County Championship Review – Week Twelve

Division 1

 

Essex (159 & 293) vs Somerset (164 & 109)

Essex (19 points) beat Somerset (3 points) by 179 runs.

Essex took another step towards the County Championship title with victory over Somerset at Chelmsford. Jamie Porter’s career best figures of 12/95 helped seventh win of the season.

 

Lancashire (504/8d & 42/2) vs Warwickshire (200 & 344)

Lancashire (24 points) beat Warwickshire (2 points) by 8 wickets.

Lancashire kept themselves in the hunt with victory over bottom club Warwickshire. Liam Livingstone (224) gave another reminder of his talent by outscoring the Bears’ first innings on his own. Tim Ambrose’s second innings century was in vain as Lancashire completed a comfortable victory.

 

Surrey (280) vs Middlesex (247 & 214/7)

Surrey (10 points) drew with Middlesex (9 points).

This game featured one of the most bizarre endings ever. An arrow was fired on to the field, narrowly missing the players and the game was abandoned as a draw shortly afterwards.

 

Division 2

 

Durham (480/9d & 39/1) vs Derbyshire (164 & 354)

Durham (24 points) beat Derbyshire (2 points) by 9 wickets.

Paul Collingwood rolled back the years with a big hundred to help his side overcome Derbyshire. Collingwood’s 177 helped Durham to 480/9 declared before Chris Rushworth and Graham Onions did what they do best and tore through the opposition. Following on, Billy Godleman made a valiant century but couldn’t prevent his side losing for the seventh time this season.

 

Glamorgan (294 & 182) vs Sussex (268 & 211/9)

Sussex (21 points) beat Glamorgan (5 points) by 1 wicket.

A classic at Colwyn Bay. Set 209 to win, Sussex were cruising to victory on 100/2 before collapsing to 179/9. Ollie Robinson then struck some lusty blows to see his side over the line.

 

Kent (333) vs Leicestershire (350 & 135/6)

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

Kent lost ground at the top of Division Two after they could only draw with Leicestershire. With the sides closely matched in terms of first innings scores, rain on the final day ruined any prospect of a positive result.

 

Nottinghamshire (213 & 344/9d) vs Northamptonshire (141 & 253)

Nottinghamshire (20 points) beat Northamptonshire (3 points) by 163 runs.

Nottinghamshire’s nearly perfect season continued with victory over Northants at Trent Bridge. Riki Wessels thrashed 116 off 88 balls, having already top scored in the first innings, to set the visitors a challenging target of 417. Nottinghamshire’s seamers, as they have done all season, were able to finish the job with relative ease.

 

Worcestershire (363 & 295/8d) vs Gloucestershire (258 & 211)

Worcestershire (23 points) beat Gloucestershire (5 points) by 189 runs.

Ravichandran Ashwin made a big impression on his Worcestershire debut as he spun his side to victory against Gloucestershire. The Indian scored 64 runs and took eight wickets on a pitch offering plenty of assistance for the spinners. Jack Taylor scored a century in the fourth consecutive match against this opposition but lacked the support needed to keep Gloucestershire afloat.