Key events
Thwarted in my search for a reel of all Potts’ wickets. However, most of them look rather like this:
Will Rob Keogh be the backbone of Northant’s second innings as well? No he won’t – he sweeps into the trap. A second for Cameron Steel, who has also dismissed Josh Cobb since tea. Northants 118-4, the lead just 36 over Div one leaders-elect. Time for a rain dance.
Jofra watch
Six for Potts – 12 in the match – with him and Ollie Robinson, plus those recovering from injury, the England seam bowling cupboard doesn’t look too bad. That’s if Branderson ever reach for the pipe and slippers.
Leicestershire 136 for seven, a paltry lead of 42.
Matt Potts claims his second 5 wicket haul of the game at Grace Road and his 6th overall for Durham in the 2022 LV= County Championship ☝
Even more incredible when you realise he’s only played the 8 matches this season as well 🔥
— The County Cricket Podcast (@TheCountyCrick2) September 14, 2022
A new ball, but a 200 lead up for Somerset. Abell was out just before tea for 87, but Bartlett remains, 34 not out.
Time for a cuppa – and a read:
Tea-time scores
The County Ground: Northants 339 and 71-2 v Surrey 421
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 196 v Somerset 219 and 172-4
Headingley: Yorkshire 134 and 252 v Essex 225 and 30-1
DIVISION TWO
Grace Road: Leicestershire 202 and 129-51 v Durham 296
Lord’s: Middlesex 390 v Glamorgan 214 and 127-1
Hove: Sussex 220 v Worcestershire 289-2 Rain, play due to start at 4pm
Play due to start at Hove at 4pm, 32 overs left, in theory.
A fourth/tenth for Potts as the teams prepare to take tea round the grounds.
Points shared for cancelled Rachael Heyhoe-Flint matches
The four Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy games that were scheduled for Friday 9 September, and cancelled after the Queen’s death, will not be replayed – each team receiving two points.
“While efforts have been made to try and reschedule the matches and ensure the maximum amount of cricket is played,” said the ECB, “it was not possible to fit them into the current schedule ahead of the Lord’s final on Sunday 25 September.”
And on Glamorgan go -113 for nothing, money for jam.
It was last year, when Sky televised all those early season games, that Kiran Carson was the toast of Sky after making an unbeaten 88 to hold off the Yorkies. A glance at the averages suggests this year hasn’t been the fruitful one he might have hoped for (482 runs at 24). Can any Glamorgan fans offer any insight?
Northamptonshire lose their second opener as first-innings centurion Emilio Gay can’t make the most of being dropped in the slips. Lbw to Jordan Clark. Northants 49-2 and still 33 behind.
Matthew Potts (3-24) having a rest, while Leicestershire rearrange their clothes. Leicestershire 95-4 and a one run lead. Louis Kimber the highest scorer, Extras next.
A further inspection at Hove at 3pm.
Meanwhile at Lord’s…a plucky start by Glamorgan’s openers, with David Lloyd progressing at quite the clip – a 66 ball 51. Glamorgan 76-0, trail Middlesex by exactly a hundred.
A wicket down at Headingley, Nick Browne caught off Thompson. Essex six for one. Four slips. Alastair Cook. That man Coad again.
Dab and rest. What a stoical bit of batting by captain Tom (Abell), 61 runs in 211 minutes. Somerset still three down, Bartlett with him, the lead 141.
The final act is about to begin at Headingley: Yorkshire 252 all out, Ben Coad the top scorer with 69. Four wickets for Jamie Porter, three for Matt Critchley. Essex need 162 to win.
Just a ninth wicket in the match for Matthew Potts…
Ben Coad may have missed out on being the first bowler since 1971 etc etc, but he is coconutting Essex round the park – 68 at a run a ball, ten fours and a six. Yorkies edging towards a sniff of a chance – lead 151.
That Tom Curran just swooped to catch captain Will Young at third slip. Northants 15-0.
After Somerset’s statement this morning, I dug out Nick Hoult’s piece on the birth of the Hundred in the 2020 Wisden Almanack. Read it here. These pars go some way towards explaining today’s press release, but the whole piece is worth a cup of tea and 10 minutes of your time.
The counties can roughly be split into three groups. There are those who simply need the money: the annual payout will sustain the likes of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire through the dark winter months. From those at Test venues, including Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire, there was wholehearted backing: they will be hosts, and central to the tournament. The final group were either openly against the idea – such as Essex, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey – or privately lukewarm but reluctant to make enemies at the board.
