County Cricket

Another opportunity not taken to have a complete 9 match schedule! These, however, are the matches starting tomorrow!

DIV ONE

HAMPSHIRE V NORTHAMTONSHIRE
MIDDLESEX V SOMERSET
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V ESSEX
SURREY V KENT

DIV TWO

GLOUCESTERSHIRE V DURHAM
SUSSEX V GLAMORGAN
WORCESTERSHIRE V LEICESTERSHIRE

Middlesex v Somerset and/or Worcestershire V Leicestershire look like quality match - ups

Good weather forecast, typical bad luck, a week off for Yorkshire.

Alistair Cook just keeps on keeping on! All credit and respect to him, for continuing to play for Essex, as he - on the one hand - recognizes where he got all his opportunities, secondly - and just as importantly - he gets the value and importance of the competitions Essex compete in! I wish people would stop categorizing his continuing participation as if it was reflecting some casual enjoyment alone. If only others had shown the same commitment and respect for the county game in their time, that Sir Alistair is! Good also to see S Broad to do more than just go through the motions also. Bowling decent number of overs first up, and getting the whites dirty in the field!

Elsewhere, pretty much average starts in all games I think, except for Kent Glamorgan and again Leicestershire. All well short of ideal first knocks.

Another interesting day in the CC. At Trent Bridge, Essex threw away the chance to take the upper hand with a shocking fielding display, shelling at least four clear cut chances to - instead - allow Notts to get their noses in front with a lead of 28 five down (Montgomery the main beneficiary). As a watch though, compelling contest!

Among the rest, Hampshire are clear favourites versus with Northants 50 for 2 second time around after falling apart in the first to 56 All out. A mention for Barker with 4 for! He has something about him! Middlesex are up against it at Lords, where they sit at 81 for 1 2nd Inns, still 118 adrift! Surrey are in charge against Kent, where they have Abbot #8 and Atkinson #10 to thank for their total of 362, as at 211 for 7 and 264 for 8, Kent were well in it!
In Div II, Durham are comfortable with a lead of 190 against Gloucestershire. Not even two innings completed there, so were there Interruptions?? Sussex/Glamorgan isn't even a contest, with the Welsh side miles behind and one down in the second dig!
Worcestershire - in contrast to the other matches, have all the cards in their own hands, as they chase down 271 to beat Leicestershire. The Foxes have really started to struggle, after a more than promising season start.

As we take a break (unwelcome - as with the shoe - horning of so many rounds of the CC) from cricket, the last round of matches produced their usual share of drama and interesting talking points.

Nottinghamshire and Essex shared the spoils (from my point of view, Notts didn't sacrifice the competitions integrity with a gung ho chase - kudos to Essex for putting the challenge before them all the same) despite the devaluing of draws (from the points perspective alone) being eroded!

Glamorgan at Hove were certainly not going to leave anything to chance - piling on the runs 2nd Inns after their initial collapse! They were far enough ahead to put the pressure on Sussex by pulling out, but maybe - just maybe - they too were showing some respect for the competition, and making a wider statement to boot??

Surry - as expected - took care of business at the the Oval by comfortably defeating Kent. they didn't have to work that hard, and look like the team to beat!

Somerset made the trip to 'Headquarters' more than worth while, coming away with an innings and 13 run victory over a Middlesex side that weren't at the races it seems!

Hampshire were also - like the 'Cidermen' - able to canter to an innings and 135 run victory against Northamptonshire, who - in turn - are showing real frailties.

Worcestershire conceded a ninety run deficit on first inns - not getting close to the Foxes meagre total of 173 - yet came away with a victory by 3 wickets, after Leicestershire were just able to crawl past their first knock in the second dig - setting a chase of 274 which the 'Pears' reached seven down. A bit of a thriller there! The Foxes look to have problems suddenly! Maybe a welcome break for them!

The return of the County Championship today! Perhaps a little 'overshadowed' by the WTC final, but in fairness, it lived up to expectations, so understandable that it caught the attention.

Current round of CC matches:

DIV 1
ESSEX V SOMERSET
KENT V SURREY
LANCASHIRE V HAMPSHIRE
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE V WARWICKSHIRE

DIV 2
DERBYSHIRE V YORKSHIRE
DURHAM V GLAMORGAN
GLOUCESTERSHIRE V LEICESTERSHIRE
SUSSEX V WORCESTERSHIRE

Currently Yorkshire are the worst of the 18 counties, bottom of Div 2. Today they visited Chesterfield Queens Park, a personal favourite of mine, a stunning ground. Derbyshire sit one place above Yorkshire, & a result looks on the cards, after the hosts fell to 24-6 before rallying to 111. Yorkshire were 5 down, with a lead of 161 when a storm ended the days play 3 overs short.

Another quality round of matches ends with victories for Essex, Surrey (more to follow), and Lancashire in Div 1. While in Div 2, Yorkshire (their first of the campaign) and Leicestershire (after a series of poor results) got back on the horse too! Only two draws in this round at Durham V Glamorgan, and also at Hove Sussex V Worcestershire.

I tuned in to the Essex/Somerset match, which was a great game, despite Essex being in total control!

^^ Not only was it the 1st Championship win of the season for Yorkshire, but their 1st win for 18 matches, the last win came in last season's opening match.

Not unusual in itself to have 3 century makers in an innings, but I wonder if there has been many as young as Bean (21), Hill (22) & Revis (21) A Day to celebrate for Yorkshire, before tomorrow's expected bad news.