Beware of Bears signs go up in Division One
Durham look too strong for Division Two and there’s better news at last for Kent
Ball one: Atkinson gets a Tongue lashing
A draw was enough to keep champions, Nottinghamshire, top of Division One and their immediate predecessors, Surrey, very much in touch in third place. With three wins between them, they can only match Sussex’s tally, but they’re in fourth, their pre-season sanction keeping them out of leadership, albeit by just the single point. Somebody must think that all makes sense – but I don’t.
The use of substitutes has been a matter of some controversy this season with some shouting foul and others demanding that players just get on with it, the game having been XI vs XI since 20 Men of Kent played 20 Kentish Men for a yard of ale each and a cart of deerskin pelts.
So it was a surprise to read that England-contracted Gus Atkinson was not immediately replaced after being struck not once, but twice, in two overs by probably the fastest bowler in the country, Josh Tongue. The second impact literally brought the Surrey man to his knees, provoking immediate concern on the field. Atkinson passed the concussion protocols, but left the crease 45 minutes later after intervention from the umpires.
I’m no medical expert, but delayed concussion seems a relatively common affliction after blows to the head and, given how risk averse England are regarding their bowlers especially, it seems almost cavalier to refrain from intervention.
The protocols kicked back in to prevent Atkinson getting a last tune up this week at Headingley before the First Test on 4 June. As with the points system, I presume somebody must think all this is a good idea.
Ball two: Bears maul Tykes
Speaking of lashes, Warwickshire were in record-bothering form as they hammered Yorkshire by 377 runs at Edgbaston, just one off their highest margin of victory. Three innings of 147, 152 and 171 might have been enough to start the men with the clipboards’ fingers twitching, but 553/6d would have cooled the pitch inspectors’ heels.
That innings, Warwickshire’s second, was built around Sam Hain’s undefeated 164, but there were solid contributions through the card, four more Bears making scores higher than the best by a Tyke in either of their two knocks.
It will have been a sweet victory indeed for Halifax-born Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who haunted his old county with match figures of 7-71, the wise old operator knowing the virtues of control.
Warwickshire go second while Yorkshire, who look light on bowling, flirt with the relegation zone.
Ball three: Hove is where the heart is
Sussex continue to stare adversity between the eyes, new captain, Ollie Robinson confounding his critics as he inspired another win on the South Coast.
It was a match that illustrated the importance of making a score once set. Leicestershire’s batters registered seven scores above 40 but nobody bettered Ian Holland’s 63, Robinson picking up six wickets and Jack Carson five, continuing his excellent form.
The difference makers were Daniel Hughes and John Simpson, both of whom batted nearly four hours for 136 and 114*, getting in and going on, the mark of experience. They handed things over to men 15 years their juniors, as Danial Ibrahim and James Coles biffed Sussex over the line before the rain could interrupt them again.
Ball four: Norton packs a punch
Surely that’s not Glamorgan in the upper half of the table after a second consecutive win is it? It is you know!
It was a dream match for a certain R Hadley, who transformed into his near namesake, Ryan channelling Richard to take five wickets in the match and discover hitherto unknown batting prowess with a five hour undefeated 50 as nightwatchman, anchoring the fourth innings chase.
Somerset will be left wondering how they squandered a first innings lead of 125 to be 63/8, Tom Norton taking a debut hat-trick for the Welshmen. Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory brought some respectability to the card and they still had a chance when the home side needed 99 with half their batters gone. Cue Sean Dickson to do an Oliver Hannon-Dalby and he bit the hand that once fed him with a quickfire 76.
James Rew opened, Lewis Gregory batted at number 10 and Jack Leach bowled just seven of 195 overs delivered by the Somerset attack. It was a curiously passive match for them – had they won it, they’d have gone top.
Ball five: Durham beating the promotion drum already
Durham opened up a 23 points gap at the top of Division Two after flattening Worcestershire at New Road.
Ben Stokes took his seasonal bow and picked up two wickets in each innings as he eased his way back into the groove. But it was the other all-rounder Ben, the one with a bad name for a cricketer, Raine, who bagged the fivefer. When Callum Parkinson did what a spinner should do and took a fivefer of his own in the second innings, there was just time for Emilio Gay to burnish his England credentials with a half century to lift his season average to 92, matching his teammate, David Bedingham.
The other seven counties are not quite yet playing for the second promotion slot, but if Durham beat Kent this week, they might as well be.
Ball six: James Taylor’s got new friends
Kent pressed the loan button (why don’t more counties do that?) and a second consecutive win and a mid-table spot, seven points off second, was their reward.
James Taylor took ten wickets on debut – but it’s only a two match loan from Surrey – as Kent won a splendid match at Bristol. Blows had been traded evenly across first innings, so that set up a second innings shootout, a scenario that brings all the unique characteristics of first class cricket into play on an ageing pitch with tiring bowlers.
When James Bracey fell at 112/4, Gloucestershire were probably targeting 250, with anything more a bonus. Captain, Cameron Bancroft, was the key and he continued to rub the bowlers up the wrong way while finding partners down the order, none of the home side failing to contribute.
Kent set off in pursuit of 261, knowing that a century should seal the deal. The mercurial Tawanda Muyeye delivered one, backing up his 90 in the first dig with 108, but there was still time for bums to squeak before that man Taylor hit the winning boundary, eight down, to put a spring in the step of Kent as they head to Beckenham to take on the Durham juggernaut.