Key events
Durham have safely avoided the follow-on
And promptly lose a wicket, Carse for 18, a fifth for Dawson. But too late for Hampshire.
Tea-timeish scores
Division One
Southampton: Hampshire 503 v Durham 332-6
Canterbury: Kent 250-5 v Worcestershire 618-7 dec
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 503 v Lancashire 331
The Oval: Surrey 464 v Warwickshire 343 and 130-4
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 411 v Sussex 278 and 186-8 rain
The County Ground: Northants 171 and 56-1 v Gloucestershire 409 and 319-5dec
Has carries his bat for 227!
A standing ovation for HH after Dane Paterson loses his stumps. Saqib leads the Lancashire congratulations by running over with a handshake. HH pulls of his helmet and raises his bat round the ground. The Notts lead a morale-sapping 172.
Has dropped off Mahmood. Then plays a wild slog as he temporarily forgets his new inscurable persona. And that’s the Notts 500! Mahmood and HH have a mid-pitch conflab. I think it is friendly.
Tea time at the Rose Bowl, with Durham still needing 22 to avoid the follow on, four wickts in hand. Bedingham on a chipper 135 not out. Four wickets to Liam Dawson.
Has revelling in the art of the single.
An early tea at Cardiff, with Sussex eight down and five wickets for Andy Gorvin – his best bowling in his ninth first-clas game.
And in the other Div 2 game, Northants have lost Vasconcelos to Singh-Dale for 15,52-1, a blow with 506 still needed for the win.
I notice Has didn’t take his helmet off when he reached 200 – could that have been because he didn’t want anyone to see his small but perfectly formed smirk? As HPG notes, he now has the highest first-class score by any Notts batter against Lancashire. 239 and counting. Lancs look about as enthusiastic as teenagers forced to attend a neighbourhood drinks party.
A pretty Rob Yates fifty at The Oval, where Warwicks are rattling along after the loss of Davies and Rhodes. Warwicks 83-2, 38 behind Surrey.
Hameed picking up the pace at Trent Bridge with just No. 11 Paterson for companionship. Now 227 not out, Lancashire’s field spread like a giant’s stone circle.
Hundreds for Cameron Bancroft and David Bedingham!
Raining hundreds this afternoon – Bedingham now 123 not out, he and Clark holding back the tide for Durham; BAncroft providing a similar service for Gloucestershire – and in fact they have just declared with a serviceable lead of 557, Bancroft 130 not out.
200 for Haseeb Hameed!
A hovering back lift, a back-foot cut, and there it is! A maiden double century in the sun for one of CCLive!’s favourite sons– 368 balls, 19 fours, nearly nine hours graft. He raises his glove to the sky and waves at the standing ovation from his teammates and round the ground.
James Coles and Fynn Hudson Prentice (68 at a fair crack) stretching Glamorgan’s patience with an unbeaten sixth wicket partnership of 112. Sussex, from the ashes, have a lead of 11.
A hundred for Cameron Bancroft!
George Scrimshaw picks up a token Bracey but a first hundred of the season for Cameron Bancroft, stretching Gloucestershire’s lead over Northamptonshire towards 500. Yes, you read that correctly.
Back after a battle with the bindweed to see Kemar Roach sign the first letter on Warwickshire’s death warrant.
Lunchtime scores
Division One
Southampton: Hampshire 503 v Durham 225-5
Canterbury: Kent 179-4 v Worcestershire 618-7 dec
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 394-7 v Lancashire 331
The Oval: Surrey 464 v Warwickshire 343 and 7-0
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 411 v Sussex 278 and 111-5
The County Ground: Northants 171 v Gloucestershire 409 and 202-3
I didn’t realise Warwicks were going to have to survive an over before lunch. But they are. Forget the right-arm fast barrage, Dan Lawrence opens the bowling and his first delivery is dispatched to the rope.
And Ed Barnard finishes things off with two in the over. Surrey all out 464 and pity the poor Warwicks openers who must face Surrey’s right-arm barrage with a deficit of 121.
And maximum batting points for Surrey, with seven balls to spare! Smith out for a place-marking 155, mission accomplished. Sean Abbot, who bowled superbly in the first innings, adding to his lustre with an unbeaten fifty. Surrey 464-9, a lead of 121.
