Roundup: Bazball effect rubs off on Lancashire
Lancashire took the game at Taunton by the collar and gave it a good shaking. James Anderson kept on rolling, picking up another five-wicket haul, his 54th in first-class cricket, while a beefed up Saqib Mahmood collected his first wicket since he was ruled out with a stress fracture last summer. Somerset’s Tom Abell passed 150 for the first time, Jack Leach galloped to a happy-go-lucky 40 not out. Luke Wells teed off a Bazballing Lancashire reply and Keaton Jennings reached his first century as Lancashire captain.
Ethan Bamber, with four for 89, was the pick of the Middlesex bowlers as Ben Duckett muscled 177 for Nottinghamshire. The Middlesex openers reached fifty before being parted.
Hampshire’s James Vince lorded 186. Mohammad Abbas then trapped Northants’ Ricardo Vasconcelos with the first ball of the innings, and they later suffered a further crumple, losing three further wickets for one run. A final wicket for Abbas before stumps left the hosts in a hole.
At Canterbury, Nick Browne and Tom Westley reached centuries for Essex as the Kent bowling continued to suffer on a rain-affected day.
At Hove, Ollie Robinson made his first Championship appearance of the year. In he cantered and quickly had Yorkshire’s Finlay Bean dropped twice at leg slip. But the pick of the bowlers was Jack Carson, who grabbed three wickets with the close in touching distance. Earlier, Sussex’s last wicket pair of Carson and Henry Crocombe had irked Yorkshire with a partnership of 57.
At New Road and Sophia Gardens, they pulled the plug early.
And with Middlesex safely at four without loss, I’m going to have to withdraw to write up for first edition. Please do keep things going BTL.
Geoff Lemon off his long run, speaking truth to power. Awesome:
Duckett, Paterson, gone in two balls. Notts all out 364. Both to Higgins.
Love how long Vasconcelos holds the pose here. If you don’t look up, it isn’t true…
That didn't take long!@RealMAbbas226 picks up a wicket with the first ball of the innings#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/Yu4D0pgpyt
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 21, 2023
How many more can Ben Duckett squeeze out of Stuart Broad? Can he reach a daddy ton? 24 needed, Notts 361-8. Four wickets for Bamber.
Abbas, Abbasses. Vasconcelos gone first ball. Northants 0-1.
Luke Wells heeds the Bazball call.
Luke Wells reverse swept three successive Jack Leach deliveries - the first two for 4, the last for 6#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/OU6xWFyxZb
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 21, 2023
This is charming:
Shout-out for a great man I met at Hove - David Sherman… an interesting story to tell pic.twitter.com/bcUm2anpD5
— Huw Turbervill (@huwzat) April 21, 2023
Tea-time-ish scores
DIVISION ONE
Canterbury: Kent v Essex 203-1
Lord’s: Middlesex v Nottinghamshire 344-8
The County Ground: Northamptonshire v Hampshire 460-7
Taunton: Somerset 441 all out v Lancashire 147-0
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Durham 382-6 no play today
Hove: Sussex 361 v Yorkshire 52-1
New Road: Worcestershire 118-7 v Gloucestershire 231 no play today.
A quick look round the grounds:
They’ve started at Canterbury, much as they left it on Friday. Tom Westley has moved into the nervous nineties. Essex 198-1.
Duckett still there at Lord’s, Notts 338-7. An on-off day at The County Ground, currently on, with Hampshire 455-7. Vince out for 186. And Lancashire are cruising – 144-0 off 33 overs.
Luke Wells steaming away at Taunton – Lancs have already amassed 123 in 31 overs. Wells 72 not out, Jennings a more serene 38.
No play today at Sophia Gardens
They’ve pulled the plug after it started raining again.
150 for Ben Duckett
A smashing innings which has steadied the ship after a middle-order wobble yesterday, and pushed them onwards, alongside forties from Lyndon James and Steven Mullaney. Will Duckett be the first man to pass 200 this season? Notts 326-6.
Updated
Rain watch
In case you’ve lost track, no play currently at Sophia Gardens or The County Ground, Play abandoned for the day at New Road.
Robinson canters in, thoroughbred, long legged – Lyth whisks him easily off the ankles for four.
Bad news for Northants, and rotten news for Lance Morris, who have been briefly reprieved by the rain at the County Ground. Hants 454-7. Vince finally out for 186. Back to the shopping list for Northants.
Lance Morris has been ruled out of his upcoming stint with the Club.
