Peter H
09-05-2023, 09:59 PM
So I've messed up the Round numbers on the previous threads and don't know how to change the thread titles!
Round 3 was 20th to 23rd April.
Round 4 was 27th to 30th April.
This is Round 5 from 4th to 7th May
The rain affected all four matches this week, of which three were drawn. There were 3549 runs scored off 1045 overs = 3.40 runs an over.
Round 5
Essex v Surrey
At the Cloud County Ground, Essex won the toss and elected to bat. Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson proved that there is more to the Surrey attack than Roach, Worrall and Clark by taking career-best bowling figures of 6 for 68 off 19.2 overs. There were half centuries for Tom Westley (62), Matthew Critchley (60) and Sir Alastair (51). Extras contributed 33 runs to the Essex total of 314, of which 22 were leg-byes. In reply, Surrey could only manage 249 all out from 77 overs. There were only 28 balls bowled on Day 3, but Day 4 was sunny and promised plenty of action. First, Surrey bowled Essex out for 198 leaving themselves chasing 273 from 54 overs. It didn’t start well with Dom Sibley caught in the slips with the score still on naught, then Rory Burns was out the same way with only 39 runs scored. Ollie Pope scored 47 runs from 58 balls but once he was caught in the covers the chase was effectively over. Jamie Smith saw Surrey through the remaining 33 overs, his strike rate of 39 runs from 126 balls reflected his careful batting. He shared an hour-long, 25-run seventh-wicket partnership with Cameron Steel to clinch the draw, Surrey finishing on 153 for 7.
Essex (10 pts) drew with Surrey (6 pts)
Hampshire v Warwickshire
At The Ageas Bowl, Hampshire won the toss elected to bat. It didn’t go well. Despite an unbeaten 75 from captain James Vince, Hants collapsed from 83 for 1 to 109 for 6 in the space of eleven overs. Fletcha Middleton came close to a half-century with 49, but the final total of 229 all out was going to be difficult to defend. Coincidentally, Warwickshire were also 83 for 1, then 95 for 3 but they finally declared at 410 for 8 from 112.3 overs. Alex Davies scored 51, Sam Hain put on 85 with 10 fours, Michael Burgess beat that with 88 including 9 fours and a six, and Ed Barnard top-scored with 95 including 7 fours and a six. All this with no play on Day 3 due to rain. Starting Hants’ 2nd innings, Felix Organ fell lbw to Chris Rushworth second ball and that was a taste of things to come. James Vince scored his second half-century of the match (51 this time) but from 26 for 1 to 29 for 5, and from 33 for 5 to 35 for 9, a collapse was the only certainty. Mohammad Abbas managed 48 balls for his 4 runs before being stumped for the final wicket with the score at 97. Rushworth had 7 wickets for 38 off 13 overs, which game him match figures of 10 for 76 off 26 overs.
Warwickshire (22 pts) beat Hampshire (1 pt) by and innings and 84 runs
Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
At Trent Bridge, Notts won toss and put Lancashire in to bat. Josh Bohannon hit 68 off 72 balls and Tom Bailey was unbeaten on 48 with 6 fours and 2 sixes. But that was all the batting Lancs had to offer, falling to 214 all out from 44.2 overs; Brett Hutton took 5 for 66 from 13 overs. Notts reply wasn’t much better, falling to 119 for 5 at the end of Day 1, only Haseeb Hameed offering any resistance. He was finally lbw for 97 as Notts fell to 249 all out. Lancashire’s second innings was much better: despite losing Luke Wells with the score on 15, George Balderson and Josh Bohannon put on 188 for the second wicket. Balderson went first for 91, Bohannon fell for 92 just four balls later. A rear-guard 58 from Tom Hartley took Lancs to a lunchtime declaration of 329 for 8 on the final day. Chasing 295 to win off 67 overs, Notts collapsed to 55 for 6 from the first 20 overs. Joe Clarke and Brett Hutton shared a stand of 67 runs in 34 overs to take Notts to within 13 overs of the draw. They only lost two more wickets and Stuart Broad’s 4 runs from 50 balls helped the hosts cross the line.
Lancashire (8 pts) drew with Notts (8 pts)
Northamptonshire v Somerset
The bottom two teams faced each other in Taunton where Somerset won the toss and put Northants in to bat. In a rain-affected first day, only 37 overs were bowled. On Day 2, Northants were bowled out for 255 with Ricardo Vasconcelos the best on 70, followed by James Sales with 57. Reduced to 25 for 2 after 10 overs, Somerset recovery was led by Tom Kohler-Cadmore sharing a fifth-wicket partnership of 164 with James Rew. Kohler-Cadmore ended up with 130 runs from 102 balls, Rew with 89 runs from 171 balls. The start of Day 3 was delayed until 2pm and by the close Northants had lost Vasconcelos on 63. On the final day an unbeaten captain’s innings of 130 from Sam Whiteman, backed up by 58 from Tom Taylor saw Northants bat out the day and share the points (figuratively speaking if not technically accurate). The captains shook hands with 11 overs remaining and Northants on 311 for 8. They benefitted from 33 extras of which 16 were no balls and 15 were byes.
