Key events
Crane out for 99
No, no, no Mason! He swings and is stumped. Slumps over his bat like King Arthur by the lake. A maiden Championship century just out of reach. Glamorgan 440 all out.
Two in two for Tom Bailey – Gay (41) and Aldridge. Durham in a sticky situation at 121 for six.
Scott Read has said that Lancashire’s first choice of injury sub was rejected, as Tom Bailey was last week. This time the match referee said no to Tom Hartley replacing Arav Shetty because Hartley was too experienced. George Bell is the chosen man. HArtley has played 43 first-class games, Bell 33. Shetty, two.
Crane crawling through the nineties….
And I should have said, a very Happy Birthday to Mike Selvey, Guardian cricket writer extraordinaire. (Pope flourishes a four).
Swiftwatch – we haven’t spotted any in Manchester yet, have any been seen elsewhere?
Sibley and Pope are watchful here, leaving everything they can.
Substitute at CLS
George Bell replaces Arav Shetty in the Lancashire side, after Shetty hurt his hand in early morning fielding practice. That’s two in two days up at CLS.
Sam Cook is replaced by Shane Snater and third ball gets Smith a-nibbling, taken, with luck, by Pepper behnd the stumps. The imposing figure of Smith disappears up the dressing-room steps. Ollie Pope comes down them. Surrey 29-2.
England watch – Ben Duckett is 11 not out for Notts (41-2). Jamie Smith 5 not out here at The Oval, I heard Mark Church say how wonderfully he was batting this season, ignoring the short ball (Surrey 23-1). Joe Root yet to bat at Headingley, (Yorks 2-0) after Sussex collected a huge 502. Shoaib Bashir has two wickets in Gloucestershire (Gloucestershire’s!) 418-8. Ben McKinney was out for 3 in Durham’s 95-4 – James Anderson 2-32.
Is Mason Crane going to be the third Glamorgan batter stranded in the 90s? Currently 89 not out, with only the company of last man Ryan Hadley. Glamorgan 423-9.
In the call of CCLive! duty I climbed to the Laker Garden at the top of the SSE stand. The views are amazing – Saint Paul’s Cathedral dwarfed by giant steel and glass Triffids. And so many London trees. Also a bee house on the roof. A helpful tour guide pointed out to his punters that it costs four and a half million for a penthouse flat in the gasometer development. Sorry, “Halo” development
Over in that high-scoring IPL match, Punjab Kings’ Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya have hit ten sixes in 29 balls.
Time for lunch, back soon.
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 410-8 v Leicestershire
Trent Bridge: Notts 26-1 v Warwickshire 459
The Oval: Surrey 17-1 v Essex 409
Headingley: Yorkshire v Sussex 488-9
DIVISION TWO
The County Ground: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire 391-8
Riverside: Durham 73-3 v Lancashire 370
New Road: Worcestershire 192-3 v Kent 196
Apologies all, having a few connection issues, everything has ground to a halt. Cook is bowling beautifully.
A pause at The Oval as Rory Burns’s finger is examined by the physio after being rapped on the finger, and next ball he shimmies an edge behind! Beautiful by Porter. Surrey 12-1.
Into this gentle lunchtime murmur comes news from Delhi Capitals that KL Rahul has smashed 145 off 63 balls, and counting. Should he pass 150, it would be only the third ever in the IPL.
Dan Lawrence finishes the job, a second catch for Burns, to finish with a more- than-tidy three for fourteen, Essex 409. Now Jamie Porter from the Vauxhall end in bright sunshine, three greedy slips.
Another wicket at CLS, and the bad news for Durham fans is that it is David Bedingham, the man who might best thwart Anderson. The wicket taker this time is Mitch Stanley. Durham 47 for three.
…nearly but not quite, as Jamie Porter has a wild drive to a juicy one tossed up.
Dan Lawrence’s whirly-gigs to the rescue. Noah Thain’s eyes light up, he drops to his knees and smacks Lawrence straight to square leg. A career best 64. Actually make that two in two, as Rory Burns takes a diving screamer at first slip to send Sam Cook away. Hat-trick ball…
At Cardiff, Mason Crane and Timm van der Gugten are punishing Leicestershire, Ajaz Patel reels through over number 37. Nick Howson reports that the wicket there is very dry, as if designed for Crane on day four. Glamorgan 395-7.
Shane Snater isn’t hanging around, pounding Abbott into the stands for six.
Over an hour in, and Surrey finally get the breakthrough! Simon Harmer sent on his way by Sean Abbott for 41. A relieved round of applause from the duck-egg blue seating.
Alex Lees too falls to Anderson’s wiles, thudding into his pads, as Lees turns his face to avoid seeing the finger of doom. Durham 24 for two.
Simpson and Barnard help Sussex and Warwicks pile on the runs
Sussex and Warwickshire have both passed 400 with little trouble, John Simpson is still resident at Headingley on 115 though George Hill has picked up his third wicket, getting rid of Hudson-Prentice for 36. At Trent Bridge, Ed Barnard now has 162 and Michael Booth 44.
