County cricket opening day: Essex v Surrey, Middlesex v Lancs, and more
The County Ground: Derbyshire v Gloucestershire
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Leicestershire
Lord's: Middlesex v Lancashire
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire v Kent Share
Chelmsford: Essex v Surrey
Southampton: Hampshire v Yorkshire
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Durham
Taunton: Somerset v Worcestershire
Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Sussex Share
Good morning! It's April 4 2025 and round the scaffolding view from my Chelmsford Premier Inn window, and the sky is blue. Yes, it's back, the County Championship, this coulntry's oldest
If you're a regular to this blog– welcome back! Hope the trials and tribulations of winter haven't been too taxing. If you're new here, come on in, the water's lovely.
Readers regularly chat about the cricket, and life, underneath the blog (BTL – below the line) please join in. Somewhere is a glossary of terms used by older hands which I'll link to when I find it.
The players are out in the middle, footballs are being kicked, ru-uthe odd woolly hat but also shorts hat but some shorts off to try and find a filter coffee from somewhere, back soon! Share
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Middlesex wear down Northants to seal innings win
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Northwood (day four)Middlesex 625-8 dec: Holden 151, Williamson 114, Du Plooy 105, Cracknell 73; Zaib 3-70Northamptonshire 261 & 257: Keogh 61*; Higgins 3-54Middlesex (24pts) beat Northants (2pts) by an innings and 107 scorecard Middlesex's bowlers wore down heroic Northamptonshire resistance to close out an emphatic victory by an innings and 107 runs deep into the final session of day four at Merchant Taylors' Keogh defied the hosts attack for almost five hours despite being struck for a second time on the finger he damaged while fielding on day one to make a gutsy unbeaten 61, while Saif Zaib also battled through pain to add 44 to his 82 of the first was even a last-wicket stand of 47 between Keogh and Yuzvendra Chahal to further frustrate the Seaxes, but in the end for Ryan Higgins' 3-54 (seven in the match) and a maiden first-class wicket for Ben Geddes bowled out the visitors for hopes of frustrating the host's victory push were dealt an early blow when Lewis McManus, having played one delicious extra cover drive tried to leave a ball from Roland-Jones, only for it to cannon off the under edge and send his off-stump wicket became two in the next over, Tom Helm beating George Bartlett twice in successive balls before banging in a short one which the batter skied obligingly to Roland-Jones at now rested on the shoulders of all-rounders Zaib and Keogh. Zaib picked up where he'd left off in the first innings, Keogh meanwhile took 18 balls to get off the mark and was then struck on his already damaged digit by a ball from Higgins but carried on after lengthy treatmentDeprived of spinner Zafar Gohar due to the arm injury picked up fielding on day three and with a soft Kookaburra ball offering no help to the Middlesex seamers, the stoic resistance of the Steelbacks continued on the as frustration looked to be setting in, Tom Helm found some extra bounce and Zaib feathered an edge through to Joe the defiance continued with Ben Sanderson, on a pair from the first innings, battling for over an hour for his 12 and guiding Northamptonshire to the sanctuary of the new ball imminent, Ben Geddes was introduced to speed up its arrival and promptly found the edge of Sanderson's bat with his third ball, Higgins taking a smart catch at took the ripe cherry in hand to remove Guthrie, before an entertaining last-wicket stand that saw Keogh reach a thoroughly deserved on a king pair played a glorious off-drive and a few other less conventional shots to reach 20, but Cornwell rearranged his stumps to clinch victory with 25 overs left. Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Surrey one point clear at top after Yorkshire draw
Rothesay County Championship Division One, Scarborough (day four)Yorkshire 517-6 dec & 120-5: Lyth 34Surrey 537: Patel 92, Burns 78, Lawrence 78, Blake 72, Sibley 52, Bess 7-162Surrey (14 pts) drew with Yorkshire (13 pts).Match scorecard Surrey maintained their one-point lead over Nottinghamshire at the top of the Division One table but Yorkshire are back in the bottom two after both counties played out a high-scoring County Championship draw at champions Surrey's seventh draw in 10 games yielded 14 bonus points and gives them a slender advantage with four rounds remaining having replied to a first-innings 517-6 declared with 537 all out shortly after meanwhile, have slipped back into the second relegation place with their fourth draw that yielded 13 points. Essex jumped above them with victory at Sussex. However, Durham are now firmly in the dogfight having lost to a ball was bowled on day four, a draw was inevitable with Surrey on Blake's 72 off 112 balls was his maiden first-class fifty as Surrey ended with a 20-run lead on first captain Jonny Bairstow was absent after his partner went into labour, leaving Dom Bess in charge and he returned a season's best 7-162 with his started their second innings with a minimum of 57 overs five Yorkshire wickets fell to spin either side of tea on a pitch offering Lawrence played his part in three of the last spin had the other opener Adam Lyth caught at slip by Jamie Overton for 34 before being the catcher for the next two as Yorkshire fell to Wharton was caught at silly point off Sai Kishore for 25 and Will Luxton at leg-slip off Will Jacks trapped Matthew Revis lbw offering no shot on the back foot, Yorkshire were 108 for five but still the high-scoring nature of this weather-affected game, it was a surprise that all-rounder Revis was the only man to post a hundred - 110 not out in the first innings. Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Hartley helps Lancs to nine-wicket win over Glos
