A dazzling century by Emilio Gay worried Surrey at Wantage Road after Northants lost the toss and were told to get the pads on. It was Gay’s first century on his home ground, and he twinkled throughout, finally out for 145, hooking merrily to deep square leg just before drizzle brought the players off for the day. Rob Keogh finished 75 not out. Tom Curran started his first red-ball game since before Covid as Surrey tried to eat up their seven point deficit on Hampshire, and leapfrog back to the top of the Championship table. The day had started, as it did around all the grounds, with a minute’s silence and a rendition of God Save the King.
Sam Cook became the first English seamer since Derbyshire’s Alan Ward in 1971 to take 200 first-class wickets at less than 20. Fresh from ten wickets against Kent, he snared three for 31, and Shane Snater’s three for 39, as Essex ran through Yorkshire at a damp Headingley which slumped under floodlights all day.
Rain ruined all but 22 overs at Grace Road, where Leicestershire debutant, Sol Budinger, helped his team to 97 for two against Nottinghamshire. Budinger had never played a first-class game before despite being on the books at Trent Bridge, and he warmed to his task with a clamouring six in his 63 not out. All this despite losing a chunk out of his bat to the first ball of the day from Ben Raine. Matty Potts picked up a wicket just before the clouds opened.
It was a damp relegation battle at Edgbaston, where India’s Mohammed Siraj made short work of Somerset’s top order - including Pakistan’s Iman ul Haq – for Warwickshire. However, from 46 for five Somerset fought back - thanks to an unbeaten 60 from Lewis Gregory.
Another recovery at Hove where Sussex wrestled themselves out of the slime-filled pit of 23 for five. Half centuries from Fynn Hudson-Prentice, James Coles and Jack Carson drove the drive for respectability, with Carson playing his first Championship game for nearly a year after recuperating from knee surgery. Worcestershire’s Joe Leach finished with four for 37 and Ed Pollock and Jack Libby picked up easy runs in the afternoon.
James Harris made a happy return to Lord’s in the promotion shoot-out. A spell of three for 0 in nine balls kept Glamorgan in the hunt after they had been dismissed for 214, with Middlesex’s Toby Roland Jones and Tim Murtagh dismissing the top order and Ryan Higgins dismantling the tail.
Updated
With a delay at Northants, and stumps called at Headingley and Grace Road, I must write my round-up. Keep an eye on events at Lord’s – setting up for a low-scoring thriller – Hove and Edgbaston.
