Metro Bank One-Day Cup

(24-07-2024 12:46 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Second tier cricket, but still a decent comp,

Lancashire started well against Yorkshire. However, it didn't last

^^ I was surprised that Lancashire had as many as 14 players unavailable who are involved in The Hundred comp, I certainly couldn't name them all, off the top of my head Yorkshire are without 7.

The 2 match in today almost finished identically at the innings break. Northamptonshire 243 all out 47.2 overs v Kent & Somerset 243 all out 47.3 overs v Sussex.

What I don't understand is how players can be available for one competition and not the other and it doesn't look good IMO if teams left short handed ECB needs to look at this for next season

Worcestershire have had a shocker of a season. The One Day Cup is their only opportunity to achieve anything. They are guaranteed at least a quarter final spot though after beating Leicestershire by 16 runs.
It wasn't without its trials and tribulations though. From 300/5 they collapsed to 328 all out. Then they reduced Leics to 23/4 before a big partnership threatened to overhaul the target. Eventually the breakthrough came and it looked over at 249/9. But then the Worcestershire bowlers served up a load of pies and nearly allowed an Impossible looking Leics win before eventually stumbling over the line. Not good for the ticker .

Yorkshire barring miracles have a home Semi-Final after a victory over Sussex that pivoted back & forth throughout. Milnes had 2 in 2 balls & then a 3rd to leave Sussex in trouble on 24-3, after a recovery of sorts they reached the halfway mark just short of 100 runs before Simson (65) added 79 with Carter (94) who then added 80 for the 5th with Lamb (53) at better than a run a ball. Then Milnes returned with a hattrick to set Sussex back again at 243-8 Yorkshire momentarily stemmed the flow, but Lamb pressed on with the tail until Milnes (7-38) struick yet again. 284-9 was a fine effort after a poor start, but the wicket looked top be playing well enough.
After Lyth fell early Imam (106) with his 3rd century in this cup added 196 with Wharton (85) who has had a pb in back to back matches without getting to the magical 3 figures. Then Imam first & then Wharton both fell on the same score & Fridays hero Bean went soon after. The require rate had hovered around 6 per over, but the wickets stalled the scoring, boundaries dried up & the rate climbed beyond 8 per over.
Something had to give & the 45th over bowled by Hudson-Prentice went for 18 with Hill (31 no) & Revis 39 no) both hitting sixes. Panic over for Yorkshire who got home with 14 balls remaining.

Then match had everything, the 50 over format should be celebrated & preserved. The elite county players are thrashing it about in The Hundred which yet again has provided far less close finishes than the ODI Cup, but it does expose more young players & provides a bridge between 2nd XI & first team cricket.

After seeing the Yorkshire captain Bess diving to save a news paper in the outfield last week, today we had gulls nicking bananas off our players.

Myself and Boomer are two very happy campers .
Worcestershire and Yorkshire both topping their groups and directly through to the semi finals .

Match of the day though was Middlesex squeaking past Lancashire by one wicket with one ball to spare. This gave Middlesex a quarter final spot and knocked out Warwickshire.

^^ A great effort from the Pears, good that both teams get to rest up for a few days & would be nice to meet in the final. Quarter Finals on Thursday, no preference on who I prefer to face, all decent sides playing well. One slight concern is that there's a number of injuries. Today was a bonus not required to win & giving debut's to two 18 year olds, both England Under 19 players. Mixed fortunes, Bennison made a duck, but comes highly recommended by Bumble, with a double in a friendly & 3 other centuries this season, one to watch. Fairbank took the wicket to win the match, a tall fast medium pace bowler. Producing home grown pace bowlers is a worrying concern for me, but the production line of batsmen is stacked. The current group of batters are the best I've seen for 15 years or so. Four or five of them have a chance of breaking through to International honours in the coming years.

QF
Hampshire 229-9 beat Middlesex 187 All Out by 42 runs
Gloucestershire 155 all lost to Somerset 149-4 by 6 wickets DLS Method

SF
Sunday 31st August 12.00 PM
Worcestershire v Somerset - New Road Worcester
Yorkshire v Hampshire - Scarborough

^^ EDIT : Apologies the source I used was incorrect, both Semi Finals are 11am start.