Roundup
The day after the night before brought no comfort for Nottinghamshire, defeated in three days by Surrey. Amar Virdi took six for 78 – 14 for 139 in the match – with only Ravi Ashwin showing much resistance with the bat.
Ashwin, who finished with match figures of 12 for 144, was sanguine about taking 23 wickets in three games and losing every one. “It’s not happened a lot in my career, like that,” he said. He returns for the final rounds in September and Notts will need him at his best for even a sniff of avoiding relegation.
Lancashire fortified their position at the top of Division Two after defeating Sussex by an innings and 51 runs at Old Trafford. It completed a dismal month for Sussex who need the T20 Blast to produce a timely fillip – though they at least had the thrill of watching Delroy Rawlins make a maiden first-class century. His partnership of 128 with David Wiese was the ballast the game needed to entertain a fair crowd in short sleeves. Matt Parkinson took a career best 10 for 165 in the match.
It was another chastening day for the leaders, Somerset, against Yorkshire at Headingley. They were bowled out for 196 shortly after lunch and were following on soon afterwards. Keshav Maharaj took seven wickets in the first innings. When batting again, Somerset were 159 for four at the close – Tom Banton, unbeaten on 58, remains their best hope of a draw.
At Chelmsford, Essex tightened their grip against Warwickshire. Alastair Cook made his second 80 of the game before Dan Lawrence and Simon Harmer added quick runs. Essex declared with a lead of more than 400.
Kent’s batsmen shone in the high-scoring game at the Ageas Bowl. Joe Denly was out for 154, Heino Kuhn made 95 and the evergreen Darren Stevens a swashbuckling 60 as they snatched first-innings lead over Hampshire. Fidel Edwards grabbed five for 118.
At Chesterfield, where Derbyshire are hosting Northamptonshire, all results are still possible after a topsy-turvy day when 24 wickets fell; and at the Riverside three late wickets by Durham’s Chris Rushworth all but destroyed Worcestershire’s hopes of surviving the game.
On the first day of the Cheltenham festival, Neil Dexter made 56 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 252. And at Sophia Gardens, fifties from Marnus Labuschagne and Charlie Hemphrey look unlikely to save Glamorgan. Sam Robson had made an unbeaten 140, the first Middlesex player to carry his bat since Nick Compton in 2006.
The Old Trafford square is covered, the sprayers are on, and that’s the last Championship cricket here till August. They’re confident of growing sales for the Blast - I really hope last night works for them, and everyone else - county clubs, colts sections of cricket clubs, etc etc.
Congratulations to Surrey and Lancashire for two great wins - even if they were against two teams suffering collective batting meltdowns. May the break do them both good.
Thanks for dropping by today to chew the fat. One more CC Live to go till the summer break. Hope to see some of you here tomorrow too - new and old. Plenty to play for - especially keen to see if Warwickshire can possibly bat out the day against Siddle and Harmer. Good night!
And one last thing - apparently Lancashire sold 800 tickets yesterday for the Blast game on Sunday!
Tickets are available from £1 for kids and £8 for adults. See here for details.
That’s it from me for a bit while I write up...
Some backbone from Somerset - a 38 run partnership from Banton and Bartlett but you have to say its unlikely.
Roland Jones got Labuschagne, but too early - he only had fifty.! Glamorgan 125 for two and a long way (431 runs) from home.
Leicestershire 192 for six. A fifty from Neil Dexter and a near-fifty from Paul Horton and everything going fast forward and upside down at Chesterfield, where Northants were bowled out for 122 - Palladino 4-33. But Derby are now serenely 37 for 0 - needing another 278.
Just went to see Jason Gillespie. What an impressive guy - no nonsense, straight-talkin’. Sussex are packing up, piling on the coach. Lancashire are on the pitch, having a beer and a kick around. Jimmy Anderson is bowling with a heavily strapped leg.
Warwicks start the quest for 401, Hampshire are 21 for one, trailing by 125.
Durham are way on top - leading Worcestershire by 299.
Of some interest perhaps - the World Cup final OBO was the seventh biggest story of all time by page views on the Guardian site.
Bad news for Somerset, good news for Yorkshire: Azhar and Hildreth both gone. It falls on Abell (53 not out) and Banton (6 not out). A tall order. Actually it doesn’t fall on Abell as he’s just fallen to Fisher. Somerset 101-3 and in a big hole, trailing by 223.
Shaun is a Kentish man watching Hampshire v Kent at the Ageas Bowl with his Hampshire inlaws. Cricket spreading the lurve part 7684.
