I don’t know if the CC-Live bar is now empty, but huge congratulations to Essex pair Alastair Cook and Nick Browne, and commiserations to Kent for the spectator sport. An entertaining first day all round, despite the weather, with a particular hey-ho in the wind and the rain to young Sussex. I’m off to wriggle my cramped fingers - see you back here tomorrow. Thanks for all the messages. Good night!
Ollie Pope in fine fettle, 27 not out at a run a ball. Four fours off one Brookes over. Surrey 148-3
I’d better write up for the paper, so leave you with the Chelmsford race to 100 (Cook 93, Browne 96); Hampshire rattling along (34-0) after bowling Somerset out for 180 and Gloucstershire struggling (103-6). In Division Two, Sussex stride onwards (240-5, Clark 57 not out); while White and Holden rebuild for revitalised Middlesex (247-3).
Stumps at Cardiff
Glamorgan 164-4 (Ingram 71; Cooke 30) v Durham.
It was the hail wot did it.
“Hi Tanya, You put Lord’s in NW6 in your comments on Eskinazi” writes Michael Billington. The Michael Billington. “It’s actually in NW8.Enjoy a great summer!” Gah! Always getting my NWs in a muddle, thank you!
There are shadows, real shadows, encroaching on the Edgbaston pitch. An elongated lighting pylon throws shade across the slips. Amla, bat semi-aloft, is bowled! Whatever that ball from Hannon-Dalby did took him completely by surprise. Surrey 126-3.
Updated
Here we go again: sun out, Amla and Pope both on O.
Play will restart at 4.50 here at Edgbaston, with 29.5 overs remaining.The sun is out, the tractors circle, and the spectators have either given up or are hiding inside.
Tom Clark (20 yrs old) and Dan Ibrahim (17 yrs old)have put on 40 for the fifth wicket at Hove. Sussex 212-4 (Patterson-White 3-56)
It seems Pollock didn’t last much longer. Bowled by Chris Wright for five. In fact, Worcestershire have stumbled to 15-2 as Azhar Ali is run-out for two on his club debut.
Updated
Ah, I missed this. A lunchtime tribute to ex-Hampshire captain at the Rose Bowl today. Spectators were invited onto the pitch to watch a video, with a minute’s applause afterwards.
Warne played for Hampshire in 2000 before returning to captain the club from 2004-2007, scoring his only two first-class centuries for the club, and taking 276 First-Class wickets at 25.58
One of the Five Wisden Cricketer’s of the twentieth century. Might make the 21st century bench too. A superstar.
Just spotted that Worcestershire are opening the batting with a young debutant, Ed Pollock, alongside Jake Libby. Pollock was a junior at New Road before moving to Edgbaston. He is the first Warwicks player to hop along to New Road since Moeen Ali in 2007. He’s currently five not out, with a nerve-settling boundary under the belt.
At Grace Road, the first ball of the day is about to be bowled at ten past four in the afternoon.
De Caires, alas, cut short just 20 short of a maiden ton by Conners.
Somerset are all out for 180 after winning the toss and batting. Not the world’s biggest surprise. Little to shout about apart from Hildreth’s 87 and a boundary-heavy 28 by van der Merwe. They’ll be very grateful for those 14 Hampshire extras. Now, what can Siddle do with the new ball?
Meanwhile in Cardiff:
Hail hail the start of the new @CountyChamp season.
— Martin Emmerson (@Martycricket) April 7, 2022
It's like the middle of January in Cardiff right now.#BBCCricket pic.twitter.com/xJCNm0EZjX
“It’s great that the season is going again, and even greater that its all on youtube,” writes Andrew Benton. “Not so great is that Glos are now 45-4. At least things can only get better for them....hopefully.”
Yes, a tricky start for new captain Graeme van Buuren.
Here at Edgbaston, the umpires have trudged on, and trudged off again. Ah, and here come more covers. Such is April.
“Good Afternoon Tanya, afternoon everyone listening especially Glos. and Durham supporters.” Hello Em Jackson!
