Plenty of runs and far fewer wickets has been the theme of this round of County Championship matches. A combination of the Kookaburra ball, some welcome early season sunshine and at Edgbaston a ridiculously short boundary means it has been tough going for bowlers up and down the country.
In Division One, Worcestershire’s new overseas signing Nathan Smith had a particularly good day. He made 58 with the bat to help his team add 135 to their overnight score before taking four wickets in seven balls as Nottinghamshire crumbled from 125 for two to 144 for seven, ending the day with a lead of 195. Ben Duckett made a breezy 63 before becoming the first of Smith’s victims in a masterly spell that included a triple-wicket maiden.
At Edgbaston, Durham made a good stab at getting towards Warwickshire’s mammoth first-innings total of 698 for three but were bowled out for 517 and found themselves following on — there can’t have been too many instances of a side making over 500 and still having to follow on. Durham’s score was boosted by magnificent lower-order contributions by Ben Raine (93 from 125 balls) and Matthew Potts (44 from 40 balls), adding to a century by the opener Alex Lees and half-centuries for Graham Clark and Ollie Robinson, but Warwickshire’s attack kept plugging away. Rob Yates, the off spinner, was the pick of the home side’s bowlers as he took a career-best four for 137.
Trailing by 181 after their first innings, Durham lost two wickets late in the day to finish 12 for two, giving the hosts a chance of a comprehensive victory, although the visiting team will fancy their chances of batting out for a draw given that only 15 wickets have fallen across the first three days.
At Chelmsford, Essex took a first-innings lead of 117, bowling out Kent for 413 after a five-wicket haul for Matt Critchley to add to his unbeaten innings of 151. His heroics with the bat were not to be repeated in the second innings, though, as the all-rounder was bowled by Matt Parkinson for 25. Essex finished the day 257 for four, with a lead of 374, but barring something extraordinary this one is heading for a draw.
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There were runs aplenty in Division Two as well with Middlesex racking up 553 for two in reply to Northamptonshire’s 552 for six declared. Nathan Fernandes, the 19-year-old opener who came into the side in place of the injured Sam Robson, made 103 and became the youngest Middlesex centurion on debut since 1956 while Max Holden passed 200 for the first time in his career. Leus Du Plooy, who arrived from Derbyshire over the winter, finished the day four runs short of his first double-century as the away side ended the day leading by one run. It is a ridiculously flat pitch at Wantage Road and the two sides would probably have to play for three weeks to have any chance of a positive result.
There were more runs flowing at Grace Road too as Sussex’s new captain, John Simpson, struck a maiden double-century before the visiting side declared on 694 for nine in reply to Leicestershire’s first-innings total of 338 all out, giving them a lead of 356. Simpson finished unbeaten on 205 — the third highest total in Sussex’s first-class history — having shared an enormous partnership of 255 with Danny Lamb, who made a career-best 134. Leicestershire negotiated the first 14 overs of their second innings before Jack Carson came into the attack and struck with his first ball to dismiss Marcus Harris.
In Bristol there was good news for Joe Root who, having scored only two in the first innings of his first County Championship match for two years, hit a confident-looking half-century alongside his England team-mate Harry Brook. However, it was a classy hundred by the opener Adam Lyth that has given Yorkshire the upper hand after they declared on 434 for six, leaving Gloucestershire with 26 overs in the day to bat. The home side lost four wickets before the close, including that of the nightwatchman Josh Shaw, who lasted six balls.
Glamorgan have a chance of victory on the final day at Sophia Gardens, having made 361 for seven declared in their second innings (a lead of 400) thanks to a superb unbeaten 126 by Chris Cooke and an unbeaten 61 by James Harris. Derbyshire, who were bowled out for 198 in their first innings, are up against it and have already lost the wicket of opener Harry Came, finishing the day 40 for one and needing 361 runs to win.
When Surrey won last season’s County Championship they took only 17 wickets with spin, compared with 232 shared out between a seven-strong stable of frontline pace bowlers — five of whom often appeared in the same XI. Deep fast-bowling strength was their winning formula too in 2022.
