1. Atkinson gets a Tongue lashing
A draw was enough to keep the reigning champions, Nottinghamshire, top of Division One and their immediate predecessors, Surrey, very much in touch in third place. Sussex, who have won as many games this season as Nottinghamshire and Surrey combined, are fourth in the table, their pre-season sanction holding them back. Somebody must think that all makes sense, but I don’t.
The use of substitutes has been a matter of some controversy this season, with some shouting foul and others demanding that players just get on with it, the game having been XI v XI for aeons.
So, it was a surprise to read that Gus Atkinson, the Surrey and England bowler, was not immediately replaced after being struck not once, but twice, in two overs by Josh Tongue, probably the fastest bowler in the country. The second impact literally brought Atkinson to his knees, provoking immediate concern on the field. He passed the concussion protocols, but left the crease 45 minutes later after intervention from the umpires.
I’m no medical expert, but delayed concussion seems a relatively common affliction after blows to the head and, given how risk-averse England are regarding their bowlers, it seems almost cavalier to refrain from intervention.
The protocols kicked back in to prevent Atkinson getting a last tune-up this week at Headingley before the first Test begins on 4 June. As with the points system, I presume someone must think this is a good idea.
2. Bears maul Tykes
Speaking of lashes, Warwickshire were in record-bothering form as they hammered Yorkshire by 377 runs at Edgbaston, only one short of their highest margin of victory. Three innings of 147, 152 and 171 had the men with clipboards twitching, but 553 for 6 declared would have cooled the pitch inspectors’ heels.
That innings, Warwickshire’s second, was built around Sam Hain’s undefeated 164, but there were solid contributions through the card, four Warwickshire players making a higher score than any Yorkshire player achieved in either of their two knocks.
It must have been a sweet victory indeed for the Halifax-born Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who haunted his old county with match figures of 7 for 71, the wise old operator knowing the virtues of control. Warwickshire go second while Yorkshire, who look light on bowling, flirt with the relegation zone.
3. Hove is where the heart is
The new Sussex captain, Ollie Robinson, confounded his critics as he inspired his team to another win on the south coast.
It was a match that illustrated the importance of making a score once set. Leicestershire’s batters registered seven scores above 40 but no one bettered Ian Holland’s 63, Robinson picking up six wickets and Jack Carson five, continuing his excellent form.
The difference makers were Daniel Hughes and John Simpson, both of whom batted for nearly four hours for 136 and 114*, getting in and going on, the mark of experience. They handed things over to men 15 years their juniors, as Danial Ibrahim and James Coles biffed Sussex over the line before the rain could interrupt them again.
4. Norton packs a punch
Surely that’s not Glamorgan in the top half of the table after a second consecutive win? It is.
It was a dream match for Ryan Hadley, who channelled his near namesake Richard Hadlee as he took five wickets in the match and discovered hitherto unknown batting prowess with a five-hour undefeated 50 as nightwatchman, anchoring the fourth-innings chase.
Somerset will wonder how they squandered a first-innings lead of 125 to be 63 for 8, Tom Norton taking a debut hat-trick for the Welshmen. Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory brought some respectability to the card and they still had a chance when the home side needed 99 with half of their batters gone. Cue Sean Dickson to do an Oliver Hannon-Dalby and he bit the hand that once fed him with a quickfire 76.
James Rew opened, Lewis Gregory batted at No 10 and Jack Leach bowled only seven of 195 overs delivered by the Somerset attack. It was a curiously passive performance, especially considering a win would have taken them top of the table.
Durham opened up a 23-point gap at the top of Division Two after flattening Worcestershire at New Road.
Ben Stokes took his seasonal bow and picked up two wickets in each innings as he eased his way back into the groove. But it was the other all-rounder Ben, the one with a bad name for a cricketer, Raine, who bagged the five-fer. When Callum Parkinson did what a spinner should do and took a five-fer of his own in the second innings, there was just time for Emilio Gay to burnish his England credentials with a half century to lift his season average to 92, matching his teammate David Bedingham.
The other seven counties are not quite yet playing for the second promotion slot, but if Durham beat Kent this week, they might as well be.
6. James Taylor’s got new friends
Kent pressed the loan button before their match against Gloucestershire (why don’t more counties do that?) and their reward was a second consecutive win and a spot in mid-table, seven points behind Middlesex in second place.
James Taylor took 10 wickets on his debut – but it’s only a two-match loan from Surrey – as Kent won a splendid match at Bristol. Blows were traded evenly across their first innings, so that set up a second-innings shootout, a scenario that brings all the unique characteristics of first-class cricket into play on an ageing pitch with tiring bowlers.
When James Bracey fell at 112 for 4, Gloucestershire were probably aiming for 250, with anything more a bonus. Their captain, Cameron Bancroft, was the key and he continued to rub the bowlers up the wrong way while finding partners down the order, all of his teammates contributing.
Kent set off in pursuit of 261, knowing a century should seal the deal. The mercurial Tawanda Muyeye delivered one, backing up his 90 in the first dig with 108, but there was still time for bums to squeak before Taylor hit the winning boundary, eight down, to put a spring in the step of Kent as they head to Beckenham to take on the Durham juggernaut.