“I may be an outlier here, but the rain today surely gives us good reason to take Round 1 of the County Championship abroad - not saying to the UAE or Bahrain or anything “overly distant” but certainly Spain and Portugal perhaps?
Either that or play The Hundred now . . . . after all, 100 balls in this weather won’t take long at all.”
I’m not sure an early season trip abroad would be very popular with county members looking at their fixture list but your Hundred idea....it would even give the floodlights a chance to shine in the evenings... I like it!
Tea-time ish scores
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex 153-0 v Kent
Rose Bowl: Hampshire v Somerset 174-7.
County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire 66-4
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Surrey 123-2
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 153-4 v Durham
Grace Road: Leicester v Worcestershire. No play, rain. Start due 4.10pm.
Lord’s: Middlesex 205-2 v Derbyshire
Hove: Sussex 189-4 v Nottinghamshire
Gloucestershire’s top order having a brittle day at The County Ground. 57-4, with Bracey and Higgins hanging in there. Wishing Bracey a good year after the build-em-up/knock-em-down doldrums of 2021. Sanderson 2-10.
Stevie Eskinazi makes the first century of the season!
Ignore me, I hadn’t refreshed the score from Lord’s. The first century of the season pennant has already been raised by Middlesex’s Stevie Eskinazi! Could the times be a-changing at NW6?
It won’t be Hildreth who makes the first century of the season either, yorked by Liam Dawson for 87. Somerset 163-7.
Four games are currently delayed by rain:
Northants v Gloucestershire 36-3
Warwicks v Surrey 123-2
Glamorgan 153-4 v Durham
Leicestershire v Worcestershire. No play yet today, wet outfield.
The wind at Edgbaston is frankly unpleasant.
No problems for Chris Cooke at Sophia Gardens though, currently 29 not out in a rain-ravaged day. Lloyd, Salter, Northeast (on debut, for 24) and Carlson (tipped by me and out for 1) all back in the dressing-room. Glamorgan 153-4. No game for them at Colwyn Bay incidentally this year.
They’re off again here at Edgbaston.
3⃣ boundaries in 3⃣ balls from Cooke, this delightful late cut being the final 😍
— Glamorgan Cricket 🏏 (@GlamCricket) April 7, 2022
Glamorgan 152/4 after 41 overs
𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲: https://t.co/CHuqCuvEbR#GLAMvDUR | #GoGlam pic.twitter.com/NrlpSMaNbi
Sussex (164-3) defying all expectations, despite losing Haines, Alsop and Carter in fairly quick succession. Stuart Broad is due to join injury hit Notts for the second game.
With rain still on the tip of everyone’s tongue, the players resume the field at Edgbaston. Hashim Amla 0 not out as he prepares for his first knock of the year. Who could forget last season’s stonewalling effort - 37 not out off 278 deliveries to ensure a draw for Surrey against Hampshire. For now, he stands at the non-striker’s end, hand on hip, jumper sleeves pulled tight to the wrist and OH! There goes Ryan Patel, who will not now be making the first century of the season after having a swing at Hannon-Dalby and being caught behind. Surrey 117-2.
So, while the showers come and go, and Essex and Sussex and Middlesex laugh in the face of the doomsayers, tell me your players to watch for 2022.
Round and round and round go the tractors with the rope. Meanwhile the sky over the Birmingham skyscrapers darkens once again..
An email flies in from a windswept Chelmsford, where Essex are 120-0.
“Should pick the England side from the first players to reach a landmark,” writes Kroome. “Ryan Patel & Nick Browne opening. Alastair Cook close to batting 3, need some bowlers now. Couldn’t be any worse?”
It would be particularly helpful if we could “borrow” Abbas too.
A maiden half-century for Josh De Caires, or Mike Atherton’s son, as I’m sure he doesn’t want to be known. Middlesex 145-1, up, up and away!
Updated
Play will resume at Edgbaston at 3pm, if no further rain. Hail at Sophia Gardens has put back the prospects of play there a little longer. Meanwhile James Hildreth has skipped to the 126th fifty of his first-class career - he averaged a mere 22 last year.
