Yates secures Warwickshire win as Hameed guides Notts to safety
Rob Yates inspired Warwickshire to an effervescent seven-wicket win against the champions Essex with just eight balls to spare.
A match that had been too tight to call all the way through inched, then tipped, Warwickshire’s way as Yates, unbeaten on 120, was backed up by a touch-perfect Hanuma Vihari and Sam Hain, who reached his fifty with a six. Simon Harmer, destroyer of so many fourth‑innings dreams, went wicketless. Yates brushed the winning runs and was applauded off the field by Essex.
It was the second game in a row that Warwickshire had pitched a flawless run-chase and Essex’s first first-class defeat in 22 matches.
In the gallant pursuit of the season, Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rob Keogh twinkled and whooped along to 357 for Northamptonshire, with six overs to spare, to beat Glamorgan by seven wickets. After a sporting declaration by Glamorgan, Vasconcelos hit 185 not out, his highest first-class score, and Keogh 126, his second hundred of the season, with the player’s balcony bouncing as Vasconcelos brought up his 150 with a six over mid-on.
Matt Parkinson, who bubbled all through the winter with England without playing a match, pocketed seven for 126, a career best, as Lancashire thrashed Kent by an innings and five runs, moving to the top of Group Three. Kent lost three early wickets for four runs, including the captain Daniel Bell‑Drummond for 114; and despite doughty defence from Joe Denly and Heino Kuhn, Parkinson skittled the final wickets after tea.
Haseeb Hameed notched his second century of the match as Nottinghamshire, following-on, batted through the day at New Road without losing a wicket to draw with Worcestershire. Hameed and his opening partner Ben Slater, who both finished unbeaten on 114, faced 635 deliveries, the highest number of balls in a County Championship match.
It took Yorkshire just over an hour to polish off Sussex, winning by 48 runs. Dom Bess, who admitted he had come back from India hating cricket, took the final wicket to finish with six for 53.
Gloucestershire pulled a draw from the undergarments of defeat as a last-wicket stand from Josh Shaw and Dominic Goodman defied Hampshire. A full 22 overs were left when Goodman, playing in only his second match and still a student at Exeter University, joined Shaw, with Gloucestershire clutching an 11-run lead after following-on, but they stood their ground. Brad Wheal finished with four for 59.
Obstinacy was the name of the game at the Riverside where Derbyshire had to bat out 96 overs. Wayne Madsen and Matt Critchley shackled themselves to the crease for much of the afternoon. Both fell in quick succession but the wickets came too late for Durham. Neither side has yet won a game this season.
Thanks for all your great company over the last four days - what a round that was. Warwickshire steal the headlines, but some smashing wins from Northamptonshire, from Lancashire, Somerset, Middlesex and Yorkshire. Great tenacity too from Derbyshire, Notts and particularly Gloucestershire. Too many gongs to hand out, so I’ll scatter them widely - hope Has grabbed one, and Vasconcelos and Yates, Parky, Bess and Josh Shaw and Dominic Goodman. And everyone else who has slipped my mind in the jumble of numbers and names. See you again on Thursday. Good night!
Northants beat Glamorgan by seven wickets
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Hampshire draw with Gloucestershire
Well played Josh Shaw and Dom Goodman!
Durham draw with Derbyshire
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Warwickshire beat Essex by seven wickets
Well, well, well! Rob Yates 120, applauded off the field by the Essex fielders. Back to back wins for Warwickshire and a surprise defeat for the County Champs.
Plucky Gloucestershire! Missed out on avoiding the follow-on by one run yesterday but here the last wicket pair of Shaw and Goodman have put Hampshire off for three quarters an hour, Goodman 0 off 32 balls. Just a handful of overs left.
A wicket! At Edgbaston! With 12 runs needed. Sam Hain gone for 60.
A lovely email from stowaway, Wrik Ghosh:
“Hope you’re enjoying the game! Have just finished my shift at the vaccine centre at Edgbaston and have managed to get out onto a balcony in time for the Yates hundred! Must be one of only a few spectators, loving it!”