It is at Somerset where a sense of betrayal lingered, so much so that they sought legal advice about suing the board over what they perceived as a broken promise. Originally, Andy Nash, chairman for ten years, had voted in favour of the new competition, believing Somerset – a well-run club at the heart of local life – would be a host venue. In a letter in April 2017, received before a crucial meeting of the Somerset committee, Graves had described Taunton as a “key part of the future of the game, with an opportunity to stage matches like all other major venues in England & Wales”.
Ambiguous? Yes – and carefully worded. Graves strongly denies assurances were given that Taunton would be one of the eight host grounds, and points to an email he received in August 2016 in which Nash had stated his support for an “EPL [English Premier League] with six to eight teams. Set criteria for qualification, e.g. 10,000 min capacity. Counties/ECB own the sides, and profits distributed fairly across the game.”
Later, Nash and Graves fell out badly; when Nash resigned from the ECB board, he published a stinging letter criticising Graves’s leadership. But the Somerset committee had already taken Graves’ letter as confirmation they would be at the top table in any new competition, and voted in support when it was agreed – 38 to three – by the ECB’s members in April 2017. Once it became clear from meetings with the ECB later in the year that Taunton would not be a host venue, Somerset were incensed.
Kevin made 25?
You wait 25 years for a Curran family century and two come in a matter of months
Kevin Curran made 25 first class centuries with the last 25 years ago, and this summer Sam and Tom have made the 26th & 27th fc tons for family Curran.
— Mark Puttick (@GryllidaeC) September 14, 2022
Surrey all out 421, maximum points, a lead of 82. So, Northants, what do you have up your sleeve?
Dan Worrall absolutely wellies a short ball from Lizaad Williams over the short boundary for six. Oh, four more – Surrey lead 71.
Still raining at Hove. One of the Toms gone at Edgbaston – Lammonby snaffled off HAnnon-Dalby for 40. Still Somerset build: 87-3, the lead 110.
Tom Curran out for a thrashtastic 115.
Stat trap: both Tom and Sam Curran have scored maiden first-class hundreds this summer. Ben, alas, has been released.
Time for me to grab some lunch – back shortly.
In summary: Yorkshire in trouble, Somerset stoical, Surrey strutting, plucky Leicester, dominant Middlesex, soggy Sussex.
Lunchtime scores
The County Ground: Northants 339 v Surrey 388-8
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 196 v Somerset 219 and 78-2
Headingley: Yorkshire 134 and 179-7 v Essex 225
DIVISION TWO
Grace Road: Leicestershire 202 and 29-1 v Durham 296
Lord’s: Middlesex 390 v Glamorgan 214
Hove: Sussex 220 v Worcestershire 289-2 Rain, no play so far today.
Hashim Amla has been a spectator to much of this morning’s fireworks – and just before lunch he is lbw to Keogh for 133. Surrey’s lead, at lunch, is 49.
A century for Tom Curran!
What a story! Not a sniff of a red-ball game in three years, a stress-fracture of the lower back, swan in at The County Ground and yazzoo a first-ever first-class century.
Matthew Potts on the rampage again. Leicestershire 10 for one. Durham all out 296, three for Wright and three for Parkinson.
Ten minutes Somerset…
Oooof, Yorkshire going to be pushed to get their lead up to three figures, currently 152-6, Tattersall and Fraine gone. lead 61.
Tom Curran letting it all hang out at Northampton! Some sensational shots for a gloomy Wednesday morning.
With half an hour till lunch…. it’s all a bit ominous for Hampshire with Surrey 339 for six and scores level at The County Ground. With a third batting point in the bag Surrey are only three points behind Hampshire. Tom Curran 65 not out at a run a ball.
Durham have lost three wickets this morning, including enormous-bat owner Nick Maddison for a Durham-debut 56. Nice work by Leicestershire, who have kept the deficit under a hundred – for now. Durham 289-8
A tricky first hour for Yorkshire – after losing George Hill off the last ball of yesterday evening , Tom Kohler-Cadmore is caught off Sam Cook and Finlay Bean’s 120-ball 53 is ended by Jamie Porter. Yorks 125-4, the lead just 34.
Right – what’s going off out there? A steady morning for Somerset, with Lammonby and Abell rebuilding from last night’s pile of old bricks: currently 38 for two.
Tom Curran is providing a pep-up at The County Ground, smashing two sixes and three fours in his 31 not out. Amla plods on, 110 not out. Surrey 286 for six, 53 behind. The new ball is due.
Have just clicked that the Ryan Higgins at Middlesex is the Ryan Higgins who was at Gloucestershire. In case anyone else missed it, Higgins, who joined Gloucestershire from Middlesex in 2018, has gone back to his original club on loan for the rest of this season and then on a four-year deal.
