Roundup: Surrey's Smith torments Gloucestershire as Essex crumble
In a nail-biter at the Ageas Bowl, tail-wagging Lancashire recovered from the perils of 100 for seven, after the middle-order were unable to resist the wiles of Keith Barker (five for 67) and Mohammad Abbas. Nick Gubbins then led Hampshire’s evening trial against Jimmy Anderson and Hassan Ali as they closed on 103 for 3, 109 ahead.
Jamie Smith made an undefeated 234, his highest first-class score, as Surrey pounded to 600 at Bristol. Smith showed just why he has been whispered about so approvingly at The Oval, in an astonishing innings of concentration and skill. Jordan Clark also strongarmed his way to a hundred as Gloucestershire’s Mohammad Amir bowled 28 overs without reward.
Northants continued in their mission to accumulate, thanks to a painstaking century from Luke Procter and a bish-bosh 75 from Gareth Berg at Chelmsford. Ben Sanderson then ripped through Essex, with four for 24, including an awkward-looking Alastair Cook, leaving Essex 95 for 8 at stumps.
Some late-order wagging followed by some excellent attacking new ball-bowling turned back the Somerset clock to the heady days of 2019. Warwickshire were reduced to 197 for 9, as a pitch that had seemed docile suddenly grew teeth.
Yorkshire’s in-form pair of Dawid Malan and Harry Brook both made wonderful centuries at Headingley. Haris Rauf had earlier taken the first-five wicket haul of his career as Kent collapsed. Nathan Gilchrist was the unlucky recipient of a pistol-crack yorker to record his fifth consecutive duck.
In Division Two Sussex’s Cheteshwar Pujara strolled to a rollicking century against Durham, his third of the season; while it was a good day at Trent Bridge for Stuart Broad, who flayed an unbeaten 45 for Nottinghamshire before grabbing two wickets. However, an unbeaten afternoon hundred from Ed Barnard gave Worcestershire a breath of a chance. Michaels Neser and Hogan finished with four wickets each in Derbyshire’s 368, David Lloyd and Marnus Labuschagne led Glamorgan’s reply. And at Lord’s, Shaheen Shah Afridi took two wickets in his third over to terrorise Leicestershire on a freezing evening. A Mark Stoneman century had earlier propelled Middlesex to a first-innings lead.
Updated
Stumps at Leeds at last, with Malan out for 152 - his third hundred in four first-class appearances at Headingley - and Brook unbeaten on 131. What a start to the season he’s had! That’s it from me, we’ll be back tomorrow. Have a wonderful Friday night.
