Key events
Some early throat clearing at The Oval with a handful of Sunday supporters taking their seats. Football for Surrey and fielding practise for Somerset as a groundsman mows a practise pitch. It’s sunny, mild, there are tunes and they look as if they’re having fun.
Yesterday’s century for James Sales was more than a maiden first-class hundred:
Taha’s Saturday round-up
Taha Hashim
Not content with the 490 they struck on Friday, Warwickshire opted to continue their dismantling of Durham’s attack at Edgbaston, declaring two runs short of 700. The Bears captain Alex Davies was unable to convert his double hundred into a triple, but his predecessor Will Rhodes went to an unbeaten 178 as every member of Warwickshire’s top three celebrated a three-figure score in the county’s second-highest first-class total. There was less fortune for their No 4, Ed Barnard, bowled for one by a fine, ripping delivery from Callum Parkinson. Last year’s Division Two champions finished the day trailing by 520, but with the consolation of an Alex Lees century incoming in the morning.
Essex, who also put up 400 on day one, settled for 530 before their declaration against Kent, Matt Critchley top-scoring with 151 not out at Chelmsford. But the hosts missed their headline seamer Sam Cook, out due to a thigh niggle, as Daniel Bell-Drummond celebrated his second hundred of the week and Ben Compton his first of the season. Jaydn Denly took his maiden first-class wicket for the visitors and could well bat alongside his uncle, Joe, on Sunday.
Plenty of England’s Test setup were in action at the Oval, but two names from the past stepped up. Dom Sibley and Rory Burns put on 167 for Surrey’s first wicket against Somerset, with the former hitting his 20th first-class ton. Out of the current crop, Ben Foakes went to a half-century but Ollie Pope fell cheaply, while Shoaib Bashir spun the ball with control to dismiss Burns and go at two an over.
Emilio Gay went all the way to 261 for Northamptonshire against Middlesex before being run out attempting a desperate second at Wantage Road. Middlesex have endured a tough opening to the season in the field, having taken just nine wickets for the loss of 1,172 runs. A second-innings shootout is in development at Sophia Gardens, with Glamorgan 74 for four after acquiring a first-innings lead of 39 against Derbyshire. The visiting off-spinner Alex Thomson has 10 wickets in the match, a first in his professional career.
Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s five-fer for Sussex against Leicestershire at Grace Road was followed by a second consecutive hundred for the opener Tom Haines, while Cheteshwar Pujara showcased his famous patience in compiling 38 off 148 deliveries. Cameron Bancroft was similarly old-school at the top of the order for Gloucestershire against Yorkshire at Bristol, taking 160 balls to reach his half-century. He couldn’t, however, stop his side from conceding a first-innings deficit of 63. Keaton Jennings was another opener in the runs, remaining unbeaten on 85 for Lancashire against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.
Calvin Harrison had a fine day across all three facets for Nottinghamshire against Worcestershire at Trent Bridge. To begin with, his 52 with the bat in a seventh-wicket 146-run stand with Lyndon James, who fell for 96. Then a wonderful low catch at third slip to dismiss Jake Libby. And then, for The Prestige, three wickets with his leg-spin to put his side on top.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex 530-7d v Kent 245-1
The Rose Bowl: Hampshire 367 v Lancashire 233-4
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 399 v Worcestershire 220-6
The Oval: Surrey 358-6 v Somerset 285
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 698-3d v Durham 178-3
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 237 & 74-4 v Derbyshire 198
Bristol: Gloucestershire 263 v Yorkshire 326 & 57-0
Grace Road: Leicestershire 338 v Sussex 282-6
Northampton: Northamptonshire 552-6d v Middlesex 128-1
Preamble
Good morning! And welcome to the second Sunday of the season, the sun out, the lilac heady and the Kookaburra ball run ragged.
There have been five scores above 500 already this round, with power to add – though it looks as if the game at Sophia Gardens will follow a more typical early season bunfight – albeit with spin the surprising weapon rather than seam. Mason Crane pocketed four wickets on his Glamorgan debut and there has been a career-best ten for Derbyshire offspinner Alex Thomson, not, I imagine, what he was expecting when he got off the coach on Thursday.
Elsewhere runs, runs, runs, from Dom Sibley to Emilio Gay via Tom Haines. All is perky here at The Oval, and a big thank you to Taha for running CCLive! yesterday so I could eat mum’s hot-cross buns and be perplexed by my dad’s annual egg hunt.
