire appear to have abandoned any attempt at winning the game by conventional means, resorting to leg theory (not very effective when bowled by Bamber) and an assortment of funky fields.
Rocchiccioli returned just before lunch, prompting my companion to ask how many other first-class cricketers can boast four Cs in their surname. This same waggish companion also thinks Rocchiccioli sounds like a particularly tempting Italian sorbet.
We are now going to look for a rocchiccioli to cool us down at lunch. I also intend to swim on the beach at Hove, a pebble’s throw from the ground. So if we miss the first half hour after lunch and an unlikely Sussex collapse, apologies.
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire 140-5 v Worcestershire 679-7dec
Taunton: Somerset 379 v Nottinghamshire 322-4
The Oval: Surrey 820-9 v Durham 138-3
Hove: Sussex 385-4 v Warwickshire 415
York: Yorkshire 236-6 v Essex 368
DIVISION TWO
Chesterfield: Derbyshire 261 v Lancashire 367 and 271-5
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 365-4 v Gloucestershire 380
Canterbury: Kent 566-8dec v Northamptonshire 255-2
Grace Road: Leicestershire 188-9 v Middlesex 534
Something to chew over during lunch. The Next Test (a not-for-profit group that I’m part of, who work to raise awareness of the effect of climate change on cricket and for a greener game ) published a climate and nature plan in June, in conjunction with Gloucestershire CCC and the Bristol climate and nature partnership. It was written with cricket lovers in the southwest, but we hope it will be useful to clubs all around the county. You can find it here on our website.
Updated
Centuries for Kellaway, Ingram, Vasconcelos and Harrison
In Div Two:
Lancs lost early wickets at Chesterfield but Ashton Turner and Michael Jones have since gone boundary-tastic. Lancs 243-4, a lead of 349 over Derby.
Glamorgan are in touching distance of Gloucestershire’s first innings, and just four wickets down, thanks to centuries from Ben Kellaway and Colin Ingram. Glamorgan 348-4
Double tons at Canterbury too, where Ricardo Vasconcelos has just raised his bat, and now Calvin Harrison (loan signing of the year) too. Northants 245-2.
And at Grace Road, the mighty Middlesex of yesterday are struggling to split the last Leicestershire pair, who have added 25. Leics 166-9.
James Coles duly reaches his hundred, but in a very fortunate way - with an edge for four off Bamber. It would have been snaffled at second slip, but Warwickshire have omitted to post any slips at all for the aggressive Coles.
Elsewhere in Division One:
Matt Fisher has a second wicket at The Oval cauldron, Durham 102-2, Jacks and Lawrence already in the game.
Hampshire have lost a fifth, and it is the big one – Liam Dawson lbw - yorker to ankle -for 27 to Adam Finch.
Notts lost Slater for 124 (a second for Jack Leach) but Jack Haynes and Ishan Kishan are rebuilding nicely – Notts 290-4.
YJB went early at York, but Lyth and Revis plod on. Yorks 214-4.
Coles and Ibrahim put on 50 in good time and were making serene progress until Ibrahim fell lbw for 36 to Ethan Bamber to a ball my companion on the Gold Member’s bench at Hove thinks kept a little low. Coles, who smacked Rocchiccioli into the marquees at midwicket for six, looks nailed on for a hundred as he eases through the far from nervous nineties.
Ali Martin on home turf this week:
We have a special guest today – fabulous Guardian institution Stephen Moss, who has settled into a bench at Hove. Hopefully we will get dispatches (like the one below) throughout the day.
The principal incentive to come to Hove on another broiling day is to watch the Italian-Irish offspinning Aussie Corey Rocchiccioli (subs please check) bowl. He delivered 35 overs yesterday and took three for 94 on a batsman-friendly surface. Warwickshire have sensibly kept him on this morning, with the pace of Hannon-Dalby at the other end.
Rocchiccioli is tall and has a pleasingly prancing approach to the wicket, but new batsman Dan Ibrahim - Sussex opener Daniel Hughes was out to Rocchiccioli off the penultimate ball last night for 151 - off-drove the Aussie’s first ball for four and James Coles refused to let him settle, hitting a couple of fours to cow corner as Sussex pressed on past 300.
Have just realised that Callum Parkinson is playing for Worcestershire, signed from Durham on a two-week loan.
He is a temporary replacement for Fateh Singh, who has a knee injury.
