Key events
A 12.30 start at Derby, lunch at 1.10pm.
A Derbyshire huddle, and a round of applause. The captains put on their blazers for the toss, which Derbyshire win and will bowl.
Meanwhile at the desertscape of Merchant Taylor’s school, Zak Crawley (17) has lost his opening partner Ben Compton for 13. Kent 40-1.
It’s like a scene from a musical out out in the middle at Derby: measuring tapes, catching practise, rollers, Ben Stokes bowling in a Durham tracksuit. The umpires come out and stare meaningfully at the pitch.
Lancashire, a thoughful lament, from Guy Hornsby.
“Morning Tanya, in the drizzle not of Old Trafford but the M6. Tim Maitland asks the question many of us Lancashire members ask ourselves. Unlike many of the more vocal members from various meetings, I don’t think the cause of the malaise is The Hundred, or white ball cricket in general. The glory days of the 80s and 90s they would love to return to are sadly from a different cricket landscape.
“I do agree with some that, while digging Lancs out of a considerable financial hole, the club has perhaps not focused enough on red ball cricket as it has on (much needed) commercial enterprises. That work has given us a much better financial outlook, but it feels like the rot set in a season or two before relegation. We didn’t future proof the squad, and some who scored tons of runs (Jennings and Bohannon for example) dried up at the wrong time as Dane Vilas left. Our attack was middling and we struggled to get results. The appointment of Dale Benkenstein was a disaster, and he never seemed to have the dressing room. We have – Marcus Harris aside – made poor overseas signings and while Steven Croft has done well we’ve seen a good start to the season tail off and face another season in the lower division.
“But it’s hard to see how we get back up with the current squad, so it’s a dismal time for the club, and will be even more so when Anderson retires. The white ball teams do ok at least. As much as I like him, you’d have to question Mark Chilton’s performance, though the women have done brilliantly last year. For a club with so much history, a decent business model and Hundred money, it’s a very strange place we find ourselves in. It’s not good enough. Some board changes under Dame Sarah Storey, including a new CEO coming in, Richard Kenyon, need to change the narrative.”
Despite Mohammad Abbas playing at Headingley and signing for Derbyshire, in my mind he is always running in for Hampshire in slightly too short trousers. But they don’t need him today – Yorkshire are 19-3, Whiteman and Lyth gone in consecutive Kyle Abbott overs.
No play before lunch at Old Trafford
It was bouncing down most of the night in Manchester so they’ll do well to soak everything up. The umpires are going to take another look at 12.15 and the players will take an early lunch.
There’s something in the water – Will Luxton lbw for 2 (Yorkshire 9-1); Cameron Bancroft caught behind for 9 (Glos 16-1); Tom Lammonby Sam Cooked for 20 (Somerset 36-1). Oh and Notts have lost a third – Joe Clarke for one, caught off Fisher. (Notts 14-3.)
Surrey on the march: the first wicket of the round is Haseeb Hameed in the second over of the morning, the next his opening partner Ben Slater, five balls later. Notts 11-2, a wicket each for Dan Worrall and Matthew Fisher.
Two catches for Ollie Pope who was one of five members of the super-sized England squad to have very sensibly been released to play in the Championship. The others are Shoaib Bashir (Derbyshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Cook (Essex) and Fisher (Surrey).
There has been an outbreak of sunshine in Derby and there will be a pitch inspection at 11.50am. The groundstaff mop the covers.
And hello Tim Maitland: “It’s been a while. In fact it’s been an eternity, during which time I have come to the inevitable conclusion that all the Hundred does is prove that an endless stream of sixes serves only to make sixes seem less exciting.
”Some of the One Day Cup games were watchable though, weren’t they? I’ll get to the point.
”Coming, as you do, from the wrong side of the Pennines, can you either now or at greater length at a later time, please make sense of what Lancashire are doing in the second division and why, if you believe all the Red Rose propaganda, such a great cricketing county is second from bottom in a division they’ve no business being in?
”As facetious as my approach may seem, I am genuinely interested. Considering how Yorkshire are (nearly always correctly) portrayed as the poster boys for how not to run a county, Lancashire (and indeed Middlesex) seem to be saying “Hold my beer” (or in Middlesex’s case, my Pimms and lemonade).
