Key events
Six from Jimmy’s first over. Better see what else is going on around the grounds.
There’s an energetic Lancashire huddle. Jimmy Anderson gallops onto the Old Trafford turf as the roller is pushed off the other way. He’s already taken off his cap, his jumper follows, and he examines the soil by the stumps.
Middlesex need 117 to win!
Middlesex last won a Championship game here in 1996. Sharma has the ball for his second over of the day. Green advances , has a wild swing and misses. Has a pull at the second, but it dribbles harmlessly away. Gallops at the third, but can only get the ball back to Sharma, and is finally caught off the fourth by Toby Roland Jones in the deep. Wow, that was really something! Four for four in ten balls for Sharma who finishes with career best figures of four for 17.
Magnificent bowling by Middlesex this morning.
Runs are like gold here at OT, Green (had forgotten he was still in) goes down the track to Morgan, but it’s a no ball and they stay put. Green eyes the boundary.
Triple wicket over for Sharma!
And he gets his third wicket of the over! What a fabulous opener, Tom Bailey fences inelegantly and is gobbled up by Du Plooy at third slip. Lancs 81-9, lead by 113.
Bailey edges! but past fourth slip … the next ball is fired over Bailey’s head.
Sharma on a hat-trick…
Sharma does some energetic leaping on the spot and with his very first ball of the morning finds real nip and Matty Hurst edges him to third slip, a flat footed Hartley parries the next to keeper Duke. Is there something in the water? Hat-trick ball to Tom Bailey incoming…
Ok, so bear with me here, we think Stanley’s dismissal is best explained by thinking of the stumps as Newton’s cradle – illustrating both conservation of momentum and conservation of energy. There may be people BTL more qualified to comment on this than the press box and Wikipedia….
Kent are all out for a lead for two against Gloucestershire and wow that is the strangest dismissal here at OT. Mitch Stanley is out, bowled, but I’m still not quite sure how, but the offshot is that he has lost his leg bail. The ball brushes off stump, which remains upright, but yet the leg bail falls off. Roland Jones is equally non-plussed. Lancs 68-6.
Roland Jones is delighted, Michael Jones is not – he’s quite far forward but the ball nips back half a ruler’s length. Anyway, he’s out. Lancs 63-5. Stanley is onto partner number five.
“Hi Tanya.” Good morning Tim Maitland.
“Does anyone know anything more about the first County Championship debutant to take a hat-trick since 1906? From the fact that Tom Norton was born in Abergavenny, went to the King Henry School in Abergavenny and scored 61 and 41 in a 2nd XI game against Kent last year… in Abergavenny… I have managed to deduce that he has a vague idea which end of a bat is up and that he has some sort of bond with Abergavenny.
“We can deduce that his skills at least transfer as far as Cardiff (G**gle maps tells from for GBP17.70 you can leave his hometown at 11.01 and be at Sofia Gardens by 12.05 as long as you don’t mind a brisk 22 minute walk) and that, apart from taking 3 for 41 in a One_Day Cup match last August, this is his first involvement with the seniors.
“Beyond that, I now know that Abergavenny means “mouth of the River Gavenny” – a pearl of wisdom transferable to Aberystwyth, Aberavon and Abertillery among many others, but probably of little interest in this digital neck of the woods.”
This is more information than I have gleaned elsewhere. Perhaps our Glamorgan correspondents will have more in their files?
Harry Duke has a great head of blond hair, very Tudor prince bob. Four slips as Harris charges in to Jones.
Jones seems to have decided that attack is the way forward. His toes are twitching to come forward to Higgins.
Somerset find themselves in a massive hole after Tom Norton’s hat-trick yesterday. But Somerset coach Steve Kirby was still chipper:
“It was an incredible spell of bowling from Norton, I’ve been really impressed with him since the first innings. He probably got the rub of the green there with the first dismissal but from there he bowled really well. There were some poor shots but we’ve got a lot to come and a massive opportunity to win this game.”
Tom Abell and Craig Overton have a lot to do – the current lead just 170.
Early success for Higgins, and it is the big one. Harris pushes forward at one that leaves him, and is caught behind. Lancs 48 for four. Stanley, 3 not out, has now watched three wickets fall at the other end since he came out in a hurry last night as nightwatchman.
Surrey have the tricky task of batting against Tongue and Stone. This was Tongue last night. “I was pleased with the way my wickets came. We thought we’d give the short ball a bit of a crack, and it’s paid off.
