Key events
Essex chair Anu Mohindru stands down
There’s a little bit of embellishment and then there’s a big fat fairytale. A bizarre story about criminal lawyer and (former) Essex chair Anu Mohindru’s fake CV. He has been disbarred by the Barristers’ Tribunal Service for lying about studying biomedical sciences at Oxford and subsequently stood down from his position as Essex chair
Notts need velcro hands this morning, but Freddie McCann parries Barr up and out of his hands at slip after Burns has a dash at Hutton.
Have just clocked that the email address above is wrong, and I think it was wrong yesterday. Will try to fix but in the mean time do drop me at line on tanya.aldred.freelance@theguardian.com
At Taunton, Tom Kohler-Cadmore slaps a couple of boundaries before holing out to Ali Orr at deep midwicket. Somerset 21 for one against Hampshire.
Not a wicket has fallen around the grounds in the first 10 minutes, and Rishi Patel is sparking with four fours in his first 13 balls at Grace Road. Kent are giving Corey Flintoff, son of Fred, a Championship debut.
I wish I could send you all a bottle of essence de Oval to tide you over till next year. Nostalgic, with autumnal undertones, a peppering of Jack Hobbs (and a flash of money), as worn by Rory Burns as he turns Josh Tongue off his hip for a single. Surrey 48 for one.
We have games!
After yesterday’s wash-out wind-out, there is a delay only at Old Trafford. Around the grounds, the captains’ coin has landed:
Durham won the toss and will field
Somerset won the toss and will bat
Yorkshire won the toss and will bat
Warwickshire won the toss and will field
Derbyshire won the toss and will field
Gloucestershire won the toss and will field
Kent won the toss and will field.
Notts are warming up with a fielding drill in their dark green tops, while over by the Micky Stewart pavilion Surrey kick a football. A groundsman pushes a mower up and down on a far pitch and the heavy roller rumbles along the cut strip.
Monday’s round-up
Autumn unpacked her suitcase as eight Championship games were called off without a ball bowled due to rain and hazardous high winds. It was only in a small pocket of south London that play was possible, a full day’s worth in the big title battle at The Oval.
Division One leaders Surrey, who had a one-point lead over second-placed Nottinghamshire coming into the game, sent their East Midlands visitors in and had bowled them out after tea. It was a disciplined and, at times, fierce display of bowling led by Matt Fisher (five for 61) and Gus Atkinson (four for 41).
Atkinson, who is almost sure to play his first Ashes series this winter, was particularly slippy. He made the first breakthrough, sending Haseeb Hameed on his way for nine. The Notts captain was caught in the slips, where he’d been dropped a few overs before. Freddie McCann (34) and Ben Slater (50) then batted fluently until Fisher removed them both after lunch.
As the wind continually buffeted the flags on top of the pavilion, and scattered leaves and sticks from the poplar trees around the concourse, Surrey’s relentless bowlers pressed on. A boundary-laden cameo from Joe Clarke (29) and an unbeaten 30 from Brett Hutton apart, the visiting batsmen struggled to assert their authority.
Fisher enjoyed his first five-wicket haul for Surrey since he moved from Yorkshire last winter. “We did what we usually do, hunt like a pack,” he said after play. “I felt like I’ve put in decent areas all season, sometimes I’m lacking that little bit of nip but I had it today.” And on watching his bowling partner: “I’m purring at mid-on watching Gus.” Ben Foakes finished with five catches.
As the shadows spread over the ground like a rash, Rory Burns and Dom Sibley did what they do, playing a straight and steady bat. Then from nowhere, Dillon Pennington made one spit off the pitch and Sibley got a lick as it passed by. The batter threw his head back in frustration as he had to trudge back to the pavilion, out for 14 with just nine balls left.
The high winds which delayed play around all the grounds (except the Riverside, which was affected purely by rain) did so because of the risks to ground staff and spectators in handling flat covers, including the covers lifting staff off the ground, or blowing loose and hitting the crowd.
Scores on the doors
Division One
Riverside: Durham v Worcestershire
Taunton: Somerset v Hampshire
The Oval: Surrey 43-1 v Nottinghamshire 231
Hove: Sussex v Yorkshire
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Essex
Division Two
The County Ground: Derbyshire v Glamorgan
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire
Old Trafford: Lancashire v Middlesex
Grace Road: Leicestershire v Kent
Preamble
Good morning from The Oval where the Hobbs gates are open, the sky is periwinkle, and Surrey are on top in this crucial Championship arm wrestle. Play starts here and – possibly- around the grounds at 10.30am, do join us!
