Warwickshire’s Chris Benjamin and Danny Briggs batted stoutly to deny a Lancashire team on the charge at Old Trafford. The game seemed to be limping to a draw when five wickets toppled between lunch and tea as Matt Parkinson wheeled out three leg‑spinners: first Dom Sibley pushed forward and edged behind for 41; then Will Rhodes helped another into the hands of leg slip and Michael Burgess was bamboozled for a duck.
But despite marching out after tea with spicy vigour, Lancashire could not push on, and the session was enlivened when, with an enormous bang, one of the huge glass windows in the Old Trafford press box spontaneously shattered, the hover cover below swiftly wheeled away to safety.
Hampshire came out on top in the nip and tuck game at the Rose Bowl, pinching the last wicket in the final session. Gloucestershire had got within dreaming distance of a target of 368, after fifties from George Scott and Miles Hammond. But the new ball wriggled past defences, as it had all game, with Mohammad Abbas finishing with nine wickets in the match.
Glamorgan romped to a six-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Sophia Gardens, despite the best efforts of stand-in captain Callum Parkinson. He and Ben Mike (64) frustrated the Glamorgan bowlers with a partnership of 88, and Parkinson wangled another 20 runs out of the tail. Parkinson then took three wickets cheaply but Leicestershire didn’t have enough runs to play with, and another smartly-stamp-the-envelope-and-send-it-on its-way innings from Sam Northeast saw them home.
It may have been a tedious four days for the Chelmsford spectators, but it was a record-breaking one for Alastair Cook, who reached his hundred for Essex by swatting a long-hop from Joe Root.
It was the first time he had made centuries in both innings of a first-class match. Any last gasp chance of salvaging a result had disappeared with the rapidly setting sun, when Yorkshire’s last five batters swilled away for just 39, Simon Harmer picking up a couple of wickets.
A candy-popping double century partnership between Sam Robson and Peter Handscomb, followed by rapid runs from Martin Andersson and Max Holden, delivered a seven-wicket win in a thriller at Hove. A plucky Sussex declaration, with Cheteshwar Pujara 170 not out, left Middlesex to score 370 in 77 overs – they made it with 3.1 overs to spare.
Jack Haynes jumped high with happiness after hitting his first century for Worcestershire, on the way to nailing down a draw against Durham. Haynes and Azhar Ali put on 195, with Azhar seeing off some short stuff from Ben Stokes in the morning session.
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Bravo Middlesex! Top of the Div two table and looking down. That’s it from me for this week, as the pigeons strut across the Old Trafford grass. Thanks for the company as always - see you next Thursday for the Roses match and more. Good evening!
🔢 | MIDDLESEX'S HIGHEST FOURTH INNINGS TOTALS IN FIRST-CLASS CRICKET
— Middlesex Cricket (@Middlesex_CCC) May 8, 2022
Today's incredible performance saw the Club record their eighth highest fourth innings total in first-class cricket!
Unbelievable performance from all involved today 💪#OneMiddlesex pic.twitter.com/r0Dlt1qcbu
