By New Boy 2
September 1 2022

With the County Championship resuming next week, here is an update on where we are in case you had forgotten...

Round 10

The Middle hosted Worcestershire at Merchant Taylor’s School.

More on this game elsewhere on MTWD.

Worcestershire (19 pts) beat Middlesex (3 pts) by seven wickets

Durham entertained Derbyshire, won the toss and decided to field. Apart from an unbeaten 122 from Leus du Plooy and 90 from Anuj Dal, that proved the right decision as the visitors only added another 70 runs to finish on 283. Chris Rushworth had a bit of a day taking 7 wickets for 44 off 21 overs. In reply Durham got to 296 with seven batters scoring 20+ but none of them reaching 52. Du Plooy was at it again in the second innings scoring 134 and Brooke Guest also hitting a century: 116. Rushworth took another four wickets for 62 runs. Derby’s 398 for 8 declared set a run chase for Durham of 385. After 53 overs Durham were 150 for 6 and looking a defeat in the face, but rallied to get to 221 for 7 at close of play despite facing 3 overs of the new ball at the end.

Durham (13 pts) drew with Derbyshire (13 pts)

In Cardiff, leaders Nottinghamshire won the toss and put Glamorgan in to bat. Only Sam Northeast scored more than fifty runs (56) in a total of  318. However, that still gave them a lead once Notts had been bowled out for 285. Centuries for Edward Byrom (144) and Sam Northeast (105) enabled Glamorgan to declare on 421 and set the visitors a target of 455 to win on the final day. Notts protected their wickets and scored just 259 from 95 overs, but with only losing four wickets the draw was saved.

Glamorgan (14 pts) drew with Nottinghamshire (13 pts)

It was a record-breaking match for Leicestershire at Hove where Sussex won the toss and decided to bat. Tom Alsop scored 150 out of a total of 588 for 9 declared, Leicestershire’s Callum Parkinson took five wickets for 128 runs from 42 overs. In reply, Hassan Azad was caught first ball, only for another 174 runs to be scored before the next wicket. That was Louis Kimber on 104. Leicestershire finally declared on 756 for 4, the highest first-class score in their 143 year history. There were unbroken double centuries for Colin Ackermann (277) and Wiaan Mulder( 235), who shared a county record fifth wicket partnership of 477. Sussex only needed 168 from the final two sessions to avoid an innings defeat and got to 220 for 1 by close, Ali Orr scoring 106 not out.

Match Drawn. Sussex 14 pts, Leicestershire 13 pts

Round 11

As Britain sizzled to record-breaking temperatures, only one of the six teams in action failed to score at least 450 in an innings. 

At Lord’s Middlesex drew with Sussex. More on this game elsewhere on MTWD.

Middlesex (14 pts) drew with Sussex (14 pts)

In the local derby at, er, Derby, Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bat. There was a 402-run second wicket partnership between Ben Duckett, who scored 241, and Haseeb Hameed who was the 7th wicket just four runs short of his double century. Notts declared at 618 for 8. Despite 109 from Brooke Guest, Derby’s total of 318 was not enough to avoid the follow-on, although their second innings score of 249 for 4 was enough to secure the draw on the final day when rain prevented any play in the morning.

Derbyshire (12 pts) drew with Nottinghamshire (16 pts)

At Grace Road, Wiaan Mulder followed up his double century in round 10 by hitting 156 as part of a Leicestershire first innings score of 584. Glamorgan then piled on 795 runs for the loss of just five wickets, their highest ever first-class score. Sam Northeast’s 410 not out was the third highest Championship score in history and the ninth best in any first-class match. The third wicket stand was 306 runs and the fifth wicket partnership was 461. Rather lost in the record-breaking was Chris Cooke’s unbeaten 191 and 139 for Colin Ingram. All this after Glamorgan had lost their first two wickets for nine runs, and Billy Root was out first ball. Glamorgan declared at lunch on the final day with Leicestershire only needing to bat out two sessions for the draw. Instead, they slumped to 183 all out, losing their last five wickets for just 13 runs.

Glamorgan (23 pts) beat Leicestershire (6 pts) by an innings and 28 runs

Round 12

Middlesex travelled north to Chester-le-Street to take on Durham. More on this game elsewhere on MTWD.

Durham (14 pts) drew with Middlesex (13 pts)

Runs were in short supply at New Road as Worcestershire won the toss and put Derbyshire in to bat. Eight visiting batters failed to score more than 4 runs, something Extras managed with ease (6 since you ask). Without Anuj Dal’s 55 the total of 130 would have been significantly less. Worcester didn’t fare that much better, although their total of 185 gave them a healthy lead. Six of their batters failed to score more than 4 runs, Extras going better with 10. In Derbyshire’s second innings, six batters failed to get out of single figures, this time Anuj Dal scored 112 not out, sharing a seventh-wicket partnership of 140 with Mattie McKiernan. That left the hosts chasing 289 to win but they crumpled to 190 all out, losing their last five wickets for 36 runs. Dal took five wickets for 40 off 15 overs including three wickets in seven balls.

Derbyshire (19 pts) beat Worcestershire (3 pts) by 98 runs

At Trent Bridge, Sussex won the toss and sent Nottinghamshire in to bat. It looked a good idea at first, with the hosts losing their first five wickets for 102 runs. Captain Steven Mullaney steadied the proverbial, leading his team to 240 all out. Despite 49 from Cheteshwar Pujara Sussex ended their first innings almost 100 runs behind on 143. Dane Paterson took 5 wickets for 43 off 15 overs, James Pattinson took the other 5 wickets for 56 runs off 16 overs. Despite Ollie Robinson taking 5 wickets for 60 off 20 overs, Notts scored 301 in their second innings to set Sussex a target of 399. It turned out to be 250 runs too many, only Pujara’s 46 offering any resistance as Sussex were all out for 142.

Notts (20 pts) beat Sussex (0 pts) by 256 runs

So, to the table (from BBC Cricket):

On to the stats, starting with the most runs in the division (from ESPN Cricinfo):

Most wickets in the division (from ESPN Cricinfo):

Next week the three games are:

Derbyshire v Durham

Glamorgan v Worcestershire

Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire