Batting in 50-over cricket may continue to confound England’s finest, but it was a good weekend for rejected batsmen in the format of the game that the ECB hopes will become the international norm.
Ian Bell, whose average of 35.47 from 79 one-day internationals is better than any active England player save Kevin Pietersen, made 105 in a Pro40 match yesterday, Alastair Cook and Phil Mustard made hundreds and there were decent contributions from other discarded England players.
Bell’s innings helped Warwickshire Bears to 246 for six, more than enough to beat Derbyshire Phantoms at Edgbaston. Derbyshire gave up the ghost early yesterday when they slipped to 68 for six.
Graham Wagg and Thomas Poynton then added 53 before Poynton was bowled by Jonathan Trott and the rest followed in a 110-run defeat.
Warwickshire are unbeaten in the second division but two points behind Kent Spitfires, who lost a rain-affected game by 25 runs to Lancashire Lightning at Old Trafford. Kent were dismissed for 162 and Lancashire stayed ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis rate before rain fell.
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Glamorgan Dragons are still without a win after a 23-run defeat away to Leicestershire Foxes. William Bragg, playing in his fifth List A match, made 78, but Glamorgan slipped from 125 for three to 194 all out, chasing 218.
In the first division, Essex Eagles chased 277 to beat Durham Dynamos on Saturday with 19 balls to spare, thanks to some fireworks from James Foster. The wicketkeeper hit the first five balls of the 37th over, bowled by Scott Borthwick, the leg spinner, for consecutive sixes, but was denied the chance of ending the match with a sixth six when Borthwick bowled five wides.
Foster shared an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 124 with Cook, who made his second consecutive hundred in this format. Graham Napier, unused by England in the World Twenty20 in June, made 63. Earlier, Mustard, who scored 102, and Ian Blackwell (59) had a first-wicket stand for Durham of 100.