Key events
It comes to an end, with Cooke bowled for 132 and Glamorgan pocketing a lead of 58. A deserved five-fer for Chris Wright. Will either side now implode, or is this game going to peter out into a draw.
An early wicket at Grace Road as Wright picks up his fourth wicket of the innings. Cooke remains on 127 – Glamorgan’s lead stretches to 53. Some fascinating non-cricket related reading in the Observer today, including this on our dear departed ex-PM:
Fifty for Miles Hammond!
An excellent back-against-the-wall effort, but how long can Singh-Dale stay with him? Gloucs, 213-9, 242 behind.
At Bristol, the floodlights are on, and the cricket is about to happen.
Chris Cooke mulls on his favourite ground:
“You do rock up at grounds and get good vibes from some of them, whereas others you arrive thinking ‘how I am going to score runs’. There was more in the pitch than when Sam (Northeast) and I were batting last time, but you get value for your shots with the fast outfield. It is a nice place to bat.
“Sam hasn’t got a score yet this season but he is a class act. We’re only in our third game and it is hard to bat in April, but he looked like he was getting into a good rhythm out there today.”
Weather watch
Bristol: Cloudy with occasional showers edging eastwards. Slow-moving downpours and possible thunderstorms by afternoon,
Grace Road: Increasingly cloudy with scattered, slow-moving showers .
Thank you Met office.
Next to bottom of Division Two Yorkshire to learn their fate in the next few days:
The Hundred, take 2,645
More on the Hundred’s future/death knell:
But Sky might not be pleased:
Further chatter: ECB would breach TV deal with Sky Sports if they axe the Hundred before 2028 | Daily Mail Online https://t.co/iChVvm0gn9
— Cricket Supporters (@yourcricketsa) April 30, 2023
Scores on the doors
Division One
Lord’s: Middlesex 229 and 86-1 v Kent 186 and 128 MIDDX WIN BY NINE WICKETS
Edgbaston: Warwicks 150 and 141 v Surrey 281 and 16-1 SURREY WIN BY NINE WICKETS
Division Two
Chester-le-Street: Durham 452-9dec v Derbyshire 165 and 280 DURHAM WIN BY AN INNINGS AND SEVEN RUNS
Bristol: Gloucestershire 198-9 v Sussex 455-5dec
Grace Road: Leicestershire 407 v Glamorgan 446-8
Saturday’s round-up
The heady scent of three-day victory filled London’s air as Surrey and Middlesex danced to nine-wicket wins within minutes of each other.
Surrey, the 2022 champions, turned their grip on Warwickshire on the evening of day two into a knockout thanks to a mature innings from Jamie Smith and fearsome bowling from Kemar Roach, leaving them 22 for four at lunch. Only Ed Barnard offered resistance and Surrey needed 11 runs to polish things off. Roach finished with five wickets, Dan Worrall three.
There was high praise for Smith’s 88 from Surrey’s head coach, Gareth Batty: “It’s not his highest score by any stretch but it’s the best I have seen him play, against a very strong attack in difficult conditions… If he keeps playing like that, he will be another one that we won’t be seeing around much, which is a big positive for him and for England.”
Surrey take their place at the top of the Division One table after handing out a thrashing to Hampshire and Warwickshire in quick succession, reinforcing their position as the team to beat.
Middlesex, whose batting had become a cheap joke over the first two games, bounced back with victory over Kent to follow the declaration-and-chase win against Nottinghamshire last week. Despite the best efforts of Ben Compton and Jack Leaning, Kent’s wheels fell off, shortly followed by the electric windows and the windscreen wipers as they lost seven wickets for 22 either side of lunch.
Tim Murtagh, now a player-coach, shoved his 1,000th wicket for Middlesex in his rucksack in the process of picking up six for 42, and 10 wickets in the match. The target of 86 was knocked off with the loss of Mark Stoneman.
Cheteshwar Pujara strode to his seventh century for Sussex in his 12th match. This was a sedate affair early on, but he put his foot down to help Sussex to maximum batting points. A game that looked a certain draw after rain washed out the first day, then sprang into life as Nathan McAndrew winkled out five of Gloucestershire’s batters.
Chris Cooke made another century at the ground where he bashed 191 in Sam Northeast’s record-breaking game last year. He and Michael Neser put on 211 for the eighth wicket, a record for Glamorgan, to make the game safe against Leicestershire.
Durham duly defeated Derbyshire by an innings and seven runs, despite plucky resistance from Matt Lamb, lbw for 99. Matthew Potts captured five for 65.
Preamble
Good morning! Pull on your bed socks and percolate the coffee, a gentle day on the blog in prospect today with just two games still in progress after Surrey, Durham and Middlesex powered to victory yesterday. At Grace Road, Chris Cooke made hay at his favourite ground and took Glamorgan to a 39-run lead; while Gloucestershire suffered an attack of collapsitus at Bristol, losing nine for 88 after Marcus Harris was run out.
Come join us for some relaxing Sunday morning chat.