Noah Thain and Simon Harmer are looking pretty untroubled this morning, but I see that Jimmy Anderson has done for Ben McKinney already, expertly sending his off stump cartwheeling towards the slips. Big Ben stands still and looks at him as if to say that’s not fair. Durham 10-1.
Nine, ten, jack, Lancs lose their last three wickets for one run and are all out for 370. Over to you, Lees and McKinney.
More on working from The Oval, in case anyone is interested. You just buy a normal ticket and go to whichever area has been set aside for that purpose (the function room etc moves according to events). It is first come, first served, for a laptop and power point.
A couple of early wickets, leavering out yesterday’s set batsmen – Marcus Harris caught for 146 off Ben Raine up in at CLS; and Jake Libby bowled by Kent’s one-man-band Matt Milnes for 52.
Substitution of the day
The day’s first injury sub comes at Chester le Street where Sam Conners (side strain) has been replaced by young James Minto.
A loud thud and Jordan Clark is outraged that Simon Harmer is not given out lbw. Harmer holds his bat in the air unperturbed. Tom Lawes does up his bootlaces. Essex 332-6.
Enjoy Barney’s April poem and very funny Saturday rant:
Working from the cricket
Good morning Tim Maitland!
“You mentioned yesterday that Surrey had 5,000 plus at the Oval. While you’re there, please can you tell us whether Surrey are best-in-class at promoting their championship matches, or are other counties trying schemes as innovative as the work-from-home desks?”
I know Surrey have a zillion advantages, location, money, wealthy fans, yada yada, but they are fabulous at promoting the Championship and do the basics of making fans feel welcome so well. Working from the cricket is a great idea but I have no idea if any other club has such a scheme – please tell me if you know more. Seems a no brainer for the bigger stadiums.
The outfield is organised like a school circuits class – slip fielding to the right, stretches to the left, bowlers in the corner. Just chatted to Nick Howson from the Cricketer who was at Cardiff yesterday. He says Ian Holland was incredible, at one point bowling eight overs and only conceding one run.
Friday’s round-up
The crowd spread on to the Oval outfield at lunch like a lapping wave, enjoying the picture-book day and entertained by Gus Atkinson’s first proper run out since the Boxing Day Test.
Atkinson opened the bowling against Essex from the pavilion end, that now familiar toes-together, baby-steps approach, an opening spell on the money but he had to wait until after 6pm for his reward – Michael Pepper bowled tifter and boots. The pitch was friendly and Dean Elgar (92) and Paul Walter, with an excellent 101, duly tucked in, adding 183 for the first wicket. Surrey’s bowlers clawed back in the afternoon leaving the match evenly poised.
Joe Root, too, was making his County Championship debut for the summer, Yorkshire cap pulled tight, scooping up a bread and butter edge from James Coles at first slip and trundling through five overs. Yorkshire’s bowlers were thwarted by a merry sixth-wicket partnership between Sussex’s Tom Price (93) and John Simpson – who reached his hundred off the day’s penultimate ball.
Josh Tongue grabbed five wickets at Trent Bridge, for the fourth time in just eight first-class games for Nottinghamshire, but Warwickshire kept their nerve. Tongue fired down some brutish balls, though Beau Webster may regret the whooping drive at a wide one which zipped into his own stumps. Ed Barnard, visibly pained from the non-striker’s end, went on to an impressive 134 not out, Chris Woakes made 64.
Zak Crawley batted prettily for 27 before he was subsumed into Kent’s dismal collapse to 99 for seven, after choosing to bat at New Road. The lower order spruced things up, Matt Milnes last man standing on an undefeated fifty. Beyers Swanepoel, belatedly in Worcestershire colours after his plane flight fiasco, grabbed three wickets.
Marcus Harris, with his second century of the season, once again propped up Lancashire, against Durham; and Kiran Carlson did the same as Glamorgan fought back against Leicestershire, until he set off too eagerly and was run out, scrambling back, for 95, flat on his face for five seconds of disbelief. Sean Dickson was also out just short of a century.
At the County Ground, Anuj Dal slipped in his run up, injuring his ankle, and had to be carried off the pitch on a stretcher – Luis Reece his injury replacement. Shoaib Bashir, playing in his third match of the season for Derbyshire and getting overs under his belt at last, picked up two wickets, but Miles Hammond starred for Gloucestershire with 140 not out.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 334-7 v Leicestershire
Trent Bridge: Notts v Warwickshire 375-8
The Oval: Surrey v Essex 325-6
Headingley: Yorkshire v Sussex 373-6
DIVISION TWO
The County Ground: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire 287-6
Riverside: Durham v Lancashire 356-7
New Road: Worcestershire 94-1 v Kent 196
Preamble
Good morning! There’s a queue outside the Hobbs Gate already. A huddle of caps and picnic bags in sight of the red-brick Surrey pavilion adorned with giant pictures of Rory Burns and Bryony Smith. It’s a happy sight this sunny morning.
Play starts here at The Oval, and around all the grounds at 11am, do join us for some Saturday cricket.