Flintoff gets an inside edge and his stumps explode like a stamped on packet of cheese and onion. Lancs 72-3.
Asks Gary Naylor:
“This is a pretty crucial match at both ends of the table, so it’s disappointing that Lancashire are missing 16 of their 26 players listed in the First XI squad on the website. Is this the record for this round? I feel that accusations of the competition becoming a Second XI tournament are not supported by the evidence, but my arguments are weakening with every passing week.”
I just had a flick through the yearbook – Anderson, Livingstone, Salt with England. Buttler injured. Lyon gone home. Luke Wood at the Zim T10 (thank you lancashireexpat) Others out of form. Saqib Mahmood? Things do seem a bit awry on the good ship Lancashire.
Time to go around the grounds.
Andy Bull
Morning from The Oval, Tanya, it’s a lovely late summer day here and Durham, put into bat, are fifty without loss. Alex Lees, who has taken over the captaincy, just scored his 5,000th first class run for the club, and earned some warm applause for it. He was out a moment or so later, clean bowled leaving a delivery from Sam Curran, only it turned out to be a no ball. Durham have managed to get Northamptonshire’s Emilio Gay into the team, too. He wasn’t supposed to join them till next season, but has started early. Which gives them a pretty formidable looking batting line up. Their bowling is awfully raw though, with a 16-year-old kid called James Minto making his debut, alongside 19-year-old Daniel Hogg. Oh, Dan Worral’s just had Ben McKinney caught behind, so here comes Gay for his debut now…
It turns out that we have a correspondent at The Oval – hello there Andy Bull!
And in case anyone missed the last round, here is Tom Davies’ cracking coverage of the denouement
County cricket: Somerset pull off dramatic win over Surr
Jennings and Flintoff holding up Somerset here as we head into the second hour. Jennings sends Gregory for two successive fours. Flintoff, cutting the paperclip figure you’d expect of a 16 year old, a patient 0 from 15 balls. And make that a third four of the over. Now a fourth. Lancs 59-2.
This was probably covered in the last round but, if you want to read up on the big bat controversy, this is your website – The Cricket Regulator – complete with diagrams of bat gauges and more.
And Bohannon must walk off, John Wayne style, a second for Overton. Enter young Flintoff. Lancs 41-2.
And Warwickshire are also flailing around, Yates, Davies and Hain back in the pavilion with just 27 on the board. Porter and Cook the ammunition men.
And Overton strikes, Singh pushes forwards and is caught by Lammonby in the bread basket. Lancs 21-1.
Lancs have survived the first 10 minutes from Craig Overton and Randell, and their teammates all clad in regulation cap and cable-knit jumper.
Elsewhere, Warwickshire have lost an early wicket, Yates for five to the inevitable Porter; and Glos have been brought back to earth sharply, 1-1, Joe PHillips gone to the ninth ball of the day.
Regulations, regulations, regulations
Thanks to Ken Grime for this regulatory nugget:
Reg 16.2.7.
The side which has the highest aggregate of points gained at the end of the season shall be the Champion County of their respective Division.
Should any sides in the Championship table be equal on points, the following tie-breakers will be applied in the order stated: most wins, fewest losses, team achieving most points in contests between teams level on points (over-rate penalties shall be included in this calculation), most wickets taken, most runs scored.
And lo, Jennings is dropped first ball at second slip by Kasey Aldridge.
Lancs watch
Somerset have won the toss and will have a bowl. Not great omens for Lancs – this is the first time they have lost three matches in a row by an innings since 1907 and the first season that they have lost four Championship matches by an innings in their history.
Old Trafford looking altogether more cheerful than the bleak scenes on Sunday for the T20. Albeit play hasn’t started yet.
How they stand
Division One
1 Surrey P12 Pts 198
2 Somerset P12 Pts 190
3 Hampshire P23 Pts 171
4 Essex P12 Pts 160
5 Durham P12 Pts 154
6 Worcestershire P12 Pts 147
7 Warwickshire P12 Pts 143
8 Nottinghamshire P12 Pts 118
9 Lancashire P12 Pts 107
10 Kent P12 Pts 82
Division Two
1 Sussex P12 Pts 200
2 Yorkshire P12 Pts 179
3 Middlesex P12 Pts 164
4 Leicestershire P12 Pts 142
5 Gloucestershire P12 Pts 148
6 Northants P12 Pts 130
7 Glamorgan P12 Pts 126
8 Derbyshire P12 Pts 107
Division Two fixtures
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Yorkshire
Bristol: Gloucs v Sussex
County Ground: Northants v Leicestershire
Derby: Derbyshire v Middlesex
Division One Fixtures
The Oval: Surrey v Durham
Southampton: Hampshire v Worcestershire
Canterbury: Kent v Notts
Old Trafford: Lancashire v Somerset
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Essex
Preamble
Good morning! It’s all leggy hedgerows and faded blackberries, misty, bright and HOW ARE WE HERE ALREADY? Just two rounds to go in this Championship race and suddenly everything to play for. Runaway Surrey are all at once just eight points ahead of Somerset – and they have the much tougher game against Durham than Somerset do against relegation-bound Lancashire – of whom more later.
In the Division Two promotion race, Sussex (who play Blast victors Gloucestershire) look a sure thing, while Yorkshire are in a good position, nestling 21 points below them, but 15 points ahead of next best Middlesex. Middlesex, though, play basement dwellers Derbyshire.
Play starts at 10.30am. Fire up your kettles and ioin us!
Even if it doesn’t rain at the New Year’s Test this year, and the forecast a day before the first ball is promising, history suggests it would be safer to h
Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari. (File Pic: Image Credit - X) With Australia leading the five Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 against India on the back o