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) April 21, 2023
Routine post-season scans in Australia have revealed an area of concern in his back.
Updated
And a note from Australia: Hello Jim Todd! “Following the action (!) from Tanzania, where it is overcast and 23o The lunchtime scores (and teatime scores) are great but can you give the overs bowled as well. (I will try but you might need to remind me again!)
“I was surprised you tipped Hampshire for the Championship, as I thought their batting was too dependent on James Vince. They did not get enough in their first two games, relying on their formidable bowling attack (which did not function in the Surrey second innings). Perhaps today they will demonstrate their batting prowess.”
My prediction are not yet cracking the flags…but I do still think Hants are in with a chance because of the possibility of suddenly running through lineups. Agree they are too dependent on Vince – though Gubbins has had a decent start.
In other news, you might enjoy the best of Ben Coad, had forgotten all his injury problems last year.
After a difficult year of injuries in 2022, Ben Coad is back and claiming his first 5-fer since September 2020!
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 21, 2023
It's the tenth time he's reached the milestone in his first-class career#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/A3bXU0XO93
Leg slip is not proving that fruitful for Ali Orr. Bean gets another life, as Orr can’t cling on. Very tricky though. As Robinson goes through his follow through next ball, Orr looks at the ground and shuffles. Yorkshire 12-0.
Updated
I’ve just remembered to look in my inbox:
“Hello Tanya,” Mes, hello!
“With it being a little quiet, how about a plug for the ECB’s umpire and scorer courses?
“Clubs are always looking for both, and it’s a lovely way to be involved in the game, if you haven’t got enough talent with bat and/or ball...”
Ali Orr lets Finlay Bean off the hook at leg slip off Ollie Robinson’s last ball of his first over – the ball comes quickly into his jumper and jumps quickly out again. Robinson stalks away.
Updated
Sussex all out 361!
At last, the Yorkies make the breakthrough. Ben Coad finishes with five for 54. Carson the last man out for 25 . Dirty great clouds hover over Hove. Ready for Ollie Robinson?
At Lord’s, Ben Duckett has moved to 128. Mullaney still there. More long hard slog for the Middlesex bowlers. Notts 269-5.
It it too early to say things looking a bit ominous for Somerset’s bowlers? The sun is out and the runs are chugging along nicely. Lancs 36-0.
150 for James Vince
I’ve missed James Vince passing 150. Has it been silky? Yes. Debonair? Of course. Hampshire 396-5. Ben Brown 40 not out.
James Vince doing what he does best!
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 21, 2023
The @hantscricket captain has moved past 150 against Northamptonshire#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/jnP1vHhvoD
Thoughts from Wisden Editor Lawrence Booth on the future direction of cricket, on the Final Word podcast:
"I think T20 has gone further than we thought and to the detriment of the game as a whole."
— The Final Word (@Final_Word_Pod) April 21, 2023
.@WisdenAlmanack editor Lawrence Booth (@BoothCricket) joined us from Lord's to discuss the new edition and as well as the ever turning wheels of the game.
⏯️https://t.co/ecTbSn5FPC pic.twitter.com/YbUktSwQLV
Ollie Robinson watch
Not only have Yorkshire had to watch Crocombe and Carson make a knockabout 53 – and counting - for the last wicket . They also have to face the new improved, fitter, stronger, Ollie Robinson warming up for the Ashes with his first game in the CC this season. Even before the re-boot, he used to eat county batters for breakfast.
Updated
The floodlights I think are off at Taunton, and I saw a glimpse of the Quantocks. Jack Brooks zips in, Jennings and Wells not teeing off in chase of 428. Lancs 13-0
Updated
No play today at New Road
A damp squib after the day of Tom Price.
Time to spoon out some peanut butter and do some chores. Back in half an hour!
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Canterbury: Kent v Essex 164-1 no play yet today, inspection 2pm
Lord’s: Middlesex v Nottinghamshire 252-5 no play yet today, inspection 1.10pm
The County Ground: Northamptonshire v Hampshire 346-5
Taunton: Somerset 441 all out v Lancashire
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Durham 382-6 no play yet today, inspection 1pm
Hove: Sussex 322-9 v Yorkshire
New Road: Worcestershire 118-7 v Gloucestershire 231 no play yet today.