Updated
Early days for a ball of the season - but nominating this for the September awards:
This has seamed an absolute mile from Hampshire's Keith Barker.#CountyCricket2022 pic.twitter.com/TJZrQRbT38
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 7, 2022
The wind causing Warwickshire’s groundsmen all sorts of issues, taking off like kites at Box Hill. Brilliant sunshine, but they must be expecting something.
Settled in for the rain? Good - here is something excellent to read on Durham:
They’re unrolling the green silky strings of the Warwickshire covers, and nailing them down with tent hooks. This doesn’t look good.
Another fifty, this time for Nick Browne. Did these batters not read the memo for April 7?
Asks Gareth Wilson:
@tjaldred who is Ryan Patel and why isn’t he opening for England?
— Gareth Wilson (@garethclw) April 7, 2022
I remember him best for taking 6-5 in 23 balls against Somerset at Guildford to catalyse Surrey’s Championship-winning season, but I think he thinks of himself as a batting allrounder.
Afternoon session
Belt and braces covers at Edgbaston after a lunchtime squall, and another rain delay at The County Ground, and a further inspection at Grace Road at 1.50pm. At the Rose Bowl, James Hildreth (40 not out) is injecting some backbone into Somerset, while Steve Eskinazi (Middx) and Tom Haines (Sussex) charge on past fifty.
Rory Burns gives Danny Briggs a return catch and that’s lunch! Time for a quick stroll and some sustenance - back shortly.
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex 86-0 v Kent
Rose Bowl: Hampshire v Somerset 61-5.
County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire 10-2
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Surrey 117-1
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 110-4 v Durham
Grace Road: Leicester v Worcestershire. No play, rain. Start due 1.10pm.
Lord’s: Middlesex 96-1 v Derbyshire
Hove: Sussex 101-0 v Nottinghamshire
With ten minutes left till lunch, I’m giving the first session of the season to the batters. Nine wickets a relatively meagre haul for the counties bowlers. (with apologies to Hampshire, who have Somerset 52-4)
“Hello Tanya.” Hello Simon McMahon! “As well as the first day of the English county season, it also happens to be my 25th wedding anniversary today, and what better way to celebrate than by visiting Lord’s with Mrs McMahon. Thanks for everything Mrs McMahon. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Anyway, to the cricket. Middlesex 56-1 after the first hour at a cold, blustery Lord’s. De Caires and Eskinazi looking well set after Stoneman chipped to mid wicket early on.”
Thank you Simon and happy anniversary to you both. Good areas, as they say.
Updated
Burns lives to fight for another lunchtime after skying Miles into the gloom, but just out of reach of the diving fielder.
Somerset, as night follows day, are three down. The good news is that Hildreth, who had a season to forget last year, is into double figures (21). Choosing to face Hampshire’s attack on an April morning was certainly bold.
Update from Grace Road
Play will start at 1.10pm after mopping up activities are finished.
Durham fans, this is for you:
The first wicket of the 2022 County Championship season is an absolute beauty from Durham's Matty Potts 👏#CountyCricket2022pic.twitter.com/KEosmw1yXn
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 7, 2022
Rory Burns is now joining in the boundary game: plink, plonk, very much like flip the frog. Patel has a huge swing at Miles and misses. Surrey 97-0 and doing Eoin Morgan’s “no fear” thing.
Live streams etc
Each county is live streaming home games via its website or social media channels. You can also access all streams via the ECB website and commentary is available through BBC local radio.
Nottinghamshire have tried four bowlers this morning - all without luck. Young Haines has rattled along to 44. SirAlastair, on the other hand, is in sedate mood at Chelmsford: 16 runs off 51 balls - three of them in boundaries.
Here, Surrey skip through the Birmingham daisies - Patel (61 not out off 68) on course for the first hundred of the season.
An hour in, how are things looking?
