Tanya's county roundup
How to get Jonny Bairstow back into the Test team? Speculators have run their finger down the current XI, paused by the name of Ben Foakes and scuffed a large pencil asterisk next to his name. This one, he doesn’t rip apart phone directories, or haul up trees, in fact he doesn’t really do Bazball.
But with Bairstow still recuperating from his broken leg, able only to run in straight lines, Foakes has started the County Championship season in the brightest possible hue. His 76 in the first innings against Lancashire was followed by a superb unbeaten hundred yesterday that enabled Rory Burns to declare with a lead of 443.
In a Surrey lineup full of stars, Foakes’s innings stood out. There was fifty from Burns, a curtain of dark hair hanging loose from his helmet like a cavalier though batting like a roundhead, and a lovely cameo from Ollie Pope which came to an end in a hasty flurry of top edges, one caught by a diving Colin de Grandhomme, who lost his trousers in the process.
But Foakes, long sleeves pulled up just so, played an innings of delight, full of no-fuss drives, cuts and sweeps, played with total control to bisect and thoroughly irritate fielders who then had to chase the ball to the boundary. The hundred came with a delicate sweep off Parkinson and was warmly applauded both on the field and on the Surrey balcony, where everyone wore their new regulation royal blue leisure wear.
There was just time for Jordan Clark to ram a six before the declaration came. Matt Parkinson finished with five for 120 – not bad for a leg-spinner in early April. In the evening sunshine, Lancashire set off in search of what would be their second-highest fourth innings total, Foakes now immaculate behind the stumps.
One of the early-season favourites, Hampshire, duly thrashed promoted Nottinghamshire by eight wickets, steaming gleefully to the top of the table, 19 points in their pocket. Fletcha Middleton, 21, son of the former cricketer Tony, made his second fifty of the game, putting on 101 with Nick Gubbins as Hampshire charged to their target of 132.
Earlier, Mohammad Abbas had picked effectively away at the Notts tail, completing a haul of nine wickets in the game. The biggest surprise of the day was when, with scores level, the umpires took the players off for a 20-minute tea interval, to a chorus of boos.
After the ignominy of being four for four in their first innings, Middlesex’s suffered another top‑order malfunction in their second after being set 308 to win by Essex. This time it was 15 for three as Jamie Porter and Sam Cook resumed their deadly double act.
The 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed, whose first over on Thursday was pancaked for 22, made a superb 85 in a determined rearguard sixth-wicket stand of 141 with the Australian Peter Handscomb, who danced to 112, as Leicestershire boldly chased Yorkshire’s 517.
Alex Davies hit his seventh first-class century as Warwickshire eased past Somerset in a game that lost its first day to a soggy outfield and looks likely to peter out into a draw. Jack Leach picked up three for 93.
Marcus Harris waved prettily at the Australia selectors with a brilliant 148 that raised Gloucestershire from the dead at Sophia Gardens. Starting their second innings 239 runs behind Glamorgan, Harris and Chris Dent rattled along in a first‑wicket partnership of 161 at nearly five an over.
A robust 101 not out from Rob Keogh gave Northamptonshire a whisker of a chance against Kent at Canterbury, backed up by fifty from Hassan Azad, who was released by Leicestershire during the winter.
An unbeaten maiden hundred by Matthew Waite put Worcestershire in a dominant position against Derbyshire and Sussex were on the verge of turning the match against Durham on its head, needing 59 to win with wickets in hand.
Updated
Good night!
From a hundred for Ben Foakes to 16 wickets in the day at Hove, it’s been an cracking day. Congratulations to Hampshire, Champions elect, we’ll be back tomorrow to see who else can snatch a win in the first round. Till then, good night!
