A familiar figure took the field at Chester-le-Street. Tall, neat, trousers nipping at his ankles, right arm wrapped with a sleeve. Red-ball cricket had been waiting for Jofra Archer for 1,501 days but the Sussex captain, John Simpson, was playing by his own timetable. He threw the new ball to Ollie Robinson – another bowler with an England shadow stuck to his boot – and Gurinder Sandhu. It was half an hour before Archer was called up from long leg to take on Durham.
For those whose memories of Archer are forever Lord’s 2019, Smith down on the burning deck, his first spell back was nothing more than solid. A couple of maidens, a handful of bouncers: 4-2-11-0. His second spell, after lunch, once he had checked that everything was in full working order, was spicier. Will Rhodes survived a toe-crusher, before Emilio Gay’s luck ran out and he was lbw to a rapid rasper low on the pad. Colin Ackerman was greeted with a snorter and there were a couple of those missiles that hone in on the body. One further spell made it 14 overs and one wicket for the day, and a nod of approval from Headingley.
On the other side of the country, Jimmy Anderson grabbed a couple of early wickets at Blackpool where the wind ran up the trouser leg and scampered out of the collar. Ben Compton’s 135 for Kent received a standing ovation before Lancashire’s openers accumulated neatly, until Keaton Jennings was out just before stumps.
Tilak Varma made an unbeaten 98 to ease Hampshire to near parity as Essex toiled. Earlier Kyle Abbott pocketed his third five-fer of the season. Yorkshire had a better day with bat than ball, biffed about by Nottinghamshire’s Ishan Kishan, Liam Patterson-White and Dillon Pennington. Mohammad Abbas then removed Adam Lyth with his first ball, but an unbeaten 86 from Finlay Bean steadied things.
Middlesex’s Zafar Gohar spun out four of Northamptonshire’s top five, but Saif Zaib danced to an unbeaten 83 at Wantage Road, and there were more fireworks from Leicestershire as Rehan Ahmed and Sol Budinger sprayed attacking centuries against Glamorgan.
Centuries from Harry Came and Wayne Madsen put Derbyshire in a happy position against Gloucestershire. Tom Lammonby’s 133 was his highest first-class score, though Somerset then lost seven for 91. Worcestershire worked hard to dismiss Surrey, but Matt Fisher and Nathan Smith ruined their top order.
Close of play scores
DIVISION ONE
Chester le Street: Durham 249-5 v Sussex 361
Chelmsford: Essex 296 v Hants 293-4
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 487 v Yorkshire 154-3
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 158-1 v Somerset 498
New Road: Worcestershire 214 and 69-4 v Surrey 291
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire 187 and 62-1 v Derbyshire 398
Blackpool: Lancashire 120-1 v Kent 374
Grace Road: Leicestershire 389-3 v Glamorgan 353
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire 308-5 v Middlesex 413