“Here at the sun- kissed Ageas Bowl, only Fidel Edwards for Hampshire managed to get much of kick out of a benign batting track. Kent were eventually dismissed for 555, giving a first innings lead of 153. An early tea was taken and Hampshire are 1 for no wicket in reply. “
Thank you Shaun.
Lancashire beat Sussex by an innings and 51 runs.
And that’s it at Old Trafford! All over! The last two wickets fall seven balls into the afternoon session. Hamza lbw for a duck. Parkinson 10-165 in the match.
Lancashire 23 points - up, up and away.
At Sophia Gardens, Glamorgan are having one of their not quite so good days. At tea they were 94 for 1 (Selman) chasing an improbable 556. Marnus Labuschagne is unbeaten on 47. No time for more Marnus miracles, surely?
Earlier Sam Robson had scored his second century of the season.
Parkinson now has his career-best figures of nine (and more?) for 165.
Also, in some act of medieval surrender, the Sussex flag has been taken down and returned to the scorer...
And proof that Jofra Archer is a very nice boy:
Yes my boy https://t.co/CsumwyxUsy
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) July 15, 2019
Surrey beat Notts by 167 runs
“Tough-love” Amar Virdi : 14 for 139. Surrey - onwards and upwards. Notts - um...believe tomorrow can be better.
My friends Sharda Ugra and Neeru Bhatia tell me these are the most kick-ass Urdu couplets created on the go for the World Cup.
Sums up the mood https://t.co/ckTnmDeJbv
— neeru bhatia (@neerubhatia3) July 15, 2019
It’s tea at Chelmsford where Dan Lawrence and Simon Harmer have smashed 84 runs in 20 overs - Harmer passed 1,000 first-class runs for Essex with 43 from 64 balls. Warwickshire, breathe. A day and maybe a min-session to last. But don’t think about it for a while.
Back to Chesterfield and the picture has changed a little. Northants still boast a 250+ lead but in their second innings, they are now five wickets down. Fynn Hudson-Prentice, having top scored for Derbyshire with 55, had a hand in removing Northants’ top three batsmen, boasting a run-out followed by two lbw decisions. Josh Cobb has rallied things for the visitors, taking them from 49-5 to 70-5.
At Notts, Virdi ends the partnership between Stuart Broad and Ravi Ashwin. Broad is out for 30, stumped by Smith and Virdi now has 14 wickets in the match. Broad’s departure left Notts on 148-9 still 201 runs behind.
And Dave at the York’s Theatre Royal also needs news:
Echoing Paul below, any news from Headingly and the Tykes’ rout of Somerset? Pretty please.
Dave, it was the game many of us were hoping to forget. Somerset now following on (42-0) after being bowled out for a mere 196. Seven wickets for Keshav Maharaj, including Dom Bess - the two of them have previous, if you remember, from Ciderabad last year.
Five hundred passed at Chelmsford in the big-score nailed-on draw. Kudos to Fidel Edwards, 5-109 on a bowler’s burial ground. And hey-ho Darren Stevens, who hit eight fours and two sixes in his 60.
And Delray Rawlins goes to his hundred with a huge six straight into the pavilion! And then is out next ball! To the hundredth ball of his innings. His first first-class century and only the second against Lancashire this year. Well played young man.
An email from Paul Billington:
Any chance of a nod to Northants for their morning’s work? Looks like they might have a healthy lead going into the afternoon / evening, which given their start to the season is always a surprise to me. Not in the same magnitude as yesterday obviously, but still...!
Paul, yes, I’m sorry that’s very remiss of me. It’s been a strange County Blog today. Five wickets for Ben Sanderson in a sensational spell at Chesterfield. He bowled unchanged for 11 overs as Derby collapsed from 43 for 1 to 60 for 6. Northants, batting again, have a lead of 215.
A century partnership here at Old Trafford off 76 balls and in 51 minutes. Thanks very much, say Sussex - that’ll do nicely. Only the fourth century partnership against Lancashire this season. They still trail by 150-like, but they’re having a go.
Cripes! I nearly missed Notts’ innings! 92-7. I wonder if Ravi Ashwin ( 16 not out ) knew what he was letting himself in for. Another four wickets for Amar Virdi - 12 in the match, with a few more to pocket yet.
Sorry all, I was momentarily distracted somewhere else. Rather a turn-up for the books here, Sussex have put on 80 in ten overs since lunch. Now 197-5.
