Key events
I went to see Hamlet Hail to the Thief last night and loved it. Big recommend whether or not you’re a Radiohead fan – on in Manchester till May 18 or in Stratford upon Avon in June.
Saturday’s round-up
There was a standing ovation for Joe Root from the Headingley faithful for an innings of fan-favourite shots. After a sketchy one on Friday, his 90 with Yorkshire on the back foot was just the warm-up Dr McCullum might have ordered. Root was Ethan Bamber’s eighth wicket in the match, a bowler thriving after a winter move from Middlesex to Warwickshire.
There was also good news for England fans of a nervous disposition from Lord’s, where Zak Crawley knitted a third second-innings fifty in three games, albeit after being dropped on three. It was a diligent innings, with Kent trailing by 109 on first innings, but still contained the trademark imperious drives before he was out lbw to Dane Paterson for the second time in the match.
Tawanda Muyeye and Jack Leaning flickered briefly but the innings built itself around Daniel Bell-Drummond, a captain who has not found runs easy to come by this season. But his unbeaten 103, his first red-ball hundred in more than a year, inched Kent to a lead of 117 before bad light stopped play. Middlesex earlier lost their last six wickets for 61, with a second successive fifty for Ryan Higgins.
Jordan Cox was another England player to settle nicely into form, with a rollicking 61 not out at Taunton as Essex eased into a dominant position, collecting a lead of 224 in a low-scoring game. Somerset had lost nine wickets for 99 in one of their trademark collapses, trousers falling down at the same time as their shirt buttons pinged off. Simon Harmer happily stepped into Jack Leach’s boots, reeling through 19 overs and taking four for 43 from the River End. Their No 10, Migael Pretorius, was the second-highest scorer with a boisterous 24.
Manchester’s clouds settled into their regular position above Old Trafford on a day when the coat returned to a cricket watcher’s backpack. Friday’s centurion Marcus Harris was out after adding just a couple of runs to his overnight 165, playing on to the zippy Ajeet Singh Dale, but some useful contributions down the order took Lancashire to 450 – more batting points than they had accrued in total in the previous three games.
Tom Price grabbed the last two wickets in successive balls, leaving him to start the next innings on a hat-trick, while the not-out batter Tom Bailey caused a stir of his own when his mobile phone fell out of his pocket mid-run. Gloucestershire advanced, carefully at first, and then with more abandon, as Ollie Price and Myles Hammond put together an unbeaten hundred partnership.
Graham Clark, not in the Durham XI on Friday morning until young Ben McKinney had a back spasm, continued to seize his chance, moving to a career-best 160 on a glorious batting surface at Southampton. He was out to an spry caught and bowled by Wisden Cricketer of the Year Liam Dawson, who pocketed five for 158. Mark Stoneman made a gritty unbeaten 54 in Hampshire’s reply.
Glamorgan had a dominant day against Derbyshire, passing 400 runs and then reducing Derbyshire to 215 for seven with four wickets for Andy Gorvin.
It was a topsy-turvy day at Grace Road. But Ben Sanderson, in his first match of the season after knee problems restricted his appearance, then went through the Leicestershire top five.
It was a topsy-turvy day at Grace Road. First Northants were bowled out for 191, with four wickets for Logan van Beek. Then Leicestershire collapsed like an empty chip bag – Ben Sanderson, in his first match of the season after knee problems, running through the Leicestershire top five.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire 112-1 v Durham 511
Taunton: Somerset 145 v Essex 206 and 163-4
Headingley: Yorkshire 205 and 232 v Warwickshire 253 and 15-0 Warwicks need 170 to win
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 431 v Derbyshire 215-7
Old Trafford: Lancashire 450 v Gloucestershire 184-2
Grace Road: Leicestershire 304 and 96-6 v Northamptonshire 191
Lord’s: Middlesex 238 v Kent 129 and 226-4
Preamble
Hello! From a bright but brisk Manchester. We are still without rain and the Mersey is running uncharacteristically low, though it didn’t bother the beautiful mandarin duck that was serenely paddling along this morning. We’re heading into day three of this fifth Championship round, with all seven games still in play – though things look sure to wrap up at Headingley, at Lord’s, and at Grace Road.
Play starts at 11am, do drop in for a chat.