P.S. Given that (apart from detesting Lancashire, complaining about the weather, beer, pies, Rugby League and claiming that Yorkshire is God’s Own County) hating Leeds is about the only thing that truly unites Yorkshiremen, do you think the genius executives of the Sun TV Network Limited were genuinely surprised that attendances dropped close to 20% after they renamed the Northern Superchargers as Sunrisers Leeds?
Debuts for Henry Nicholls for Somerset, and Hamza Shaikh for Leicestershire, signed from Warwickshire mid season.
Delays, delays
No play at three grounds for now: Old Trafford, Edgbaston, and here at Derby where thunder has just rolled alluringly.
Arrive at Derby in teeming rain. Apparently Ben Stokes had a net at 8.30am but it all looks very soggy now.
Over in Leeds, England and Pakistan wade into day two of the Test. Ali Martin was watching yesterday.
Last night I heard a radio programme about an amazing young man called Ben West who, after his beloved younger brother Sam took his own life aged 15, started a suicide prevention website called Reasons to Stay. Strangers submit letters for people struggling with their mental health, which are then checked by clinical professionals. Anyone visiting the website gets a new letter, a new message of hope, each time they refresh. It is there for you if you need a helping hand.
Weather watch
There’s a yellow weather warning hanging over the UK today. It’s good news for the parched earth of course, but talk about timing. The Met office says: “Frequent showers are expected, some being heavy and thundery with a risk of hail. The most intense showers are likely across parts of England and Wales, especially northern and central areas. More isolated elsewhere and feeling cooler than of late.”
Division Two table
1 Durham 149
2 Kent 117
3 Northants 115
4 Middlesex 99
5 Derbyshire 99
6 Worcestershire 95
7 Lancashire 81
8 Gloucestershire 38
Division One table
1 Notts 116
2 Somerset 111
3 Warwickshire 111
4 Glamorgan 107
5 Sussex 105
6 Essex 105
7 Surrey 91
8 Yorkshire 89
9 Hampshire 72
10 Leicestershire 72
Happy retirement Keith Barker
After 17 seasons, Keith Barker has finally hung up his boots after being troubled by injury. He started his career at Warwickshire and then had seven magnificent years at Hampshire before returning to Edgbaston last year.
“I always knew this day would come, but that doesn’t make it any easier. In my head I still want to compete, still want the ball in my hand and still believe I can make a difference. Unfortunately, after a long career and plenty of injuries, my body is telling me it’s time.
“To finish my career where it started, in a city that became my home and at a club that will always mean so much to me, feels incredibly special.
“I’m going to miss playing more than I can put into words, but I’ll walk away proud, grateful and thankful to everyone who has been part of the journey.”
He was always so fun to watch and a pleasure to speak to pre season a few years ago. Wishing him a happy retirement.
Fixtures
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire v Yorkshire
Grace Road: Leicestershire v Glamorgan
Taunton: Somerset v Essex
The Oval: Surrey v Nottinghamshire
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Sussex
DIVISION TWO
Derby: Derbyshire v Durham
Cheltenham: Gloucestershire v Worcestershire
Old Trafford: Lancashire v Northamptonshire
Merchant Taylors’ School: Middlesex v Kent
Preamble
Hello! We’re back and.. it’s belting down. Or at least it was but, by the magic of Darren Stevens, the slate of Stoke on Trent has, after Uttoxeter, faded to fluffy clouds and milky skies as I head to Derby to start this round of fixtures much as I ended the last block – on Stokes watch.
This is the first of six helter-skelter rounds of Championship cricket which will finally slow to a stop on 27 September. By then we will have a Championship winner, two relegated Division One teams and two happily promoted clubs from Division Two. Thrillingly, nothing is yet set in stone (though Durham look likely to be playing top tier cricket next year) and it’s tight at the top of Division One.
There are some intriguing fixtures to restart with – a relegation battle between Hampshire and Yorkshire, a repeat of last year’s big beast face-off at The Oval (only Surrey are seventh and there’s no Josh Tongue), and some jockeying for position at Edgbaston and Taunton. Glamorgan take on their fellow promoted team Leicestershire, though the form book says this will end only one way.
In Division Two, Lancashire will have their work cut out turning around their Championship season against promotion-chasers Northants; fellow promotion chasers Kent are at Merchant Taylors School, while Durham visit Derby and Worcs and Glos hope the weather plays fair at gorgeous Cheltenham.
Lots to love, six weeks to wallow. Do join us, all welcome. It begins.