So glad - you deserve it.
And with a sweet sounding push down the ground for four, Rob Yates reaches 100! What a great innings, 11 fours, one six, he takes his helmet off and is cheered to the rooftops and beyond by his teammates. He had blunted Harmer, something that not many Championship players can say, in. only his 21st match.
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Popping back to post this: Northants need only 35!
61.1 | What a way to bring up your 150! 🤯🤯🤯
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) April 25, 2021
Ricardo Vasconcelos reaches the milestone for the second time this year in 181 balls, 21 fours and this six. pic.twitter.com/KntWrZ5UrK
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And with an oooh and and an ahhh off Dan Lawrence’s bowling, I’d better get started on the round-up; but I’ll update regularly from this match should wickets start to fall. Warwicks now need only 69 runs.
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Some thoughts:
Another good round of championship games. Really enjoying conference structure: gives all 18 clubs a fair crack; allows for patience with younger players; removing threat of relegation likely promotes better pitches; blessed with some excellent games so far
— Mike atherton (@Athersmike) April 25, 2021
Thanks Mes (via Dave Bracegirdle) for this: “Hearing that Haseeb Hameed has faced the most deliveries in any county championship match EVER - 635 deliveries.”
Nottinghamshire draw with Worcestershire
Hameed and Slater finish 114 not out; two hundreds for Hameed in the match. Great defensive rear-guard by Nottinghamshire.
STUMPS | The teams shake hands and the match is declared a draw.
— Nottinghamshire CCC (@TrentBridge) April 25, 2021
Both Slater and Hameed finish up with an identical score of 114*, as Notts close on 236 without loss.#WorcsvNotts pic.twitter.com/6G5yIE1Oa6
A simply gorgeous shot by Sam Hain who on drives Sam Cook for four, just 74 needed. Hain 27 and untroubled Rob Yates 85. Northants only need 77 with a hundred now for Rob Keogh to go with Vasconcelos’s 144.
And Harmer comes off after 26 overs (0-57) as Tom Westley gives Dan Lawrence a throw of the dice.
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Warwickshire in not one iota of trouble, though the run-rate is slightly bubbling - 83 needed off 21 overs. Warwicks 173-2.
Lancashire beat Kent by an innings and four runs
Wow! A career-best 7-126 for Matt Parkinson. Much better from Kent in the second-innings, led by a century from Bell-Drummond and 80 from Jordan Cox, but no-one could stick around. Lancashire’s mammoth 525 set the platform.
Lancashire nearly there.... reports suggest Ollie Robinson is farming the strike but I wager he can’t protect Miguel Cummins for an hour and a half. Kent 351-9.
Notts have now passed their record opening stand against Worcestershire; and Northants plough on under Keogh and Vasconcelos - 127 to win, catching up with Warwicks who only need 97 now.
Haseeb’s hundred:
Haseeb Hameed gets his second 💯 of the game for @TrentBridge!
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 25, 2021
He's putting on a show with Ben Slater 🍿#LVCountyChamp streams ➡️ https://t.co/SyebMiubg3 pic.twitter.com/zcRFH4Lavc
A second hundred for Hameed!
What a match! A hundred in 288 balls. A virtual clap on the back and a pocketful of pride. Would love to think this would free him of whatever daemons are still lurking.
Hameed on 98; Madsen and Critchley have put on 109 for Derby; Cockbain and Higgins have cobbled together 30; Kent trail by 10 runs, 2 wickets in hand; and at The County Ground Vasconcelos is 107 not out!
As Essex crunch down the steps at the City end, crows circle the ground. It this a sign? Essex gather in a circle for a final-session pow wow and Siddle has the ball.
