County roundup
A thunder and lightning 88 from Ethan Brookes took Worcestershire to within sniffing distance of victory on a morning of high drama at Chelmsford. Starting the day needing 110, with four wickets in hand, Worcestershire quickly lost three, which stung Brookes into an astonishing array of hitting, finding the rope even with every Essex fielder stationed on the boundary.
But with 28 needed, and just after flaying Porter over fine leg for his seventh six, Brookes palmed the ball in the air and Porter threw himself into a caught and bowled down in the dust. Brookes put out a questioning arm and a fired-up Porter briefly looked as if he was going into the ring. But the umpire gently intervened, the finger was raised and handshakes followed. It was Essex’s first win of the season.
At Canterbury, what had been a plodding final day blew up spectacularly after Kent tripped up during a nominal chase of 413 in 41 overs. Tom Price rattled through the top order with four for 33 and, at 97 for six, Gloucestershire smelt blood. But an unbeaten 54 from Zak Crawley, and staunch support from Grant Stewart, took Kent home.
Middlesex beat Glamorgan by nine wickets at Lord’s, despite stoical batting from Chris Cooke and Ned Leonard. The players wore black armbands and the flags were lowered in memory of the late umpire Jeff Evans.
Elsewhere, the weather flattened the chances of a result. At Old Trafford, play only got under way at 4.30pm, with Leicestershire trying to squeeze seven wickets out of a session, even putting boundary patrollers in the stands to ensure the ball got back to the middle quickly. But Marcus Harris and Josh Bohannon guided Lancashire to safety in a partnership of 79.
Rain, bad light and the deadpan bats of Ed Barnard and Olly Hannon-Dalby thwarted Nottinghamshire’s hopes of victory against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
An unbeaten 86 from Jonny Bairstow ensured Yorkshire’s innings didn’t collapse at Chester le Street, against a Durham side without their injured seamers Paul Coughlin and Brendan Doggett. Afternoon rain added a full stop to the match. Surrey continued their uneasy start to the season, the champions drawing their third match in succession. Sussex’s Tom Haines and Dan Hughes were able to bat their way to handshakes after Surrey had lost seven for 100 in the morning session, the left-arm spinner James Coles finishing with five.
Sean Dickson and Tom Abell batted Somerset to a draw against Hampshire.
And that is that, for round three. Well done Zak Crawley and bad luck Gloucestershire.
Thanks for your company over these last four days – have a lovely bank holiday evening. We’ll be back on Friday for round four. Bye!