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Cheltenham (day four)Lancashire 557 & 111-1: Jennings 57*; Murphy 1-32Gloucestershire 381 & 285: Charlesworth 71, Phillips 56; Hartley 5-99, Green 2-62Lancs (22pts) beat Glos (5pts) by nine wickets Match scorecard Man of the match Tom Hartley produced another career-best performance to propel Lancashire to a hard-earned nine-wicket victory over Gloucestershire at Cheltenham and keep alive their hopes of winning promotion back to Division One of the County previously staged his highest score of 130 and taken 6-116 to put his team in control, the England slow left armer claimed 5-99 on the final day of an entertaining match at the famous old College Ground as the red rose county made it two wins out of two in the red-ball format under the new leadership team of interim head coach Steve Croft and captain James to follow on, Gloucestershire were dismissed for 285 in 98 overs in their second innings, slow left armer Hartley finishing with match figures of 11-215 after Ben Charlesworth and Joe Phillips had scored 71 and 56 respectively for the home side. Chris Green weighed in with 2-62 as spin accounted for seven wickets on a surface offering some 110 to win in 26 overs, Lancashire chased down their target for the loss of Luke Wells with five overs to spare, courtesy of an authoritative unbroken second wicket partnership of 103 between Keaton Jennings and Josh Bohannon. Confronted by four spinners as Gloucestershire dispensed with seam, Jennings top-scored with a brisk 57 not out from 67 balls, while the equally forthright Bohannon faced 50 deliveries in raising an undefeated 45 as the visitors eased to victory in the final took 22 points to move into fourth place in Division Two, in the process, leapfrogging Gloucestershire, who settled for five points after sustaining their third defeat of the resumed their second innings on 98 without loss, still 78 in arrears and potentially vulnerable to a repeat of the collapse that undermined their first innings. It was incumbent upon openers Cameron Bancroft and Charlesworth to build upon their good start on a pitch that was offering some assistance to spin, but which was not expected to break Gloucestershire's minimum requirement was to bat two sessions, Lancashire were reading from an altogether different script, Anderson claiming the prized scalp of Bancroft in the opening over, the Australian edging to mid-wicket without adding to his overnight score of seen off Anderson, Charlesworth was no doubt disappointed to then succumb to George Balderson in his first over from the Chapel Lawn End. Attempting a back-foot flick, Gloucestershire's first-innings centurion found Marcus Harris at short mid-wicket and departed for 71 with the score 129-2. Guilty of poor shot selection, Ollie Price then pursued a wide delivery from Hartley that bounced off a length and edged to Luke Wells at slip, at which point Gloucestershire were 134-3, still 42 in arrears, having lost three wickets in the first came close to losing another in the next over, Miles Hammond standing his ground and being afforded the benefit of the doubt when Jennings claimed a catch at short square leg off the bowling of Hartley. The reprieve proved temporary, Green pinning Hammond lbw for 22 in the final over before lunch, which was taken with the score 168-4. Representing Gloucestershire's best chance of saving the game, Phillips remained unbeaten on was joined by James Bracey and these two wiped out the remaining arrears early on in the afternoon session, Phillips going to a hard-earned 50 from 91 balls with his eighth four. But Lancashire continued to take wickets, Jack Blatherwick angling a short delivery into the body of Bracey, who was unable to get his bat out of the way and edged behind. His departure was a blow for Gloucestershire, who were in effect 21-5 with 57 overs left in the even bigger blow befell the home side when Phillips' vigil came to an end soon afterwards, the Cornishman held by the safe hands of Jennings at short leg off the bowling of the ubiquitous Hartley. Phillips had faced 110 balls, accrued eight fours and defied the red rose bowlers for three hours. Hartley then extracted additional spin to remove van Buuren, who stretched forward and was caught behind for eight to leave the home side between a rock and a hard place at Murphy led a Gloucestershire counter-attack, going for his shots, pushing the field back and sharing in a useful stand of 41 in eight overs with Zaman Akhter, who scored a breezy 20 before offering a return catch to Green as the home side slipped to 251-8. Ajeet Singh Dale survived a searching examination at the hands of Anderson and the new ball, he and Murphy digging in to reach tea on 268-8. Gloucestershire had a slender lead of 92 with a minimum 35 overs go-to man, Hartley returned to bowl Murphy for a 56-ball 33 and complete the first 10-wicket match haul of his career as an enthralling contest entered its final session. He then accounted for last man Marchant de Lange, held at short square leg as Gloucestershire's resistance with the bat finally came to an end in the early-evening sunshine. Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay
