Kimber hits double century in vain
Louis Kimber plundered 43 from Ollie Robinson – who now holds the unfortunate record for the most expensive over in first-class cricket – in the course of a mind‑blowing 243 at Hove that took Leicestershire from the bottom of a barrel to within tickling distance of victory. The innings, pinged at No 8, from 127 balls with 20 fours and 21 sixes, while wearing a jumper in the searing sun, ended when he dragged a ball on to his stumps, with Sussex 18 runs short of victory.
The pace of his hitting was extraordinary: fastest 200 in Championship history (100 balls), most sixes in a County Championship innings (overhauling Ben Stokes’s 17), most runs (191) before lunch in a Championship match, the second fastest first-class 200.
Off stump finally gone, he was surrounded by Sussex players wanting to shake his hand, and he trudged off, helmet still on, to a standing ovation. Before yesterday morning, his first-class average was 24.26, and he had made one other hundred – also against Sussex.
“My phone has been buzzing and the records I have broken are pretty cool,” he said. “I can’t remember hitting the ball as cleanly as I did today before. I got into a kind of weird zone when I wasn’t thinking too much except trying to hit where I wanted to. It was an amazing feeling. There wasn’t too much running going on, I was just trying to hit the ball as far as I could.”
Elsewhere, Surrey and Lancashire beat Worcestershire and Kent respectively, Ben Slater’s unbeaten 168 for Nottinghamshire kept Somerset at bay on a dead Trent Bridge pitch, and Essex’s Dean Elgar (120) and Tom Westley (63) dropped anchor at Chelmsford, much to the disquiet of Durham. Middlesex finally winkled Derbyshire out at Lord’s, Glamorgan and Northamptonshire drew at Sophia Gardens. And at Edgbaston, Warwickshire just managed to hold on against Hampshire. Sam Hain was unbeaten on 111, Michael Burgess etched 79 and Olly Hannon-Dalby nought, not out, in 11 balls.
That’s all from me for this round. Thanks as always for your company, and a large glass to Louis Kimber, who played the innings of his life. Good night!
243 runs. 127 balls. 20 fours. 21 sixes.
— Vitality County Championship (@CountyChamp) June 26, 2024
Spend five minutes watching every boundary of this ludicrous Louis Kimber innings. pic.twitter.com/KTpfQtWQCd