Tea-time scores
GROUP ONE
Riverside: Durham 475 all out and 175-2dec v Derbyshire 267 and 198-3. DERBY NEED 186 TO WIN
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 284 and 140-2 v Essex 295 and 244 WARWICKS NEED 116 TO WIN
New Road: Worcestershire 436 v Nottinghamshire 276 and 213-0
GROUP TWO
Rose Bowl: Hampshire 470 all out v Gloucestershire 320 all out and 133-4
Grace Road: Leicestershire 233 and 199 LOST to Somerset 318 and 118--1 BY NINE WICKETS
Lord’s: Middlesex 268 beat Surrey 154 all out and 130 by 10 wickets
GROUP THREE
Canterbury: Kent 169 and 345-8 v Lancashire 525 all out
The County Ground: Northamptonshire 364 AND 198-2 v Glamorgan 407 all out and 311-5dec NORTHANTS NEED 157 TO WIN
Hove: Sussex 221 all out and 186 LOSE TO Yorkshire 150 and 305 by 48 runs.
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A wicket! Paul Walter! His first ball of the innings! Caught behind off the bat’s bottom edge and Vihari has to go, with the utmost reluctance. Is this the breakthrough?Warwicks 126-2.
A hundred for Ben Slater! Has is still becalmed in the 80s.
🎥 The moment Ben Slater brought up three figures.
— Nottinghamshire CCC (@TrentBridge) April 25, 2021
Watch #WorcsvNotts live 👉 https://t.co/oFPOuX6yE9 pic.twitter.com/6Nq3LkQl62
Gosh, I’d taken my eyes off Northants. Vasconcelos (86) and Keogh (51) are motoring along to 167-2 - 188 to win, which must still be in the mix. Essex are leaking runs, Harmer’s last over just went for ten. This doesn’t even have the feel of a contest at the moment. They need a Joe Root type golden over. Sir Alastair?
Five for Parky! Milnes lbw for 14 -Kent 327-8 - and Parkinson becomes the third spinner to take a five-fer in 24 hours after Bess and Carson! Who ever said Championship cricket in April was a bad idea. Harmer, meanwhile, is wicketless and Warwicks need only 147.
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An email wings its way through the ether from Mike Daniels.
“As I’m happily watching Warks’ serene progress to victory against Essex my mind is turning to the start of the national 60+ County competition on Tuesday.
“We’ll (Warks) be hosted by Staffordshire and matches will be played across the country. As a matter of note, senior cricket is growing fast. We’re putting out three 50+ and 60+ sides this year and two 70+ sides whilst there are a number of counties who put out even more. The cricket played is of a good competitive quality and if any readers find themselves in the vicinity of a game when spectating restrictions are relaxed then come along and have a watch.”
Thanks Mike and good luck!
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Has has now spent 12 hours at the crease. More than he spent in the entire 2018 and 2019 seasons put together I’d wager. Slater 92, Has 83. Notts 183-0 and they now have a 23 run lead.
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Kent suffering one of their collapses, and this one smells terminal. Joe Denly is bowled by Danny Lamb, Heino Kuhn lbw to him, both in the thirties. Darren Stevens is caught off Parky for a (whisper it)a duck. Kent 311-7 with 45 needed just to make Lancs bat again.
I’m just waiting for GBH to start. But we’ve had 40 minutes and Vihari and Yates are still there. Maybe it won’t happen. Is that possible?
If I was writing a traditional (ie bluntly rude) 1980s school report on Slater and Hameed, my twopennethworth would read:”showing overdue application.” Twenty-first century me just thinks Allelujah! Notts 169-0, Slater 84 not out, Has 78 not out.
Great read here by Ali on Zainab Abbas, who’ll be a face/voice of the Hundred. Highly qualified, a huge cricket fan and with squillions of social media followers.
Peter Siddle is not very happy about that lbw being turned down, he stands at the batsman’s end for an age and then keeps turning back to give a steely stare/gab at the batsman.
The runs had dried up here at Edgbaston and Rob Yates has had enough. He lofts Harmer for a straight six. A bolt from the blue. While at The County Ground, Vasconcelos reaches fifty at a run a ball, but ,disaster, Thurston and Curran fall in consecutive overs. Northants 87-2 need another 268.
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Harmer dusts his hand in the pitch, sunglasses on, jumper pulled characteristically low over his bottom, he steps in from the pavillion end. Ten Doeschate crouches under the helmet. Yates watches and prods.