A first fifty for Notts by Olly Stone, the radio says his first since 2016. And take that! A cover drive schmoozing with the grass on its way to the rope
At the Rosebowl, things are plodding along with a resigned air. Bedingham 70 not out, Ollie Robinson joining him at the crease after Dawson sent nightwatch Matty Potts on his way for 34. And, actually, there goes Ollie Robinson, for a not-so-chirpy one. Three for Dawson. Maybe not such a plod after all…. Durham five down, trail by 284.
And a third for Patterson-White, Hammond stumped for 28.
New balls for the Worcestershire bowlers at Canterbury, where Leaning and Finch have fiddled together 25 for the fifth wicket – or more pertinently, survived 11 overs.
While at the County Ground, Gloucestershire look in fine fettle for their first win of the season. 170-2 – both wickets to Patterson-White – the lead over Northants 408. Cameron Bancroft just 16 short of his century.
Nineteen wicketless overs from Tom Hartley, tall and lean, coltish even. This HH-OS partnership now reaching extreme irritation levels for Lancs. Notts 348-7, the lead 17, the partnership 73.
Olly Stone and his dashing blade tormenting Lancs from No. 9, 37 not out at TB. HH still there on 161. The Notts lead? Eight.
Oh Sussex. Three wickets for Mir Hamza already, and now Pujara gone too, caught off Govin for three. No – wait, there goes Simpson in the same over, for nought. Sussex 32 for five… and counting.
100 for Jamie Smith, 150 for Haseeb Hameed
Happy run-collecting for the big guns at The Oval (Surrey 360-8, Smith 106 not out) and Trent Bridge (Notts 322-7, HH 154 not out). Notts nearing parity against Lancs, and Surrey have nudged to a 19 run lead against Warwicks.
And now Denly gets his pads in a twist, a second wicket for Waite, gone for 0. Kent 135-4.
Good to know the Blast is still selling:
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Marnus Labuschagne’s return next week an added bonus for Glamorgan, who were eventually all out for 411 this morning. Sussex’s Toms Haines and Clark in a hurry to eat up that deficit, although there goes Clark, lbw to Hamza for 8. Sussex 22-1, trail Glamorgan by 111.
And there go DBD’s stumps. out for 67. A wicket for Waite.
What a start to the season Daniel Bell-Drummond is having – after a disappointing 2023 (an unbeaten 300 against Northants notwithstanding!) – with two hundreds and two seventies under his belt already, and 67 not out against Worcestershire.
His fellow batter Leaning has just reached his first fifty of the season at Canterbury , Kent 131-2.
I do hope Olly Hannon-Dalby has applied a thick coat of sunscreen to his head, gorgeous sunshine at The Oval where Jamie Smith is perched on 99. Some bad news for Warwickshire this morning, with Craig Miles off the field with an ankle injury. Surrey 332 for six.
All is rosy around the grounds, with play about to begin.
“He has more than his fair share of blood in his boots”
And a nice little insight on Jimmy Anderson from Lancs’ coach Dale Benkenstein:
“I feel I’ve played a little part in Jimmy’s story in that I was the pro at Burnley when he was just coming through as a 14-year-old, so I’ve known him for a long time.
“I don’t think anyone expects one of your youngsters to be the best ever, as Jimmy has proved to be, but you could see he had some talent. He had a stubborn mindset as well, he was very determined.
“A lot has gone into working with the talent he had but obviously he managed to put it all together.
“Going out at Lord’s will be a good way to finish. I would have expected someone of his stature to have that choice and I can’t imagine a better place to go out than Lord’s except for maybe Emirates Old Trafford, but Lord’s will be a fitting end to an amazing career.
“He wants to put his boots on before the Test match and that’s not until July so we’re looking at him playing for Lancashire before that. There are a couple of four-day games that come in the middle of the Blast. Whether he wants to play in one or both of those we’ll wait and see but he will let us know.
“If he feels like he still wants to continue playing after that final Test match then we would be over the moon to have him, but we would understand if he doesn’t. He has had more than his fair share of overs and blood in his boots, but if he feels like he still wants to contribute and play for Lancs we’d be delighted to have him.