Division One: Essex 39-0 v Kent; Somerset 21-2 v Hants; Gloucestershire 2-1 v Northants (late start, wicket with the 12th ball of the day); Surrey 61-0.
Division Two: Glamorgan 52-1 vDurham; Leicestershire v Worcestershire start delayed by rain; Middlesex 52-1 v Derbys; Sussex 49-0 v Notts.
Kudos to Sussex’s young blades in particular (Orr and Haines). As mentioned BTL, after bleeding players in the off season, the average age of Sussex’s squad for this game was 21.6.
Ryan Patel reaches the first fifty of the season with his second six of the morning. Before noon as well, totally without decorum. Surrey 57-0, with a strut a last.
Make that Somerset 19-2: Abell nudging Abbott to third slip. Somerset already down on their luck, beset by injuries: Tom Banton (broken finger), Sonny Baker (back), Lewis Gregory (illness), Josh Davey (groin operation). Jack Leach and Craig Overton are also both unavailable.
The sun suddenly flashes over Edgbaston like a waft of a lantern. Rory Burns is still cautiously watching the ball over his right shoulder, while Ryan Patel has sped to 40. Surrey 47-0.
Oh Somerset, why oh why, oh why? Mohammad Abbas doing Mohammad Abbas things: Ben Green caught at second slip ( Somerset, 19-1).
Good morning Gary Naylor!
Suranga Lakmal is bowling in shirt sleeves at Lord's @tjaldred. That an impressive acclimatisation he must have gone through at Derby, because it's about 20 degrees cooler than Galle just now.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) April 7, 2022
The first wickets to fall come at Cardiff, where Glamorgan’s Andrew Salter has his stumps rearranged by Matthew Potts (23-1,) and Lord’s, where Mark Stoneman begins his season being caught at short midwicket off Shan Masood for 12.
Tim has asked me to share this petition, on the future of County Cricket.
The ECB’s high-performance review team, which hasn’t actually met yet and doesn’t seem to have a full quota of members, is being asked to come forward with a way to make the English Test team the best in the world and for an improved pathway between the county game and Test cricket. The counties would have to approve any changes (12-6) before next season.
First packet of Bourbons opened and consumed. Slow and careful appreciation of the bowling here at Edgbaston (7-0). Both Warwicks and Somerset have so far survived their foolhardy bold decision to bat first.
Rain delays the start of play
At the County Ground and Grace Road.
Hannon-Dalby has the new ball, Rory Burns to face. Liam Norwell has a back spasm after spending nights scrunched up on hospital chairs following the birth of his baby.
Surrey and Warwickshire line up next to the Championship trophy. The players trousers are going like the clappers in the glacial wind. We have a moment of unity which also remembers those lost in the off season. I can currently count 78 people in the stands, but there may be more that I can’t spot
Something for you to get stuck into:
And I forgot to say, do get in touch either via email tanya.aldred.freelance@theguardian.com, twitter @tjaldred or BTL.
@tjaldred Hi Tanya! Suggesting Essex v Kent might be one-sided seems a bit harsh. After all, Kent have rested Zak Crawley, and Stevo could take a while to warm up. Essex have a chance :)
— Andrew Harrison (@andyhamamatsu) April 7, 2022
I’m really hoping this is another belter of a season for Stevens. After the last few years it would be awful to bow out with a whimper. Not that I’m saying he’s bowing out...
Toss news
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Kent win and will field
Rose Bowl: Somerset win and will bat (ARGHGHGGH)
County Ground: Northants win and will field
Edgbaston: Surrey win and will bat
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Durham win and will field
Grace Road: Worcestershire win and will bat
Lord’s: Derbyshire win and will field
Hove: Nottinghamshire win and will field
Updated
There’s a bitter, bitter wind blowing across Edgbaston and the players are warming up in woolly hats and long johns. I think I can see at least one pair of gloves, though I’ve forgotten my binoculars so that may not be a hundred per cent accurate. You’ll be glad to know that the coffee machine in the press lounge is in good working order. Rory Burns is waiting in the middle for the toss, his hands firmly in his pockets, hair in a Gareth Bale top knot.
