1. Cidermen’s side sidle to the top
Somerset can smell the pennant. They are top of the table and moving closer to would be an historic first County Championship title.
Lewis Gregory’s men steamrollered Glamorgan in not much more than two and a half sessions to leave their opponents fifth but looking uneasily over their shoulders in a six-club relegation dogfight.
It was a typical team effort for Somerset. Five bowlers took wickets but no one took more than five; and six batters made 41 or more but nobody managed more than Tom Lammonby’s 95. Towards the end of a long season, that’s an efficient way to win a cricket match, especially by a nerves-settling innings and plenty.
2. Davey lights the way to the draw
Somerset’s victory threw down the gauntlet to erstwhile leaders, Nottinghamshire, who looked out of the window at anxiety-inducing rain. The champions came very close to picking up that gauntlet in style, but cricket has a way of giving you one in the eye, its tapestry a rich mix of the unpredictable and the cruel.
After Jack Haynes and Liam Patterson-White had scored tons in a sixth-wicket stand of 257, Notts were halfway there, weather or not. With Leicestershire 23 for two at the midpoint of the match, the route to the win was clear: knock over the considerable frame of nightwatchman Josh Hull, shoot out Leicestershire for under 302, then stuff them back in and do it again. After all, that’s why you have nasty-fasties like Dillon Pennington and Olly Stone.
Hull, a nasty-fasty himself in the day job, had made 23 runs since the beginning of June. Five hours later, though, he was still at the crease and wondering what he had found so difficult about this batting lark after all. He finished with 97, a job well done.
Leicestershire were still 43 short of saving that follow-on when Josh Davey, their No 11, strode out to join Tom Scriven, their No 10. Nearly two and a half hours later, Scriven had a 50, Davey was one short, and they were both sucking on metaphorical cheroots knowing the draw was secured. Notts now trail Somerset by four points at the top of the table; Leicestershire are just seven points off an escape from the trapdoor.
3. Coles on fire for Sussex
Regular readers will know this column has been sympathetic to the Sussex players and staff this season. They were not responsible for the club’s financial issues and subsequent points deduction, yet they are coping with the fallout and have been left wondering about their contracts. After losing a tight match to Warwickshire, a defeat by Essex could have sent them into a spiral down to Division Two.
Sussex did not make it easy for themselves, but they used their cheat code to get the win that arrests their slide. The big pacer, Henry Crocombe, is off to the Oval in 2027, but left the gift of a second hat-trick in consecutive matches. James Coles made a vital 79 in the second innings and returned match figures of seven for 105 as Sussex won by 47 runs.
Essex have dropped to seventh in the table. Having been denied the services of Jordan Cox by injury and then England, their batters need to find some consistency or my confidence that they will stay up – expressed in last week’s column – will look rather misplaced.
4. Hill topped by Blake in match of heroes
Surrey and Yorkshire pretty much swapped the County Championship between them between in the 1950s and 1960s. Neither club will win it this year and the players on show at the Oval last week are unlikely to gain the status of Peter May or Geoffrey Boycott, but none of that mattered to the fans in the ground and the many more watching the live stream.
It was a thriller. Two well-matched sides, stakes sky high with relegation a real possibility for the losers, bowlers defying fatigue and batters grinding out runs in difficult conditions as forward defensives were applauded all day long – the perfect ingredients for a wonderful day of cricket.
The match was packed with heroes, but one player stood above the others, the kind of unexpected warrior who makes a name for himself as a man seizes his destiny. Josh Blake, only playing due to Surrey’s extensive list of unavailable regulars, batted for more than four and a half hours for 43 not out, an innings that was worth all the 143 not outs scored at this ground put together. Tom Lawes provided some company and Matthew Fisher, having taken such a clang on the helmet that they might have heard it at Lord’s, also stood firm.
With two needed and Dan Worrall at the other end, Blake played and missed five times in Hill’s last over of a marvellous day’s work from the impressive all-rounder. So he was leaning on his bat at the other end when Worrall got enough bat on Ben Coad’s delivery to secure the winning runs.
Yorkshire slumped to the turf, but were soon back up, Jonny Bairstow leading the congratulations with grace. We stood up too, took a very deep breath or two and made for the Tube station three hours later than expected. It was a privilege to have been there for a day that a journeyman pro will never forget.
It looked like the last unbeaten record in the country might go at Wantage Road, where promotion-chasing Northamptonshire took a first-innings lead over runaway-leaders Durham. But Durham have four Test batters in their top six and, anchored by Alex Lees opening with a captain’s knock of 80, they set the home side 204 to win.
Having seen Yuzvendra Chahal pick up nine wickets in the match, Lees tossed the new ball to Callum Parkinson for the second time in the match. He bagged six for 20, as only extras made double figures in a total of 50 and Durham were back on the M1 in no time. Having won eight and drawn three of their 11 matches this season, they are surely destined for Division One in 2027.
6. Northeast is the apple of Kent’s eye again
Kent beat Worcestershire to leapfrog Northamptonshire in the table and move into the second promotion slot.
There wasn’t much in it after the first innings, the highest score of the 22 batters belonging to Worcestershire’s Daniel Lategan with 59. The match was there to be won if a batter would step up and score a century. Cue Sam Northeast, whose 132 was his 37th first-class hundred, nudging his average up to 40 again. It was a seasoned pro’s innings just when it was required.
A target of 380 always looked too much for Worcestershire. Brett D’Oliveira made a century of his own but he could not find a partner to resist Kent’s battery of pacers, who got their team over the line with plenty to spare. Kent play the bottom three in their remaining fixtures so are strong favourites for promotion.