Lunch time scores
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford Essex 245 (Cook 84; Rhodes 5-17) and 169-4 (Cook 83; Rhodes 3-17) v Warwickshire 161 (Siddle 5-33)
Ageas Bowl: Hampshire 409-9 dec (Organ 100, Rossouw 92; Stevens 5-68) v Kent 433-6 (Denly 154, Bell-Drummond 94, Kuhn 73 not out)
Trent Bridge: Notts 116 (Virdi 8-61) and 58-3 (Virdi 2-26) v Surrey 240 (Ashwin 6-69) and 224-9dec (Smith 57, Clark 54; Ashwin 6-75)
Headingley: Yorkshire 520 (Ballance 111, Kohler-Cadmore 102, Brook 101; Bess 4-130) v Somerset 164-8 (Maharaj 5-44)
DIVISION TWO
Riverside: Durham 212 (Eckersley 50, Raine 78 not out) and 120-2 v Worcestershire 151 (Rushworth 4-28)
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 171 (Lloyd 67; Helm 5-53; Roland-Jones 4-45) v Middlesex 384 (Malan 166; Carey 4-54) and 342 (Robson 140 not out)
Old Trafford: Lancashire 494-6dec (Jones 88, Vilas 132 not out) v Sussex 127 (Parkinson 6-23) and 117-5 (Rawlins 53 not out)
Chesterfield: Day 2: Derby 121-8 (Sanderson 4-36) v Northants 342 (Bavuma 134)
Cheltenham: Day 1: Gloucestershire v Leicestershire 92-2
Incidentally, my ten year old informed me when I got home last night that there were three Rajasthan Royals players in England’s winning side: Stokes, Buttler and Archer.
I take this as a sign that in cricket’s many guises, there is something for everyone.
Ooops, Salt falls on the stroke of lunch, bowled by Parky for 37. He can’t believe it.
Lunch scores to follow.
Mood when 3 Royals wake up as world champions 🙌#HallaBol #CWC19 #ENGvNZ #CWC19Final pic.twitter.com/dJyljCNoCh
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) July 15, 2019
WICKET WATCH @mattyparky96 strikes just before lunch with the wicket off Salt for 37. @SussexCCC 117/5 #LANvSUS pic.twitter.com/X2H15AzSTa
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) July 15, 2019
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HPG you’re fine coming to OT - Rawlins and Salt have put on 65 with nary a scare.
Geoff’s ammunition:
I would never usually do this, but this by me. Just because I’m so excited to be part of it.
And Andy on Lord’s:
There’s more but I’ll leave you to find it! Rolling coverage all day.
Ok Geoff. One last go....
I promise this will be my last comment about Stokes’s Choice (as it’s now celebrated in ethics classes).
Wouldn’t the least selfish decision have been to do whatever was best for the game (aka best for the ages) when choosing to take or decline an equivalent number of runs? If denying his team mates an ill-deserved victory is judge’s selfish, what does that make those team mates?
But by blocking out two balls - isn’t that a bit like going back to the future? You don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t done it. What about if he would have hit the last two balls for six even if that overthrow hadn’t gone over the boundary? And what happens if Rashid had then been Mankaded by Boult (such a ludicrous suggestion I feel embarrassed for mentioning it).
Something for everyone to chew around over lunch.
Updated
Gary Naylor is feeling lyrical at Chelmsford:
Watching Alastair Cook bat is a bit like contemplating Rothko's colour field paintings @tjaldred. There's an abstract beauty, a subtlety at the margins, but also the sense that an end point has been reached and that things will never be the same again.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 15, 2019
Lees showing great stoicism for Durham with his 103 ball 38 not out, though Bancroft has gone, for 28. The Durham lead is now 157 - they’re 96 for one.
Updated
Oh dear. Notts have lost their first wicket. Morkel continues in his battle to be a pace bowler who takes wickets at the newly named (by me) Bunsen Bridge. It’s Slater and he got a duck. Hang on .... eight extras in a scores of 24???
Summary
Charles Anderson with the Kiwi view from Nelson (where I once spent a lovely night in 2002).
Ali went to the press conferences of two of the smartest and best human beings in cricket: Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan.
Updated
Rawlins has just hit the first six of the match. Off Parky. And there’s another one on its way - thumps into the boundary boards but four this time. And another . He’s looking in super touch actually.
Vic’s match report:
Updated
The best of the OBO boys:
Also - much bloody brilliant reading in the Guardian today about that miraculous event from yesterday. Still can’t believe it.
Barney:
and Geoff:
Updated
Parky is on, and there is simultaneously a high-pitched squeal from the watching school kids. What can you say?