Lancashire are really enjoying this last wicket partnership betwen Leach and Brooks. Being pinged for four back over his head by Jack Leach is exactly why CDG floew over from New Zealand. Somerset 438-9
Two wickets in two balls for the Yorkies, as McAndrew is caught off Fisher, and Carter a third wicket for Ben Coad. Sussex 302-8
And Jacks Leach and Brooks usher Somerst past 400, Leach’s cover-drive off Anderson one for the bar.
Here's Jack Leach driving James Anderson through the covers for four 👊#WeAreSomerset #SOMvLAN pic.twitter.com/BRn90Zn30c
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) April 21, 2023
Saqib Mahmood, wind billowing his whites, headband in, more muscly than in his reed-thin days, grabs his first wicket of the match, and first wicket since he took 4-90 against Gloucestershire last year. Peter Siddle caught behind for 17. Somerset 398-9 have lost five wickets this morning for 74 this morning.
They’re on at Hove, and it’s been a snappy start.Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel bowls his first over for Yorkshire, a maiden, and Ben Coad snaffles Hudson-Prentice to the first ball with the new ball. Sussex 288-6.
Abell out!
A wicket for George Balderson, if the triumph is Abell’s. Hurries off: 151, 285 balls, 19 fours, one six. Somerset could really do with another 30 runs from the tail to pick up another batting point. Nice work by Lancs this morning.
150 for Tom Abell!
Perfect balance from Tom Abell, who sends Balderson off his toes for four, then four more to bring up his 150 – his highest Championship score. A brief hug with Jack Leach and a standing ovation from the hardy selection of frozen fans in the James Hildreth Stand.
Five fer for Jimmy! Aldridge is squared up, and is well caught, down by his ankles, by Wells at first slip. Enter Jack Leach, with wobbly high backlift, who has a elaborate slap at the first ball from his England teammate. Somerset 356-7.
No play at Old Trafford this week, but something more important:
Great to be at Old Trafford Cricket Ground for the launch of the GM Violence Reduction Unit Strategic Plan. Hearing from Deputy Mayor Kate Green about sport’s role in strengthening communities @StreetGames #communitysport #prevention #earlyintervention pic.twitter.com/NaToOqwLXx
— Mark Lawrie (@MarkLawrie_SG) April 21, 2023
An early wicket at Northants, where Tom Prest is safely taken in the slips, for five. A second for Sanderson. James Vince remains, joined by Ben Brown.
They will start at noon at Hove, Somerset put another batting point in the swag bag after passing 350, rain elsewhere.
A fourth for Anderson! Lewis Gregory, who had unleashed a punishing drive to get off the mark, is hit solidly, definitely, om the pads. Somerset 339-6.
Pitch inspection at 1pm at Canterbury; no play before lunch at New Road. But there will be action at 11.30am at The County Ground where Hampshire start on 287 for four. James Vince 104 not out.
Updated
Apologies for the cringey plug, but I wrote a piece for this year’s Wisden about cricket and autism. Don’t know if we have any readers with autism on the blog – but would love to know any of your experiences. Also there are some useful references in it – PicturePath offer brilliant guides to Lord’s and Sophia Gardens, and there are sensory rooms at Edgbaston and OT.
I learnt so much writing about autism & cricket for @WisdenAlmanack. Huge thanks to @mypicturepath, Autism Association of W Australia, Andrew Edwards,@TheMetronomesCC, @McLovinstatto, @TWSSportsPod, @JacobLunn11, @Alexjervis12 & @olivia_thomas35 for their time, patience and help. pic.twitter.com/ifeMaS6vus
— tanya aldred (@tjaldred) April 20, 2023
And Rew throws the bat in reckless abandon at Jimmy, but edges straight into George Bell’s gloves. The end of a marvellous innings, his first century at Taunton, and as he walks off raising his bat, his rosy cheeks glow under his helmet. Well played!
Time for another pot of coffee as I watch a few hardy souls in cagoules huddle in the Taunton stands. A man has just arrived in gloves – that is not an ideal start to the day.
Jimmy Anderson, yellow soles, white wristbands, short sleeves and an air of moroseness runs in to 19-year old James Rew, on 117, who plays him back. Lancashire are in black armbands – does anyone know why? Somerset 316-4.
Ah, turns out that there is no play anywhere except Taunton where the Somerset tortoises are having a rye old time against the Lancashire hares. The first over passes by with just one run scored.
Rain watch
Delayed starts at: Canterbury, Lord’s, Northants and New Road.
Outside, the wind strips the trees and billows the grass. Pity the poor bowlers running into it.
