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Apologies for plugging my own writing, but this is such a wonderful cricket set-up.
Saturday's round-up
A rainy Saturday inspired county nightwatchmen. At Lord’s, Derbyshire’s Ben Aitchison followed up his five wickets with a maiden first-class hundred, stacked with charming drives. As he crossed the line, he got a huge hug from Wayne Madsen and smiled the widest of smiles. Madsen followed up with his first hundred at Lord’s on a tiring day for Middlesex’s bowlers.
Also on overnight duties was Jamie Porter, whose first first-class 50 was the Sellotape Essex needed from the mess of 39 for four. Charlie Allison put on 96 with Porter, and collected 72 before nibbling at Josh Hull. Wiann Mulder (70) and Simon Harmer (33) then punished Leicestershire further and took the to within 52 runs of parity.
Emilio Gay celebrated his England call-up with a duck at Beckenham, where Durham found themselves in surprise trouble on a pitch where Kent merrily gathered 523. David Bedingham was 72 not out at stumps but found little other support. Earlier, Matthew Potts had collected six for 92.
A morning’s play was enough for Surrey to rattle through the rest of Yorkshire’s batting. Matt Fisher gathered four for 92, removing Friday’s centurion Jonny Bairstow in the second over of the day. After Adam Lyth fell for 141, George Hill (34) and Dom Bess (42) hit Yorkshire towards 500.
Rain and Abell were the dominant themes at Taunton, where Tom Abell, Division One’s second highest scorer, reached his third century of the season, accompanied by Craig Overton, who biffed his second. Somerset declared on 525 for eight, and there was just time for Overton to send Sussex’s Tom Haines on his way, before the floodlights failed.
Kyle Abbott bowled Nottinghamshire’s Haseeb Hameed for a duck shortly before a lunchtime ceremony to celebrate the South African’s 500th Hampshire wicket. Sonny Baker, running in with pace, then removed Ben Slater and hit the fingers of Freddie McCann, who subsequently retired hurt. After play, Baker said of his England call-up: “It is a dream come true. I feel like I’ve beaten the bat a lot this season, which has been frustrating, but in terms of the outcomes I’ve had, I’d be lying if I wasn’t pretty pleased.”
Glamorgan picked apart Warwickshire’s batting on a damp day in Cardiff. Alex Davies and Dan Mousely carefully collected 30 apiece, but there were slim pickings elsewhere, to leave Warwickshire 123 for six, 237 runs in the red.
There were chaotic scenes at in a low-scoring shootout at Bristol, after Northants were skittled for 127, with five wickets for Matt Taylor. Gloucestershire then opened their second innings with two tailenders, one – Will Williams – returning to the crease shortly after being out to act as a runner for the other – Craig Miles – who was out soon afterwards.
There was no play at Southport with Lancashire still trailing Worcestershire by 242 runs.
Scores on the doors
Chelmsford: Essex 281-8 v Leicestershire 333
Southampton: Hampshire 214 v Nottinghamshire 124-3
Taunton: Somerset 526-8dec v Sussex 22-1
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 123-6 v Glamorgan 360
Headingley: Yorkshire 486 v Surrey 17-0
Division Two
Bristol: Gloucestershire 154 and 21-3 v Northamptonshire 127
Beckenham: Kent 523 v Durham 173-5
Southport: Lancashire 28-0 v Worcestershire 270 no play today
Lord’s: Middlesex 177 and 13-1 v Derbyshire 376
Preamble
Good morning! From unpromising beginnings under south Manchester skies, it’s a fine truck through the Pennines this morning. Mytholmroyd station looked so pretty and I now know, thanks to the station noticeboard, that it was the birthplace of Ted Hughes in 1930.
A draw already looks on the cards at Headingley, but maybe Surrey will collapse in a heap and surprise us all. Elsewhere, Middlesex need to dig in, Durham are in trouble, everything is going in fast-forward on the hybrid pitch at Bristol, Essex are fighting back, Glamorgan are suprising (or maybe not, after two wins on the bounce) Warwicks, Sussex have a fight on their hands and it is early days at Southampton. Fingers crossed for some play at Southport.
All swings into action at 11am. Do drop in.
