Key events
Overnight scores
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex 149 v Somerset 179-5
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 279 v Glamorgan 81-4
The Oval: Surrey 412-6 v Leicestershire
Hove: Sussex 17-0 v Warwickshire 267
Headingley: Yorkshire 48-4 v Hampshire 251
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Durham 456-2
Canterbury: Kent v Northamptonshire 409-1
Old Trafford: Lancashire 351 v Derbyshire 0-1
Lord’s: Middlesex 91-6 v Worcestershire 191
Friday’s roundup: mixed fortunes for England hopefuls
Big Ben McKinney tucked into the Gloucestershire bowlers at Bristol, not even pausing to dab his chin as he forked them all over the ground. Straight as a corn cob at the crease, he showed the threadbare attack no mercy, flaming fours through the covers, on the leg side, pausing only to pancake three sixes on his way to 214 not out.
McKinney and Alex Lees (129) added 305 for the first wicket in just 58 overs. At 21, McKinney is the youngest double centurion for Durham in history – not a bad advert for any England selectors looking for an opener. The home captain, Cameron Bancroft may have regrets after winning the toss and fielding first.
Dom Sibley’s audition for the same spot didn’t go so well against Leicestershire, lbw to Josh Hull for four, but Surrey duo Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope put on their Friday best in an entertaining partnership of 200. Pope nurdled 103, and Smith raced to his second century in successive innings, a grandiose 166 to wipe the winter away.
Ben Duckett, who gave up his IPL contract to prioritise the County Championship, cameoed 25 before being caught to leave Nottinghamshire wobbling at 38 for three against Glamorgan, but a hundred from Jack Haynes straightened things out.
Kent picked up a solitary wicket on a chastening day at Canterbury. The Northamptonshire top three – Ricardo Vasconcelos, Luke Procter and Calvin Harrison – all crunched hundreds.
Derbyshire’s Shoaib Bashir, long arms and longer legs, collected his best Championship haul with four for 76 in front of a good Old Trafford crowd. Marcus Harris, fresh from the Sheffield Shield final, rescued Lancashire from 11 for two with 125.
Rob Key was at Hove, and had three wickets from Sussex’s Henry Crocombe to write in his big black book. He also had the pleasure of a Chris Woakes half-century for Warwickshire. At Southampton, Hampshire’s Sonny Baker whipped the heart out of Yorkshire with three wickets in a high-speed over.
Essex were whistled out for 149, with Somerset soon in similar trouble but for Craig Overton and James Rew. Will Smeed, fresh from 200 for Somerset’s 2nd XI, drove to Chelmsford from Wales to replace Tom Kohler-Cadmore as an injury sub. Sixteen wickets fell at Lord’s in the Middlesex v Worcestershire fixture.
Friday’s view from the Oval
Simon Burnton
Midway through its fifth day of action, the first of its second round of fixtures, Ollie Pope became the 11th person to score a century in Division One of the County Championship this season – and five of those play for Surrey. Jamie Smith already has two. The pre-season title favourites may have drawn their opening game but they are looking ominous, in this game and in general, and at stumps were 412 for six.
Things also look ominous for Leicestershire, if in a rather different way, as they settle into the top flight after last year’s promotion. Beaten by Sussex in their season opener, by the second session here, as Smith and Pope cantered towards triple figures, they looked equally underresourced in confidence, ideas and quality. They were buoyed somewhat by a couple of late wickets, if not by glances at the scoreboard.
A crowd of 4,700 assembled at the Oval on a bracingly cold early spring day which felt, mercifully for those with recent experience in the England team, a long way everything but geographically from any kind of Test cricket. Nevertheless, given that Surrey’s top six have all played for their country at the highest level, this game was always going to be parsed for potential international ramifications. The surprise perhaps was that the first person to stake a claim was Leicestershire’s Josh Hull.
Preamble
Good morning! After yesterday’s hundred-fest and Sonny Baker’s three-wicket over, things might be a bit damper today – with cloud and rain lurking. Play (might) start around the grounds from 11am BST. Do join us.