“It’s the first time I’ve bowled with Stoney as well, so that’s exciting. He showed his quality against Leicestershire last week when he bowled unbelievably and I feel when we’re in tandem we’re a very good attack.
“It felt like a big wicket at the end because Dom Sibley is a top-class player and batted beautifully. If we get a couple of quick wickets in the morning and put a bit of pressure on them, we’ll see where the day takes.”
Toby Roland Jones has the ball in bright sunshine but a cold wind. Steady as he blow, head down as he treks back to his mark. Marcus Harris carefully plays it back.
Woolly hats everywhere at OT, it’s cold.
Hat-trick hero Norton in yesterday’s round-up
Eighteen-year-old Tom Norton charged about Sophia Gardens chased by cock-a-hoop Glamorgan teammates, who clapped his back and rubbed his beard, as he became the youngest County Championship debutant to take a hat-trick, ruining Somerset’s innings in the process. Norton first removed James Rew for a duck, in what will count as a failed experiment to push him up the order, before Tom Lammonby pecked behind and Archie Vaughan doddered in front of his stumps.
“I don’t think I can put it into words to be honest. It’s the most mental 45 minutes I’ve ever had on a cricket field,” said Norton, the first championship debutant to take a hat-trick since 1906.
“I never thought this would happen. I was happy to get my first wicket yesterday to get me off my mark in first-class cricket but to take a hat-trick on my debut is something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. It’s a really special feeling, hopefully I’ll have my name in the record books for a long, long time.”
Dom Sibley has danced into the shop window this spring via weight of runs, and accumulated another 77 against Nottinghamshire in the top-of-the-table match at Trent Bridge. The formidable opening pair of Olly Stone and Josh Tongue wrestled out three of Surrey’s top order, but Dan Lawrence was unbeaten on 52 at stumps.
Ben Stokes’s first innings this season, at New Road, where he had lit the Bazball touch paper four years ago, lasted only 17 balls before he was caught at second slip for 14. There were no big runs against Worcestershire for Durham’s England hopngefuls Ben McKinney and Emilio Gay.
Derbyshire sashayed to 604 for seven declared, the sixth highest score in their history, thanks to Brooke Guest’s 141 and Martin Andersson’s 106. Weary Northants then folded to 38 for four before adding 60 more by the close.
At Bristol, a tight first-innings scramble was under way as Tawanda Muyeye (90), with help from the richly in-form Chris Benjamin (74 not out) and Ben Dawkins (65), inched Kent towards parity. Zak Crawley made only one before edging on to his stumps, and folding over his bat in disappointment. There were four wickets and a laser-sharp run-out for Gloucestershire’s Will Williams.
Dan Hughes’s first century of the season and an unbeaten 89 from John Simpson batting with the tail put Sussex on the front foot at Hove, despite a flurry of middle-order wickets. The excellent Tom Helm, on loan to Leicestershire from Middlesex, collected three wickets
Essex’s Simon Harmer (80 not out) and Jamie Porter (12) infuriated Hampshire with a last-wicket stand of 81, before James Fuller bowled Porter to complete a five-fer. Sam Cook then whistled out Toby Albert and Tom Prest before Hampshire got into the black.
Yorkshire lost six for 15 in a calamitous collapse at Edgbaston. Warwickshire’s Rob Yates, Dan Mousley and Sam Hain then piled on both pain and runs.
Ryan Higgins snatched three second innings wickets in 10 balls to leave Lancashire reeling on a damp day at Old Trafford. Earlier an entertaining innings of 67 from Leus du Plooy had kept Middlesex in the game against James Anderson, whose four wickets included his first caught-and-bowled for Lancashire since dismissing Grant Flower at Chelmsford in September 2005.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex 273 v Hampshire 235 and 58-2
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 229 v Somerset 354 and 32-6
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 415 v Surrey 211-4
Hove: Sussex 386-8 v Leicestershire 328
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 147 and 267-3 v Yorkshire 152
DIVISION TWO
The County Ground: Derbyshire 604-7dec v Northamptonshire 98-4
Bristol: Gloucestershire 325 v Kent 308-8
Old Trafford: Lancashire 201 and 45-3 v Middlesex 169
New Road: Worcestershire 308 v Durham 207-6
Preamble
Good morning from Manchester, where the sun is shining and a swift just flew over the rooftops in a clear cornflower sky. Still chilly though. Lots to look forward to in this enthralling round of games. Put the coffee on and join us, play starts at 11am.