Round one
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex v Kent
Rose Bowl: Hampshire v Somerset
County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Surrey
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Durham
Grace Road: Leicester v Worcestershire
Lord’s: Middlesex v Derbyshire
Hove: Sussex v Nottinghamshire
Good morning!
It’s lovely to be back. Welcome to another summer of careers waking and sighing, inexplicable collapses and Darren Stevens . The County Blog lives to fight another season thanks to so many of you who click on to read, and post B(elow) T(he) L(ine). If you’re a regular, thank you for coming back. If you’re new, hello! Please stick around - espresso and custard tarts available just before 11.
It’s a murky scene out of the train window as the cross-country trundles past Macclesfield, but there’s a reason that the most northerly games this round are in the midlands, and the forecast is brisk but dry around most of the grounds.
A quick resume: the Championship returns to two divisions as decided by the 2019 season, with ten in Division One, eight in Division Two. Nottinghamshire have pulled the shortest straw, languishing in the bottom division despite finally finding their form somewhere behind the laundry basket last summer. Covid regulations have largely disappeared, though those who test positive will have to withdraw from games. Two regulations that come into cricket law in October will be used in the Championship this season: no saliva on the ball, and the new batter to take strike no matter whether the previous batters crossed while a catch was being taken. Points wise: 16 for a win, eight for a tie or a draw (encouragement for counties not to gamble on result pitches.). First innings batting and bowling points in the first 110 overs work like this: Batting Points: 200 to 249 runs - 1 point, 250 to 299 runs - 2 points, 300 to 349 runs - 3 points, 350 to 399 runs - 4 points, 400 runs or over - 5 points. Bowling Points: 3 to 5 wickets taken - 1 point, 6 to 8 wickets taken - 2 points, 9 to 10 wickets taken - 3 points.
I’m heading to Edgbaston, where Champions Warwickshire start the season with a visit from Surrey - who can’t have another under-performing season, can they? Plenty to keep an eye on , with Rory Burns’s team of England nearly men, including Ollie Pope and Sam Curran, complemented by Hashim Amla and Kemar Roach. Dom Sibley returns for Warwicks after a winter of rebuilding work - Mark Robinson compared him to an overseas player in terms of his contribution.
Elsewhere: Essex and Kent meet at Chelmsford for an (on paper) one-sided affair (Zak Crawley is rested), Somerset have to face Mohammad Abbas and Kyle Abbot at the Ageas Bowl, while Northants and Gloucestershire contest the battle of the newly(ish) promoted. In Division Two, Derbyshire’s Shan Masood avoids meeting his compatriot Shaheen Shah Afridi, yet to land at Middlesex, fresh-faced Sussex take on raging Nottinghamshire, Glamorgan and Durham meet at Cardiff, Worcestershire and Leicestershire at Grace Road. Yorkshire and Lancashire, meanwhile, skip the first round. Lancashire have announced a surplus of £1.8m for 2021 , while all eyes are on Yorkshire, in emergency recovery mode. They just announced a new sponsor, Indian streaming platform Clean Slate, after losing 43 sponsors in the fall out from the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal. “There’s a long journey to go,” Lord Patel told the BBC - “governance reform, culture change, listening to people, mindset changing.” Yorkshire await to hear whether they will be docked points by the ECB’s independent commission.
Some other overseas names to look out for, though not all will start today: Hasan Ali (Lancashire), Naseem Shah, Zafar Gohar, Marcus Harris (Gloucestershire), Haris Rauf (Yorkshire), Shan Masood (Derby), Azhar Ali (Worcestershire), Mohammad Rizwan and Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex), Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser (Glamorgan).
The teams must throw themselves into the season without knowing how the cards will fall at the end, with a reorganisation likely for 2023, depending on the findings of the High Performance Review sparked by the Test team’s calamitous winter. Is this a referendum on the county game? I’ll leave Mark Robinson to answer that.
“Whatever county cricket does it can’t win, can it? I think the game of cricket just needs some good news stories.”