I love how Notts are still encouraging people to watch the Live Feed.
PLAY | Jake Libby and Ben Slater make their way out to the middle to begin the Notts second innings. Notts require 349 runs for victory, Morne Morkel will bowl the first over for Surrey.
— Nottinghamshire CCC (@TrentBridge) July 15, 2019
Follow #NottsvSur live pic.twitter.com/IZtCPNWs2o
Bye-bye Ben Brown. Head is down, bat held upside down, he walks off the pitch. Sussex 39 for four.
Surrey have declared: 224 for nine. Ravi Ashwin 12-144. Notts need 349 to win - shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Geoff’s back: “You might well think I was being harsh about Stokes but surely the difference between benefitting from or negating the ricochet advantage was also the difference between being the hero of the hour or a hero for the ages.” Possibly, but wouldn’t he by becoming the hero for the ages, also be making a selfish decision for his team? Tricky one. For further discussion.
Meanwhile, Sussex are now 37 for 3; Alastair Cook has passed fifty in Essex’s 117 for one; Denly was out for 154 - Kent 369-4; two more wickets for Ravi Ashwin, who has now got 12 wickets in the game; and Maharaj more than doing a job for Yorkshire! Somerset 108 for seven. Davies still there 33 not out.
Sussex lose another I’m afraid. Tick-tock, tick-tock, there’s no stopping this Lancs bowling attack against this batting line-up. Lots of school children here to see it anyway. Wells lbw Onions 0. Sussex 29-2.
“Good morning Tanya!”
Good morning Geoff!
“Nice to get back to proper cricket.One thing about yesterday’s doubly tied game: I’ve seen several approving comments about Stokes asking for the ricochet overthrows to be chalked off. Given that couldn’t happen, why didn’t he then simply block a ball or two in recompense? That would have been sporting.And as it now transpires that it should have been five not six runs for the overthrow incident, wouldn’t sporting decorum require England to forfeit the ‘victory’? (PS I have no Kiwi affiliations.).”
Ooooh, Geoff that’s harsh. Ask a man like Stokes to block a couple of balls as the country roars him on and his teammates are sitting in the dressing room?
Lancashire make an early breakthrough - Chopra caught behind off Richard Gleeson from the fourth over of the day.
And reports from Chelmsford!
At Chelmsford, where Olly Stone is bowling very fast to Alastair Cook @tjaldred. Decent crowd in, though most look like they can remember the World Cup of 1966 as well as that of 2019.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 15, 2019
Start of play scores
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford Essex 245 (Cook 84; Rhodes 5-17) and 73-1 v Warwickshire 161 (Siddle 5-33)
Ageas Bowl: Hampshire 409-9 dec (Organ 100, Rossouw 92; Stevens 5-68) v Kent 319-3 (Denly 138 not out)
Trent Bridge: Notts 116 (Virdi 8-61) v Surrey 240 (Ashwin 6-69) and 184-7 (Smith 57; Ashwin 4-64)
Headingley: Yorkshire 520 (Ballance 111, Kohler-Cadmore 102, Brook 101; Bess 4-130) v Somerset 76-4
DIVISION TWO
Riverside: Durham 212 (Eckersley 50, Raine 78 not out) and 26-0 v Worcestershire 151 (Rushworth 4-28)
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 171 (Lloyd 67; Helm 5-53; Roland-Jones 4-45) v Middlesex 384 (Malan 166; Carey 4-54) and 189-5
Old Trafford: Lancashire 494-6dec (Jones 88, Vilas 132 not out) v Sussex 127 (Parkinson 6-23) and 15-0
Chesterfield: Day 2: Derby 34-1 v Northants 342 (Bavuma 134)
Cheltenham: Day 1: Gloucestershire v Leicestershire
I’ve just seen a tweet from John Lewis congratulating the England cricket team! And so many, many, many more from Tooting to Auckland and three times round the world. The Black Caps too - what grace, what dignity. Kane Williamson is an incredible human being.
I hope that Jacob Rees Mogg one day learns that joy is an emotion to be savoured not twisted.
In a straw poll of the playground this morning, the three people I spoke to were talking about the cricket, none of them usually watch it. Is this a moment?
A word of quiet congratulation here to the ECB. For all their faults it was their vision and they ran with it. Thank god Sky decided at the last minute to lend their rights to Channel four.
Oh help, the umpires are walking out and I haven’t done the start of play scores...
Preamble
The happiest of mornings this beautiful Monday. I’m running behind, but I guess you might be desperate to chat. So I’ll open the blog now .... all yours!
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