Key events
Looks lovely at Taunton, a shirt-sleeved crowd, a bit of sun, and 106-0 on the board. Fifty for Josh Thomas, Tom Lammonby not far behind. Oooh and that’s a sweet late cut by Thomas off Hamza.
Ah shame, no fifty for HH, who has had a bit of a trudge of a year – he’s only got one hundred and one fifty under his belt this season. Notts 62-2.
Leicestershire take their first Notts wicket, Ben Slater (15) tinkering behind at Ian Holland. Notts 54-1.
Photograph: Steve Poole/ProSports/Shutterstock
Luke Hollman bends his knees deeply in anticipation of Jimmy Anderson, but he’d struggle to get them deep enough to deal with the ball that drops, rolls, and picks out off stump. Gone for 54. Ben Geddes follows three overs later, to Balderson. Middx 151-5 and need a apartnership.
Gloucestershire are rescued by the Bristol rain. This was the stoical James Bracey last night:
“We decided to bat first because we think the pitch is going to turn more as the game progresses. It’s been tricky with the weather around for the last few days and the pitch under the covers, and it did help the seamers to begin with. But we have a world-class spinner in Kai Kishore in our ranks and we want to try and get the best out of him.
“We’re going to need a few partnerships if we’re going to get up to 200 and it’s going to need a lot of hard work. It won’t be pretty, but we know what we have to do in the morning. It’s difficult when you’re on a bad run and confidence is not at it’s highest. That’s one of the biggest challenges of playing county cricket.”
Rain
and delayed starts at Southampton and Taunton, but we’re off elsewhere and Sam Cook knocks the coconut off its perch first ball, Goodman lbw 22, Sussex 213-8.
Weather watch
The Met Office sages say: southern England starts the day cloudy with patchy drizzle. Elsewhere, largely dry with sunny spells. Later, rain spreads into Northern Ireland, southern Scotland and northern England, with blustery showers and possible thunderstorms in northwest Scotland. Very warm southeast, average elsewhere.
Warwickshire’s captain Ed Barnard on Yates and Mousley’s unbroken second wicket stand of 127 against Hampshire:
“To be put in on what could have been a difficult wicket, I thought Yates and Mousley were excellent. I thought the first hour was exceptional. It was perfect bowling conditions with the overheads, the lights on and Kyle Abbott. They dealt with that and then started to show their confidence after lunch.
“They won’t be looking too far ahead as they’ll have a big job to start again in the morning. They have both batted beautifully all year and they’ll be hoping to kick on and get a big score.”
Brydon Carse may get a chance to take out his frustrations on Northants later today, if David Bedingham ever gets out – unbeaten on 57, 1000 runs in the bag, in his last match of the season.
Yesterday’s roundup: Somerset steal a march on rivals
It was slip-catching heaven at Taunton, with Somerset’s fielders gobbling seven in Glamorgan’s first innings, and James Rew scooping up the rest. Ben Kellaway was the only man to pass 50. Somerset’s innings started under lights, but a milky sun eventually emerged to light the way and allow Somerset to steal a march on their Championship rivals, whose matches were curtailed by rain.
Charlie Bennett’s pain was Jamie Porter’s gain at Chelmsford after the young seamer limped off after three overs. To a background of autumnal slate, Porter then grabbed three for 32 for Essex against Sussex, who chose to bat and progressed in fits and starts. Sam Cook pocketed the 500th dismissal of his professional career.
At the Oval, Yorkshire limped along from the ignominy of one for three, which included an elegant flying catch by Ben Foakes to dismiss Will Luxton for a duck. James Wharton and Matthew Revis added 89, but Yorkshire then lost four for 21, including Jonny Bairstow, who stamped and delivered a pitch-perfect slip catch to Ollie Pope. Dan Worrall bowled beautifully for three for 24.
After making a sudden U-turn on the selection of Scott Kuggeleijn, relegation-threatened Hampshire were in trouble on the field as well. Rob Yates and Dan Mousley both embroidered half-centuries as Warwickshire piled on 141 for one between the showers.
David Bedingham passed 1,000 runs for the season in the process of an elegant fifty against Northants. There had been rebuilding to do after Durham slumped to 16 for two, a wonder ball by Luke Procter plucking out Ben McKinney’s middle and off stumps and pinging them in different directions, while Will Rhodes was brilliantly run out by James Sales. Meanwhile, Division Two promotion rivals Kent had a so-so day against Worcestershire, losing five for 25 in the evening session. Daniel Bell-Drummond pinged 52.
After two months on the sidelines with a dodgy calf, Jimmy Anderson showed Lancashire what they’d been missing by reducing Middlesex to 20 for two. But Luke Hollman and Leus du Plooy steadied the ship on a damp, dark day at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Gloucestershire’s dismal season continued, after choosing to bat and being reduced to 62 for five against Derbyshire. Only James Bracey, flameproof boots on the burning deck, made more than 10. There were two wickets for Shoaib Bashir. Only 10.3 overs were possible at Trent Bridge, but Notts captain Haseeb Hameed, who has struggled for form this season, stroked six morale-boosting fours.
Scores on the doors
Division One
Chelmsford: Essex v Sussex 213-7
Southampton: Hampshire v Warwickshire 141-1
Trent Bridge: Notts 42-0 v Leicestershire
Taunton: Somerset 92-0 v Glamorgan 194
The Oval: Surrey v Yorkshire 133-7
Division Two
Bristol: Gloucestershire 62-5 v Derbyshire
Canterbury: Kent 238 v Worcestershire 80-2
Merchant Taylors School: Middlesex 139-3 v Lancashire
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire v Durham 129-3
Preamble
Good morning! Welcome to day two of this first autumnal Championship round. The weather looks more perky, the storylines are intriguing, so grab a coffee and join us.