“And if he does decide he is going to finish playing county cricket before the Lord’s Test, then his last game at Emirates Old Trafford will be a massive event, that’s for sure.”
This was Haseeb Hameed last night after his first century as Nott’s captain (against his old club, Lancashire).
“I felt pretty good out there, I was happy with my rhythm today. You always try to contribute whenever you go out there and it is not something I’ve particularly dwelled on but it is nice to get that first hundred as captain.
“Last season was a bit frustrating, but that’s top-order batting I suppose but I feel good, it has been nice to spend a bit more time in the middle and hopefully things look up from here.”
A fascinating column from Mark Ramprakash about Anderson’s retirement, and how Ramprakash himself decided it was time to go: “ I needed someone whose opinion I valued to tell me it was time to end it. For me it was Justin Langer, and hearing his words was such a relief.”
You probably all read this yesterday (and thanks to Jim for his excellent work), but just in case you didn’t: ( it’s rather beautiful).
James’s Saturday round-up
On a day when all the talk at county grounds was of someone who was not even playing, Jimmy Anderson’s Lancashire teammate Saqib Mahmood returned after 12 months on the sidelines, to begin to make the case that he could step into the Anderson-shaped hole in the England side.
Mahmood, whose absence was caused by a stress fracture, looked lean and dangerous as he made his first bowling steps of the season and did not have to wait long for his first wicket of the campaign, Nottinghamshire’s Ben Slater poking at a length ball outside off stump and seeing an edge fly into the safe hands of George Bell at third slip.
The lissom-limbed George Balderson then popped up to take three further wickets as the visitors set about protecting their first-innings score of 331. Haseeb Hameed proved a thorn in the side, making 137 runs off 246 balls against his former county to keep things simmering at Trent Bridge.
On a soporific south coast, Hampshire made Durham toil. Tom Prest scoring his second first‑class century as his side made 503. Alex Lees and David Bedingham set about hauling the target in, Lees departed lbw to a scudding Liam Dawson delivery but Bedingham ended unbeaten on 35, with the nightwatcher Matthew Potts for company.
There was even more hard yakka for Kent at Canterbury. Jason Holder and Matthew Waite racking up centuries as Worcestershire posted a nosebleed-inducing 618 for seven declared. Holder went to his ton with a flurry of sixes, on reaching the milestone he poignantly tapped the badge by his heart bearing the number 33, that of his former teammate Josh Baker. Holder then raised his bat to his teammates in what looks to be his final innings for the club during this stint. In response, Zak Crawley fell for a scratchy six runs, under edging a leg-side ball from Joe Leach that was well pouched by the wicketkeeper, Gareth Roderick. Kent ending the day on 111 or two, a whopping 507 runs adrift.
Surrey’s engine room purred at the Oval. Jamie Smith stroked Warwickshire’s bowlers around south London to finish unbeaten on 98, his side 16 runs behind but with four wickets in hand.
In Division Two, Sussex’s Jayden Seales picked up three wickets in the morning session, the West Indian bowling Glamorgan’s Billy Root with a fizzing delivery that jagged back to hit the top of the stumps and send the bails skywards like a pair of quizzical eyebrows. The Welsh side battled back and then dominated. From 41 for four they closed on 411 for nine with a handsome 133-run lead thanks to centuries from Kiran Carlson and Colin Ingram.
Marchant de Lange picked up five for 42 to scatter Northamptonshire for 171 at Wantage Road. Cameron Bancroft and Ben Charlesworth cantered to 77 without loss at the close, meaning Gloucestershire are 315 runs to the good.
Close of play scores
Division One
Southampton: Hampshire 503 v Durham 146-3
Canterbury: Kent 111-2 v Worcestershire 618-7 dec
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 279-7 v Lancashire 331
The Oval: Surrey 327-6 v Warwickshire 343
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 411-9 v Sussex 278
The County Ground: Northants 171 v Gloucestershire 409 and 77-0
Preamble
Good morning! It’s day three, round six and no match has been rained off or pitched head over heels into a bush within two days. Things, my friends, are looking up! Not so much for Northants and Sussex who are definitely looking down a barrel, while things look pretty dicey for Durham and Kent as well.