Sir Alastair Cook and Nick Browne’s double century opening partnership saw Essex into a decent position on Day 1 of this season’s County Championship.
16 of the 18 first-class counties are in action over the next few days with Lancashire and Yorkshire sitting out the opening weekend – the first 4 games of this round-up are from Division 1 while the final 4 are from Division 2.
Essex vs Kent
We’ll start at Chelmsford with Kent putting Essex into bat.
Sir Alastair Cook (pictured below) and Nick Browne would put on 220 for the opening partnership before the latter would be bowled by Australian international Jackson Bird for 107 with the former following soon after for exactly 100, caught behind by Ollie Robinson off the same bowler. Dan Lawrence would be LBW to Matt Quinn’s bowling for 7 before night-watchman Jamie Porter would be LBW to Nathan Gilchrist without scoring – captain Tom Westley and new signing Matt Critchley finishing 28 and 4 not out respectively.
Embed from Getty ImagesHampshire vs Somerset
At The Rose Bowl, it would be the visitors who would bat first.
Ben Green would be caught by Liam Dawson off the bowling of Mohammad Abbas for 4 before captain Tom Abell would soon follow, caught by James Weatherley off the bowling of Kyle Abbott for 1. Tom Lammonby would be caught behind by debutant Ben Brown off the bowling of Ian Holland for 11 before Lewis Goldsworthy would be LBW to Abbas for 4.
Steven Davies would be bowled by Keith Barker (pictured below) for 7 before Roelof van der Merwe would be bowled by Fuller for 28. James Hildreth would be bowled by Dawson for 87 before Peter Siddle would be caught by a sub fielder off the bowling of Barker for 16. Kasey Alridge would be bowled by Dawson for 7 before Marchant de Lange would be the final wicket to fall, bowled by Barker for 1 – Ned Leonard 0 not out.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn reply, Hampshire would score 109 without losing a wicket with Weatherley and Holland finishing 65 and 41 not out respectively.
SOM 180 (63.4 overs), HAM 109/0 (32 overs)
Northamptonshire vs Gloucestershire
In Northampton, the hosts would elect to field first.
They would lose Chris Dent, caught by Emilio Gay off the bowling of Gareth Berg, without scoring before fellow opener Ben Charlesworth would be bowled by Ben Sanderson for 6. Captain Graeme van Buuren would be LBW to the same bowler for 5 before Miles Hammond was caught by Gay off the bowling of Tom Taylor for 15 – the score at 42/4 at this point.
Ryan Higgins would be LBW to Sanderson for 28 before Tom Lace would be caught by wicketkeeper Lewis McManus off the same bowler for 7. Zafar Gohar would be caught by the same fielder off the bowling of Berg for 2 before Matt Taylor would be the final wicket to fall in the day’s play, caught by Ricardo Vasconcelos off the bowling of Nathan Buck for 11 – James Bracey (77, pictured below) and Naseem Shah (0) the not out batsmen.
Embed from Getty ImagesWarwickshire vs Surrey
At Edgbaston, Surrey decided to bat first.
Captain Rory Burns and Ryan Patel would put on 117 before the skipper would be caught & bowled by Danny Briggs for 41 with Patel caught behind by Michael Burgess off the bowling of Oliver Hannon-Dalby for 75 the following over. Hashim Amla would be the other wicket to fall, bowled by the same bowler, for 2 as England internationals Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes would be 40 and 9 not out at the close of play.
Glamorgan vs Durham
Into Division 2 where Durham would put their hosts in to bat.
Andrew Salter would be bowled by Matty Potts for 1 before captain David Lloyd would be caught by David Bedingham off the bowling of Ben Raine for 28. Sam Northeast would be LBW to Chris Rushworth for 24 with Kiran Carlson the final man out, bowled by Raine, for 1 – South African Colin Ingram (71) and Chris Cooke (30) will resume in the morning.
GLA 164/4 (47 overs)
Leicestershire vs Worcestershire
Worcestershire would win the toss and bat.
Ed Pollock would be bowled by Chris Wright for 5 before Azhar Ali would be run out by South African Hendricks for 2. Jack Haynes would be LBW to Wright for 7 before Jake Libby would be the final wicket to fall with the score on 45, caught by Rhodes off the same bowler for 27 – captain Brett D’Oliveira and Ed Barnard scoring 34 and 41 not out respectively.
WOR 118/4 (26 overs)
Middlesex vs Derbyshire
The visitors won the toss and elected to field.
Mark Stoneman would be caught by Shan Masood off the bowling of Lakmal for 12 before Joshua de Caires would be caught behind by Brooke Guest off the bowling of Sean Conners for 80. Stephen Eskinazi (pictured below) would be caught by Wayne Madsen off the bowling of Lakmal for 118 with Max Holden the final man out in the day, caught by Conners off the bowling of Alex Thomson for 35 – Robbie White (40) and Jack Davies (10) resuming this morning.
MID 307/4 (96 overs)
Sussex vs Nottinghamshire
The final game would see Nottinghamshire win the toss and elect to field.
Ali Orr and Tom Haines would put on 110 before the latter would be bowled by Liam Patterson-White (pictured below) before Tom Alsop would be LBW to the same bowler for 1. Oliver Carter would be caught by Patterson-White off the bowling of Brett Hutton for 14 before Orr would be dismissed for 68, caught by Steven Mullaney to give left-arm spinner Patterson-White his third wicket of the day.
Danial Ibrahim would be run out by Patterson-White for 15 before Delray Rawlins would be the final wicket to fall, bowled by Mullaney for 49 – Tom Clark and Archie Lenham resuming on 82 and 0 respectively.
Embed from Getty ImagesSUS 302/6 (96 overs)