Hampshire have lost another wicket this morning – a third for Tom Taylor. Hants 80-4.
I’m not at York today, but think the game will get more interesting after the stupor of day one. They hope the pitch will start to take spin – so could be happy hunting for Simon Harmer. If anyone can get things going it is YJB, though Yorkshire watchers told me he is batting within himself this year – responsibility resting heavy, perhaps.
And the first wicket of the day falls at Chesterfield – where Josh Bohannon edges through to Brooke Guest. Despite their healthy position, KJ will hope the other end doesn’t become another red rose revolving door. Lancs 122-2.
This was Dom Sibley, fresh (?) from his big one yesterday.
“I’m a Surrey boy so to do it here at the Oval is also really special. It’s amazing to be able to do it - though I almost ran myself out and had to dive in for the single that got me to 300!
“It was a pleasure to bat with the other three guys who scored hundreds. Their natural tempo of scoring runs means that my job is easy at the other end.
“It has been a very hot couple of days but I feel fine and hopefully won’t wake up feeling too stiff in the morning. With more than 800 on the board we are in a good position and I thought we bowled brilliantly in the last session today - we just need to keep up the pressure on them.”
Poor Durham must stagger to 671 just to avoid the follow on.
Around the grounds, just one game has inched into its third innings – at Chesterfield, where Lancashire look like they really might get their first win of the season.
Weatherwatch
A blissful 22 degrees here in Manchester. And a north-south divide across the country. The Met office says: Hot, sunny and humid in the southeast today. Cloudier and fresher elsewhere with showery outbreaks of rain. Heavy showers and thunderstorms possible across parts of Scotland and northern England later in the afternoon.
Monday's round-up
On and on went big bad Dom. Past 200, past his highest previous score, past 250 and, with a sprinted single that left him spreadeagled in the Oval dust, to 300.
Sibley clambered to his feet, raised his bat and soaked up the warm applause for a mammoth effort of concentration: 28 fours, two sixes and 472 balls of toil as the mercury rose. He joins an elite club of triple-centurions for Surrey at the Oval, in Mark Ramprakash, Kevin Pietersen, Bobby Abel, Jack Hobbs and Tom Hayward. At the other end, Dan Lawrence shimmied 174 and Will Jacks 119 as Surrey set their record first-class score, finally putting Durham out of their misery at 820 for nine.
Alex Lees, who had won the toss on Sunday morning and chosen to field, then had to pad up. He was unbeaten on 33 at stumps, though lost his opening partner Emilio Gay early, bowled behind his pads. The Durham off-spinner George Drissell found himself in the firing line – his 45 overs cost 247, the most runs conceded by a bowler in the championship.
Elsewhere, first-innings runs flowed in brutal temperatures; in fact the 4,508 runs scored across the first innings of the nine games is the most in a round of matches ever. Kent finally declared on 566 for eight, bolstered by hundreds for Daniel Bell-Drummond and Harry Finch against Northamptonshire.
Jake Libby’s undefeated 228, the second double century of his career, carried Worcestershire to 679 for seven declared, whereupon Hampshire suddenly collapsed to 68 for three. But that was nothing on Leicestershire’s wobble. After finally dismissing Middlesex for 534, they found themselves 103 for eight, with the teenage seamer Naavya Sharma providing the gilt braiding with four wickets in 11 balls.
Yorkshire rattled through Essex in the morning, their reward batting against Simon Harmer bowling in the dust as a warm wind doused Clifton Park like a hairdryer. The run rate slunk under three an over all day, even with Jonny Bairstow at the crease. Ben Slater’s 116 not out propped up Nottinghamshire on an afternoon when Somerset’s Jack Leach wheeled through 25 overs.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire 68-3 v Worcestershire 679-7dec
Taunton: Somerset 379 v Nottinghamshire 214-3
The Oval: Surrey 820-9 v Durham 59-1
Hove: Sussex 278-3 v Warwickshire 415
York: Yorkshire 143-3 v Essex 368
DIVISION TWO
Chesterfield: Derbyshire 261 v Lancashire 367 and 114-1
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 228-4 v Gloucestershire 380
Canterbury: Kent 566-8dec v Northamptonshire 140-1
Grace Road: Leicestershire 103-8 v Middlesex 534
Preamble
Hello! After a day of record-breaking run-making yesterday, relief as the heatwave begins to fade and – perhaps – the pitches start to break up. Play starts at 11am, please join us- the coffee smells good.