A third Derby wicket falls at Chester le Street, du Plooy lbw to Ben Raine for 29. Derby 99-3, 285 needed.
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Are Northants really having a go? Can Kent hang on? Can Gloucestershire (with Bracey gone)? Will Notts lose a wicket? Can Derby bat it out? And what happens when Harmer has the whole afternoon session in front of him? Does Vihari taste victory? See you back here in 40mins!
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Lunch-time scores
GROUP ONE
Riverside: Durham 475 all out and 175-2dec v Derbyshire 267 and 87-2. DERBY NEED 297 TO WIN
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 284 all out and 48-1 v Essex 295 and 244 WARWICKS NEED 208 TO WIN
New Road: Worcestershire 436 v Nottinghamshire 276 and 144-0
GROUP TWO
Rose Bowl: Hampshire 470 all out v Gloucestershire 320 all out and 67-3
Grace Road: Leicestershire 233 and 199 LOST to Somerset 318 and 118--1 BY NINE WICKETS
Lord’s: Middlesex 268 beat Surrey 154 all out and 130 by 10 wickets
GROUP THREE
Canterbury: Kent 169 and 280-4 v Lancashire 525 all out
The County Ground: Northamptonshire 364 AND 54-0 v Glamorgan 407 all out and 311-5dec NORTHANTS NEED 301 TO WIN
Hove: Sussex 221 all out and 186 LOSE TO Yorkshire 150 and 305 by 48 runs.
Vihari making this look quite easy. Harmer has bowled two overs for one run and that’s lunch! Vihari 25, Yates 10, Warwicks need another 208 to win. Scores to follow.
Northants! Little Ricardo Vasconcelos has charged to 23, 20 of them in boundaries. 313 needed to beat Glamorgan. Durham have grabbed a couple of Derby wickets; Reece and Wood out - Derby need 304 to win. Denly and Kuhn steadying HMS Kent -278-4, trail Lancashire by 78.
FYI: live streams for Berks v Worcs and Surrey v Kent Women.
Vihari playing beautifully here, two successive fours off Porter including one off his heels through midwicket.
Yorkshire beat Sussex by 48 runs
Dom Bess grabs 6-53 in what is a great win for the Yorkies
This interview with Bess by David Hopps is worth a read.
“After India I had a good break away from it, because I really did start hating cricket,” he said. “It got too much at times, certainly in that bubble in India, there’s a lot of pressures going on and it was really important for me to come back and get away from it.
Highly promising player who was asked for too much too soon? Interesting take from Don Bess. ‘I really did start hating cricket' - Dom Bess bounces back after struggles in India https://t.co/saNQLFOQnp
— David Hopps (@DavidKHopps) April 24, 2021
Enter Vihari, who player prettily for his 32 in the first innings. And off he goes again, a straight drive off Porter lollops across the boundary rope.
Turns that Sunday morning is a perfect time for a little bar of Aldi’s milk chocolate. Would rather HPG’s goosegogs though.
A wicket! Rhodes, head down, bat in right hand, walks back towards me, after edging a little nibbler from Sam Cook behind into the safe gloves of Wheater for 11. Warwicks 11-1.
A wicket for Joe Root! Old golden arm does it again, Carson gone for 18. Brown goes in the next over to Thompson for 46. Sussex 182-9, down and very nearly out.
Warwickshire pick up a couple of runs, Will Rhodes off the mark in the first over. Sam Cook takes the ball from the pavilion end, a couple of cold slips, a wary Yates.
At the Rose Bowl, Gloucestershire are wobbling, losing Chris Dent and Kraigg Brathwaite within two balls. The deficit still 113, one to Wheal, one to Dawson, and Abbas hasn’t even picked up his customary brace.
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Hameed has 50! Another one!
Porter has the new ball at the Birmingham end.
The sun is out.
Oh! It turns out Parky was on a hat-trick. Heino Kuhn resisted though. At Edgbaston, the heavy roller is chuffing along the pitch and the Essex fielders are warming up.