Somerset (12 pts) drew with Northants (9 pts)
Here are the tables at the conclusion of these matches. There are FOUR sides with fewer than 5 batting points! (taken from BBC Cricket (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/county-championship-division-one/table))
Pos Team
Played
Won
Lost
Drawn
BAT
BOWL
TOTAL
1 Surrey
4
2
0
2
6
12
60
2 Warwickshire
4
2
1
1
11
12
60
3 Essex
4
1
0
3
8
11
50
4 Hampshire
4
2
2
0
4
10
46
5 MIDDLESEX
4
2
2
0
1
12
45
6 Nottinghamshire
4
1
2
1
4
12
37
7 Lancashire
4
0
0
4
6
11
37
8 Somerset
4
0
1
3
8
11
34
9 Northamptonshire
4
1
2
1
1
10
32
10 Kent
4
1
2
1
2
8
31
Six batters have scored more than 350 runs so far this season (data from Cricinfo (https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/batting-most-runs-career/county-championship-division-one-2023-15156))
Player
Matches
Inns
Runs
High Score
4s
6s
Josh Bohannon (LANCS)
4
7
440
108
61
2
Sam Hain (WARKS)
4
5
382
165 no
37
1
Keaton Jennings (LANCS)
3
5
378
189 no
50
2
Ben Compton (KENT)
4
7
377
114 no
48
0
Ben Duckett (NOTTS)
4
8
362
177
42
2
James Vince (HANTS)
4
7
358
186
47
3
Five bowlers with 17 or more wickets so far (data also from Cricinfo (https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/bowling-most-wickets-career/county-championship-division-one-2023-15156))
Player
Matches
Inns
Overs
Runs
Wkts
Econ
Mohammad Abbas (HANTS)
4
7
132.2
343
25
2.59
Chris Rushworth (WARKS)
4
7
106
336
22
3.16
Lewis Gregory (SOM)
4
6
112
413
21
3.68
Ben Hutton (NOTTS)
3
6
85
320
18
3.76
Jamie Porter (ESSEX)
4
7
101.3
318
17
3.13
Round 6 matches:
Kent v Hampshire (Canterbury)
Lancashire v Somerset (Old Trafford)
Northamptonshire v Nottinghamshire (County Ground)
Surrey v Middlesex (The Oval)
Warwickshire v Essex (Edgbaston)
PS – I’ll be in Belgium all next week so probably won’t be able to offer a review of these games until Round 7 is completed.
Round 3 was 20th to 23rd April.
Round 4 was 27th to 30th April.
This is Round 5 from 4th to 7th May
The rain affected all four matches this week, of which three were drawn. There were 3549 runs scored off 1045 overs = 3.40 runs an over.
Round 5
Essex v Surrey
At the Cloud County Ground, Essex won the toss and elected to bat. Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson proved that there is more to the Surrey attack than Roach, Worrall and Clark by taking career-best bowling figures of 6 for 68 off 19.2 overs. There were half centuries for Tom Westley (62), Matthew Critchley (60) and Sir Alastair (51). Extras contributed 33 runs to the Essex total of 314, of which 22 were leg-byes. In reply, Surrey could only manage 249 all out from 77 overs. There were only 28 balls bowled on Day 3, but Day 4 was sunny and promised plenty of action. First, Surrey bowled Essex out for 198 leaving themselves chasing 273 from 54 overs. It didn’t start well with Dom Sibley caught in the slips with the score still on naught, then Rory Burns was out the same way with only 39 runs scored. Ollie Pope scored 47 runs from 58 balls but once he was caught in the covers the chase was effectively over. Jamie Smith saw Surrey through the remaining 33 overs, his strike rate of 39 runs from 126 balls reflected his careful batting. He shared an hour-long, 25-run seventh-wicket partnership with Cameron Steel to clinch the draw, Surrey finishing on 153 for 7.
Essex (10 pts) drew with Surrey (6 pts)
Hampshire v Warwickshire
At The Ageas Bowl, Hampshire won the toss elected to bat. It didn’t go well. Despite an unbeaten 75 from captain James Vince, Hants collapsed from 83 for 1 to 109 for 6 in the space of eleven overs. Fletcha Middleton came close to a half-century with 49, but the final total of 229 all out was going to be difficult to defend. Coincidentally, Warwickshire were also 83 for 1, then 95 for 3 but they finally declared at 410 for 8 from 112.3 overs. Alex Davies scored 51, Sam Hain put on 85 with 10 fours, Michael Burgess beat that with 88 including 9 fours and a six, and Ed Barnard top-scored with 95 including 7 fours and a six. All this with no play on Day 3 due to rain. Starting Hants’ 2nd innings, Felix Organ fell lbw to Chris Rushworth second ball and that was a taste of things to come. James Vince scored his second half-century of the match (51 this time) but from 26 for 1 to 29 for 5, and from 33 for 5 to 35 for 9, a collapse was the only certainty. Mohammad Abbas managed 48 balls for his 4 runs before being stumped for the final wicket with the score at 97. Rushworth had 7 wickets for 38 off 13 overs, which game him match figures of 10 for 76 off 26 overs.
