County Championship Review – Week 14

 

Division 1

 

Middlesex (204 & 14/1) vs Hampshire (146)

Middlesex (9 points) drew with Hampshire (8 points).

A rain-ruined game at Uxbridge leaves Middlesex hovering dangerously above the relegation zone. With only 59 overs possible across the first three days there were only bonus points to play for and Middlesex collected four that could yet prove crucial.

 

Somerset (335 & 69/3) vs Lancashire (133 & 269 f/o)

Somerset (22 points) beat Lancashire (3 points) by 7 wickets.

Lancashire handed Essex the title by falling to defeat at Somerset. Steve Davies’ century was backed up by Jack Leach who took nine wickets in the match to give Somerset a great chance of survival.

 

Surrey (592) vs Yorkshire (394 & 281/2 f/o)

Surrey (12 points) drew with Yorkshire (10 points).

Surrey and Yorkshire drew a high-scoring game at the Oval. Kumar Sangakkara and Ben Foakes shared a partnership of 258 whilst Mark Stoneman also hit a century as Surrey made a mammoth total of 592. Yorkshire had to follow on despite a score of 394 put hundreds from Shaun Marsh and Alex Lees made the game safe. Somerset’s win however, leaves Yorkshire in the bottom two.

 

Warwickshire (201 & 112) vs Essex (369/9d)

Essex (23 points) beat Warwickshire (3 points) by an innings and 56 runs.

Lancashire’s failure to win at Taunton handed Essex the County Championship title after they had earlier defeated Warwickshire. Varun Chopra made 98 against his former club but it was Simon Harmer and Jamie Porter, as they have done all season, that did the damage. This time they shared 15 wickets to bowl Essex to the title and leave Warwickshire facing Division Two next season.

 

Division 2

 

Glamorgan (207 & 320) vs Northamptonshire (310 & 221/3)

Northamptonshire (22 points) beat Glamorgan (4 points) by 7 wickets.

Northamptonshire kept their promotion hope alive with victory over Glamorgan at Cardiff. Richard Gleeson took eight wickets in the match to leave Northants needing 218 to win. Richard Levi, who hit a first innings century, hit the winning runs to keep his side in the hunt.

 

Gloucestershire (385 & 294/9) vs Kent (386)

Gloucestershire (11 points) drew with Kent (12 points).

Kent’s promotion chase has faltered in recent weeks after a succession of draws and it was effectively ended here with another draw, this time against Gloucestershire. Cameron Bancroft carried his bat for 206* and although Kent achieved parity they were unable to force a victory.

 

Sussex (271 & 244) vs Derbyshire (338 & 322/8d)

Derbyshire (22 points) beat Sussex (5 points) by 45 runs.

With Bancroft single-handedly frustrating Kent’s promotion push, Hardus Viljoen was doing something similar to Sussex. He took seven first innings to give Derbyshire a useful lead and help them set a difficult target of 390. Sussex began their chase well, reaching 267/3 before collapsing to 344 all out. Viljoen took eight more wickets to finish with match figures of 15/170.

 

Worcestershire (493 & 132/4) vs Leicestershire (404 & 220)

Worcestershire (24 points) beat Leicestershire (6 points) by 6 wickets.

Callum Parkinson took 8/148 but could not halt Worcestershire’s charge towards Division One. The spinner outperformed Indian ace Ravi Ashwin but could not to enough to lead Leicestershire to a first win of the season. After a high-scoring first innings, Leicestershire managed just 220 second time around, leaving Worcestershire with a comfortable chase.