Higgins is one of two Middx wickets to fall this morning at Lord’s: Simpson for 76, Higgins for 40 – James Harris’ fourth wicket. Middx 309-7.
I’ve just clicked that England fly to Pakistan tonight! Crazy schedule: Seven matches in Pakistan, three against Australia, in prep for the World Cup. No Harry Brook for the rest of Yorkshire’s campaign – what a strange summer he’s had. Good to see Olly Stone and Mark Wood have made the plane.
That squad again:
Jos Buttler (Lancashire) Captain
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire) Vice-Captain
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Jordan Cox (Kent)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
Richard Gleeson (Lancashire)
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)
Tom Helm (Middlesex)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Dawid Malan (Yorkshire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Phil Salt (Lancashire)
Olly Stone (Warwickshire)
Reece Topley (Surrey)
David Willey (Yorkshire)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Luke Wood (Lancashire)
Mark Wood (Durham)
Start delayed at Hove – but just how much of the next two days would have to be rained off to rescue Sussex? Worcs have a lead of 69 – eight wickets in hand.
A hundred for Hashim Amla!
Just two balls of the day for the great man to reach his 57th f-c hundred. Surrey 235-5.
Michael Hussey and David Saker join England T20 World Cup coaching staff
More names for the merry-go-round, as ex- Australian international Michael Hussey and former England bowling coach David Saker join the coaching staff for England men’s T20 World Cup bid.
England Men’s white-ball Head Coach Matthew Mott has brought them in for the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November. Saker, who was England’s bowling coach from 2010 to 2015, will also travel to Pakistan for the seven-match tour preceding the World Cup.
Scores on the doors
The County Ground: Northants 339 v Surrey 224-5
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 196 v Somerset 219 and 13-2
Headingley: Yorkshire 134 and 87-2 v Essex 225
DIVISION TWO
Grace Road: Leicestershire 202 v Durham 239-5
Lord’s: Middlesex 286-5 v Glamorgan 214
Hove: Sussex 220 v Worcestershire 289-2
Tuesday’s round-up
There was an inevitability about Hashim Amla’s slow march towards his century, hauling Surrey with him in their crucial Championship game at the County Ground. Northants had collapsed in the morning session, losing six wickets for 90, though not before Rob Keogh reached 123 – a fifth wicket for the speedy Kemar Roach, as Surrey collected three crucial bowling points. None of the Surrey top order could stick with Amla, 97 not out at stumps, until he found some ballast from Cameron Steel on his birthday.
George Hill was caught from the last ball of the day in a guitar-string tight game at Headingley. Yorkshire finished with a deficit of four to Essex, with eight wickets in hand. After a frustrating summer of injury, Dan Lawrence had jigged to the the only fifty of the match and, assisted by a free-wheeling Shane Snater, given Essex a first-innings lead. Jordan Thompson gathered for four for 60.
England’s Matthew Potts swung and sped his way to six wickets, running through Leicestershire’s defences before lunch. Callum Parkinson then grabbed three Durham wickets, including opener Michael Jones just three short of his century
Another tense game unrolled at Edgbaston with relegation waiting through the trap door. Somerset finished the day just on top, after Jack Brooks’ four for four in 27 balls, helped scroll through the Warwickshire tail. Sam Hain had earlier passed 1000 runs for the season in his 67.
A dapper hundred by Jake Libby put Worcestershire in a promising position at Hove. On a day spent darting between the showers, Libby, unbeaten on 142 at stumps, put on 195 for the first wicket, before Ed Pollock fell for 98, and 54 with Azhar Ali. Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson, out all season with injury, took both wickets to fall.
In the gloves-off promotion game at Lord’s, Mark Stoneman hit a dominant century as he and John Simpson took Middlesex to two batting points and a lead of 72 over Glamorgan.
Lancashire were docked six points after the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Committee found them guilty of two breaches of the code of conduct. The “gut-wrenching” strike removes any remote hope of a Championship run.
Preamble
Hello! I started the morning with some muesli; Somerset started like this:
“The current domestic playing programme, which resulted in only four one-day matches being played in Taunton over 43 days in the height of summer this year, with 17 Somerset players unavailable, is unacceptable”
“The current domestic playing programme, which resulted in only four one-day matches being played in Taunton over 43 days in the height of summer this year, with 17 Somerset players unavailable, is unacceptable”#WeAreSomerset
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) September 14, 2022
Day three, the round before the penultimate one, interesting times.