Kent are having a sorry ten minutes. Daniel Bell-Drummond (114), Zak Crawley (36) and JAck Leaning (0) all out for the addition of four runs. Parky now has 3-85 and Kent have to eke out the next six wickets over six hours. Kent 242-4 trail by 108.
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Three-quarter of an hours in and Harmer is still there - no he’s not! Porter sticks out his pad and Essex are FINALLY all out for 244, a lead of 255. Now for the interesting bit!
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Steven Patterson strikes at Hove with Ollie Robinson lbw for six and Sussex look down and out with 85 needed and three wickets left.
And a shout out for the Women’s County T20 competition that starts today. No spectators sadly.
North: Cumbria v Yorkshire (Arnside CC), North Representative XI v Scotland ‘A’ (tbc), North East Warriors v Lancashire (Burnopfield CC)
East Midlands: Derbyshire v Shropshire (Denby CC), Leicestershire v Lincolnshire (Barkby United CC), Nottinghamshire v Northamptonshire (Worksop College)
West Midlands: Berkshire v Worcestershire (Falkland CC), Warwickshire v Wales (Edgbaston Foundation Ground), Staffordshire v Somerset (Fordhouses CC)
East: Cambridgeshire v Buckinghamshire (Exning Park), Hertfordshire v Norfolk (Harlow CC), Huntingdonshire v Suffolk (tbc)
South East: Middlesex v Hampshire (Mill Hill School), Surrey v Kent (Chipstead CC), Sussex v Essex (Sir Rod Aldridge Cricket Centre, Brighton)
South West: Devon v Oxfordshire (Braunton CC), Dorset v Wiltshire (tbc), Gloucestershire v Cornwall (Cheltenham College)
At New Road, Ben Slater has reached fifty and Haseeb Hameed is 39 not out. Imagine if, no, I didn’t even think it. Notts 98-0.
At the risk of sounding like Tanya’s travelogue, I’ve loved my few days in Birmingham. Was wined and dined (falafel and Halloumi salad) by new Guardian cricket correspondent Ali Martin in Moseley, which was brimming with life last night, and had a walk round Cannon Hill Park this morning, in an attempt to boost my pathetic step count from the last few days, and it was pinkly-gorgeous with cherry tree blossom.
Edgbaston, April 2021. pic.twitter.com/tqdxpq0zSA
— tanya aldred (@tjaldred) April 25, 2021
Right, the slips are in place, hands in pockets, shuffling from boot to boot, and at the City End, Olly Stone has the ball.
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Start of play scores
GROUP ONE
Riverside: Durham 475 all out and 175-2dec v Derbyshire 267 and 10-0. DERBY NEED 374 TO WIN
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 284 all out v Essex 295 and 213-9
New Road: Worcestershire 436 v Nottinghamshire 276 and 87-0
GROUP TWO
Rose Bowl: Hampshire470 all out v Gloucestershire 320 all out and 14-0
Grace Road: Leicestershire 233 and 199 LOST to Somerset 318 and 118--1 BY NINE WICKETS
Lord’s: Middlesex 268 beat Surrey 154 all out and 130 by 10 wickets
GROUP THREE
Canterbury: Kent 169 and 209-1 v Lancashire 525 all out
The County Ground: Northamptonshire 364v Glamorgan 407 all out and 205-4
Hove: Sussex 221 all out and 136-6 v Yorkshire 150 and 305 SUSSEX NEED 99 TO WIN
Some thoughts on the IPL from India, where events are heartbreaking.
On the front page of @NewIndianXpress, a decision to stop covering #cricket during the pandemic. "In such a tragic time, we find it incongruous that the festival of cricket is on in India... This is commercialism gone crass. The problem is not with the game but its timing." pic.twitter.com/ftT2s39mLB
— Rohini Mohan (@rohini_mohan) April 25, 2021
Last night's round-up
At Edgbaston, the game oscillated almost at will, as first Warwickshire hobbled towards Essex’s first-innings total, then Essex’s batsmen flipped between flighty and resolute as the shadows stretched towards half past six. And with every evening single, No 11 at the crease, the total Warwickshire were going to have to chase in the morning, grew ever-challenging.