For James Vince fans, everywhere:
All true... @DavidKHopps on form, too... pic.twitter.com/EqrZGkVizr
— Jon Hotten (@theoldbatsman) April 21, 2023
Eid Mubarak!
To everyone celebrating. So many social media posts online from cricket clubs in the UK, which is nice to see.
We wish our clubs, players, officials, and everyone in the cricket community, who will be celebrating over the next few days, a joyous Eid filled with peace, love, and success. Eid Mubarak! #BMSSCL pic.twitter.com/Ipnh3QYMcL
— BMSSCL (@bmsscl) April 20, 2023
...and elsewhere
It was largely a day for batting in Division One, with the sun out at most grounds. Ben Duckett continued to ooze form, cantering to his first Championship century of the season as Nottinghamshire built a steady platform against Middlesex despite a middle-order wobble. Haseeb Hameed made a brisk 55, chock- a-block with boundaries.
Hampshire’s Nick Gubbins, fresh from a half-century against Surrey in a losing cause, joined James Vince in a third-wicket partnership of 198. Both scored centuries, Vince still there at the end, Northamptonshire rueing enough dropped catches to make a large coronation quiche. Bad light and rain brought an early close at Canterbury, where Nick Browne and Tom Westley made half-centuries for Essex against Kent.
Somerset’s batters defied the pessimists by schlepping from 80 for 4 to 311 for four thanks to twin centuries from Tom Abell and 19-year old James Rew, against a Lancashire attack including Jimmy Anderson and Saqib Mahmood – who bowled 18 overs in his return to four-day cricket after last year’s stress fracture.
In Division Two, some rebuilding by Tom Alsop, who fell just five runs short of his century, and a snappy innings from Oli Carter – including two successive boundaries off a peroxided Dom Bess – gave Sussex heart against a disciplined Yorkshire.
Marnus Labuschagne made his return to what he calls his second home, snatching two catches and taking two wickets as Durham charged to 382-6 at Glamorgan. There were also half centuries for Michael Jones, Scott Borthwick, Brydon Carse and Ollie Robinson.
Yesterday's action: In Tom Price land...
The county season is just three weeks young and yet Tom Price may have already produced the performance of the summer, his maiden first-class century and a hat-trick on the same day sparking Gloucestershire’s revival away at Worcestershire.
Just the first of these dual feats would have been headline-grabbing on its own, such was the mire Price found himself in before lunch. Strolling out at No 9 with his team having subsided to 45 for seven, the 23-year-old produced an innings straight from the pages of Alexandre Dumas as a 98-ball 109 propelled the visitors to 231 all out.
But that punchy counter-attack of 12 crisp fours and three larruped sixes was only half the story in front of the old cathedral at New Road. Price’s second spell with the ball sent Azhar Ali, Jack Haynes and Brett D’Oliveira packing in the space of three teasing deliveries, each one edged into the gloves of James Bracey behind the stumps.
Having later added the wicket of Ed Pollock to his stash, caught by Bracey once again, as Worcestershire closed on 118 for seven in reply, Price beamed: “The three I got out are fantastic batters. I’ll wake up in five minutes. It’s like a dream.”
This was in fact the second hat-trick of Price’s fledgling career but just the 17th time in history a player has scored a hundred in the same first-class match. Gloucestershire supporters of a certain age will remember the great Mike Procter having twice achieved this rare double for the county back in the 1970s, similarly James Franklin in 2009.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Canterbury: Kent v Essex 164-1
Lord’s: Middlesex v Nottinghamshire 252-5
The County Ground: Northamptonshire v Hampshire 287-4
Taunton: Somerset 311-4 v Lancashire
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Durham 382-6
Hove: Sussex 275-5 v Yorkshire
New Road: Worcestershire 118-7 v Gloucestershire 231
Preamble
Hello! Wishing us all a day like Tom Price had yesterday.
A brilliant day for a brilliant player 🙏
— Gloucestershire Cricket (@Gloscricket) April 20, 2023
Tom Price shares his thoughts on yet another memorable day for The Shire 🔥
"It hasn't really sunk in yet" 🤯#GoGlos 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/YuSTIZCLHD
But after the fireworks and sunshine, what do we have in store today? Worse weather, unfortunately – rain and showers plonked like a great dirty jumper over most of central England, though things look a bit better later on. Time, maybe, for the bowlers to hit back after six centuries yesterday – to Duckett, Abell, Rew, Gubbins, Vince and, of course, Price.