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So far, however, their tilt at a third successive title is being spearheaded by spin, with a rebooting of Dan Lawrence’s red-ball career a talking point in terms of his future England Test ambitions and Cameron Steel’s emergence as an all-rounder adding balance and ammunition to a formidable outfit.
Lawrence even whipped out Sean Dickson with his second delivery with the new ball, in a pre-lunch mini-session, as his off breaks and Steel’s leg spin combined to reduce Somerset to 204 for six. Somerset had started their second innings 143 runs adrift after Surrey had spent most of the morning adding 70 more to their overnight 358 for six, with Steel scoring 43.
The county game’s unlikely new spin duo, indeed, were responsible for removing Somerset’s first five second-innings wickets before Gus Atkinson, working up decent pace and rhythm in what is — ludicrously — his first first-class appearance since last July, ended Lewis Goldsworthy’s fighting 58.
Lawrence and Steel have taken 18 of the 26 wickets Surrey have claimed in this embryonic campaign. Steel’s five for 25 against Lancashire a week ago was a career best and he took four for 50 in Somerset’s first innings of 285 here; Lawrence’s three for 45 impressively backed up his four for 91 from 28 overs at Old Trafford.
Matt Renshaw and Tom Lammonby, who put on 187 in Somerset’s first innings, were both winkled out leg- before — Renshaw sweeping at one from Lawrence that straightened from around the wicket and Lammonby, who added 51 to his 100 of Friday, beaten as he pushed forward defensively at Steel.
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When Tom Banton miscued a cut at Steel to backward point, Somerset were still 22 runs behind and they had only just crept ahead when Lawrence found enough turn to have James Rew well held low down by Jamie Overton at slip.
In pre-season Surrey’s management outlined their intentions to use Lawrence’s bowling more after his winter move from Essex. At 26, they feel his game and stature as a cricketer of international standard can be pushed to another level, particularly by giving him more bowling opportunities. Last season he bowled only eight wicketless overs in 11 championship matches for Essex, while three of the 20 previous first-class wickets he had to his name before switching to the Oval had come in his 11 England Test appearances.
Steel, who joined Surrey from Durham in 2021, contributed only six wickets at more than 42 runs apiece in seven championship games last summer, but at 28 is blossoming into an integral member of the club’s red-ball line-up.
The Kookaburra ball is as unresponsive as the pitch but nonetheless Lancashire will look to Nathan Lyon, their short-term but high-performing signing, to bowl out Hampshire today.
They gained a first-innings lead of 117 on account of Keaton Jennings taking his overnight score of 85 to 172 and George Bell making 99, his attempt to reach a maiden century cruelly thwarted when he was sent back and beaten by a direct throw from Ian Holland.
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This was Jennings’s 28th century, including two in Test cricket. Bell is 21 and playing in only his 15th first-class match, so he has plenty of innings ahead of him. Even so, never can a batsman have dragged himself away from the wicket as forlornly as he did. Looking to take the run he required through a drive backward of point, he was sent back by Jack Blatherwick and unable to regain his crease.
He had struck eight fours and provided the required stickability in the lower middle order. This was after Jennings — whose exquisite cover-driven four to reach his century was applauded by the bowler, Mohammad Abbas — had been dismissed by Liam Dawson. Reverse-sweeps against the left-arm spinner were not his forte, despite having faced nearly 300 balls. One further attempt resulted in him being out leg-before.
Still, it would be churlish to apportion any blame when Jennings’s concentration and resolve overall, plus 21 fours, could not be faulted. Hampshire’s opening attack was not as penetrative as it usually is at this early stage of the season and ultimately the little-used spin of Nick Gubbins and Tom Prest was no less threatening. Bell, who also keeps wicket, if not in this match, collected his runs with scant alarm until nervousness trumped judgment of a run.
Lancashire finished with 484 and Hampshire with 21 overs to deal with in fading light. They lost their openers, both caught behind the wicket off Will Williams: Fletcha Middleton for a single and Ali Orr, making his debut after his move from Sussex, for 13. Hampshire have some batting to do today.