Warwickshire had started the day eight wickets down but Danny Briggs, unbeaten on 66 and striking two sixes, shoehorned 41 more runs out of the tail, leaving them trailing by just 11 runs.
Alastair Cook, enduring a slow start to the season, then fell cheaply after cover-driving with some dash and his departure precipitated a top order collapse, as Tom Westley, Nick Brown, Paul Walter and Ryan ten Doeschate all followed,to leave Essex in trouble on 36 for five.
The bowling was sharp, Olly Stone, who has shaped up over the winter following some fitness work, bowled with real zip backed up by Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Craig Miles, who grabbed four for 62. Dan Lawrence, uneasy at the start but growing increasingly fluent, shepherded the lower-order, passing 50 until running-himself out going for a single which was easy only in his dreams. Simon Harmer, whose batting had been out of sync this season, pushed and scythed his way to an unbeaten 62. His second act comes in the morning, ball in hand, having claimed first innings figures of four for 89.
Surrey collapsed like a stamped-on cardboard box at Lord’s. Rory Burns was caught off the first ball of the day (one of three men to fall that way), and from that point Surrey had no answer to relentless seam bowling, losing seven for 25 in just over an hour. Toby Roland-Jones finished with four for 29, as Middlesex won by 10 wickets. Middlesex captain Peter Handscomb said he “couldn’t be prouder”.
Craig Overton powered Somerset to a nine-wicket victory over Leicestershire, snaffling five for 25, his best Championship bowling figures since 2015. Jack Leach took two wickets in two balls, finishing with three for 43. Tom Lammonby then emerged from his crevice of bad form, finishing unbeaten on 70.
England’s Dom Bess took five wickets to throw Sussex into disarray in their run-chase at Hove, still 99 adrift but only four wickets in hand. Earlier young pup Jack Carson had finished with a career-best five for 85 as Yorkshire’s last-wicket pair of David Willey and Duanne Olivier added 51 crucial runs.
A patient century from Haseeb Hameed, only his second since August 2016, wasn’t enough to save Nottinghamshire from being asked to bat again against Worcestershire. Hameed made an unbeaten 37 as Notts reached 87 without loss at the close but they still trail Worcestershire first innings total of 436 by 73.
Hampshire enforced the follow-on at the Rose Bowl after Gloucestershire failed to meet the target by just one run. In a post-tea collapse they lost five for 37 to Mason Crane and Liam Dawson, including Ryan Higgins for 73. Earlier James Bracey had made 65 before being bowled by Mohammad Abbas, who finished with four for 41.
Durham need 10 wickets on Sunday after declaring their second innings with a lead of 383 over Derbyshire, with unbeaten 50s for Alex Lees and first-innings double centurion David Bedingham. Earlier Chris Rushworth had become Durham’s second highest first-class wicket-taker with six for 58.
After batting like drains in the first innings, Kent, following-on, suddenly found the sunlit uplands, with captain Daniel-Bell Drummond hitting an unbeaten century and Jordan Cox 80. Much frustration for Lancashire, who had bowled Kent out for 169 in their first innings, with four wickets for Tom Bailey.
Fifties from Billy Root and Nick Selman put Glamorgan on the front foot against Northamptonshire, with a lead of 248 on a flat pitch.
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Good morning from Edgbaston! It’s the final day of this round of matches, and an deliciously intriguing day ahead, especially here in Birmingham where, sometime soon after eleven, Warwickshire will be pitting their confidence with the bat after last week’s successful run-chase against the Essex aura spearheaded by Simon Harmer. Sunday morning bliss.
Elsewhere, Sussex have a small but beautiful chance of chasing the 99 needed to beat Yorkshire; and sparks could fly at The County Ground, unless the flat pitch gets its way. Elsewhere, Notts, Derby, Gloucester, and Kent need to bat out the day.
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