Warwickshire (22 pts) beat Hampshire (1 pt) by and innings and 84 runs
Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
At Trent Bridge, Notts won toss and put Lancashire in to bat. Josh Bohannon hit 68 off 72 balls and Tom Bailey was unbeaten on 48 with 6 fours and 2 sixes. But that was all the batting Lancs had to offer, falling to 214 all out from 44.2 overs; Brett Hutton took 5 for 66 from 13 overs. Notts reply wasn’t much better, falling to 119 for 5 at the end of Day 1, only Haseeb Hameed offering any resistance. He was finally lbw for 97 as Notts fell to 249 all out. Lancashire’s second innings was much better: despite losing Luke Wells with the score on 15, George Balderson and Josh Bohannon put on 188 for the second wicket. Balderson went first for 91, Bohannon fell for 92 just four balls later. A rear-guard 58 from Tom Hartley took Lancs to a lunchtime declaration of 329 for 8 on the final day. Chasing 295 to win off 67 overs, Notts collapsed to 55 for 6 from the first 20 overs. Joe Clarke and Brett Hutton shared a stand of 67 runs in 34 overs to take Notts to within 13 overs of the draw. They only lost two more wickets and Stuart Broad’s 4 runs from 50 balls helped the hosts cross the line.
Lancashire (8 pts) drew with Notts (8 pts)
Northamptonshire v Somerset
The bottom two teams faced each other in Taunton where Somerset won the toss and put Northants in to bat. In a rain-affected first day, only 37 overs were bowled. On Day 2, Northants were bowled out for 255 with Ricardo Vasconcelos the best on 70, followed by James Sales with 57. Reduced to 25 for 2 after 10 overs, Somerset recovery was led by Tom Kohler-Cadmore sharing a fifth-wicket partnership of 164 with James Rew. Kohler-Cadmore ended up with 130 runs from 102 balls, Rew with 89 runs from 171 balls. The start of Day 3 was delayed until 2pm and by the close Northants had lost Vasconcelos on 63. On the final day an unbeaten captain’s innings of 130 from Sam Whiteman, backed up by 58 from Tom Taylor saw Northants bat out the day and share the points (figuratively speaking if not technically accurate). The captains shook hands with 11 overs remaining and Northants on 311 for 8. They benefitted from 33 extras of which 16 were no balls and 15 were byes.
Somerset (12 pts) drew with Northants (9 pts)
Here are the tables at the conclusion of these matches. There are FOUR sides with fewer than 5 batting points! (taken from BBC Cricket (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/county-championship-division-one/table))
Pos Team
Played
Won
Lost
Drawn
BAT
BOWL
TOTAL
1 Surrey
4
2
0
2
6
12
60
2 Warwickshire
4
2
1
1
11
12
60
3 Essex
4
1
0
3
8
11
50
4 Hampshire
4
2
2
0
4
10
46
5 MIDDLESEX
4
2
2
0
1
12
45
6 Nottinghamshire
4
1
2
1
4
12
37
7 Lancashire
4
0
0
4
6
11
37
8 Somerset
4
0
1
3
8
11
34
9 Northamptonshire
4
1
2
1
1
10
32
10 Kent
4
1
2
1
2
8
31
Six batters have scored more than 350 runs so far this season (data from Cricinfo (https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/batting-most-runs-career/county-championship-division-one-2023-15156))
Player
Matches
Inns
Runs
High Score
4s
6s
Josh Bohannon (LANCS)
4
7
440
108
61
2
Sam Hain (WARKS)
4
5
382
165 no
37
1
Keaton Jennings (LANCS)
3
5
378
189 no
50
2
Ben Compton (KENT)
4
7
377
114 no
48
0
Ben Duckett (NOTTS)
4
8
362
177
42
2
James Vince (HANTS)
4
7
358
186
47
3
Five bowlers with 17 or more wickets so far (data also from Cricinfo (https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/tournament/bowling-most-wickets-career/county-championship-division-one-2023-15156))
Player
Matches
Inns
Overs
Runs
Wkts
Econ
Mohammad Abbas (HANTS)
4
7
132.2
343
25
2.59
Chris Rushworth (WARKS)
4
7
106
336
22
3.16
Lewis Gregory (SOM)
4
6
112
413
21
3.68
Ben Hutton (NOTTS)
3
6
85
320
18
3.76
Jamie Porter (ESSEX)
4
7
101.3
318
17
3.13
Round 6 matches:
Kent v Hampshire (Canterbury)
Lancashire v Somerset (Old Trafford)
Northamptonshire v Nottinghamshire (County Ground)
Surrey v Middlesex (The Oval)
Warwickshire v Essex (Edgbaston)
PS – I’ll be in Belgium all next week so probably won’t be able to offer a review of these games until Round 7 is completed.