Key events
With Abell and Banton digging in for Somerset – 142-3; rain stopping play at The Oval (Surrey 36-2); Kent four down against Hampshire (Barker/Abbas), Khushi lbw for a flying 53 off 39, Durham 91-6 (four wickets for Smith) – and the lead over Worcestershire 169…
… and in Division 2, rain at Grace Road – Leics lead Middx by 404; Gloucestershire on top at Cheltenham, thanks to centuries from Hammond and Bancroft;and Northants in a decent place in their chase against Sussex, 179 more needed, guided by Emilio Gay (57), time for me to write up for the paper. BTL remains open for chat etc.
Close of play at Chesterfield
The rain has closed in at Chesterfield too, where James Wharton and Jonny Tattersall put on 241, a Yorkshire record for the sixth wicket against Derbyshire.
Surrey have lost Burns and Sibley cheaply again, but unfortunately for Essex that brings in Lawrence and Smith. The Surrey lead already 116.
I’m going to start for home but keep you update from the train as all is bleak here, and the wifi will turn off soon.
Chris Wright suspended for nine months for drug violation
Leicestershire’s Chris Wright has been suspended for nine months by the national anti-doping panel. He admitted two anti-doping rule violations after testing positive for ostarine. The panel accepted that he had no intention to breach the anti-doping rules.
As the nine month suspension was backdated to October 2023, Wright will be free to play cricket again from July 19, 2024.
Play abandoned for the day at Southport
With the rain still falling, and the covers saturated, that is that.
Tea-time-ish scores
Division One
Surrey 262 v Essex 180
Somerset 80-3 v Warwickshire 412
Lancashire 344-8 v Nottinghamshire no play yet today
Hampshire 505-8 v Kent 75-2
Durham 190 & 61-5 v Worcestershire 112
Division Two
Leicestershire 179 & 295-8 v Middlesex 86 all out
Gloucestershire 179 and 218-3 v Glamorgan 197
Northamptonshire 97 and 41-1 v Sussex 143 & 237
Derbyshire 76 all out v Yorkshire 416-6
Essex all out (nine down) 180
The deficit is a sizeable – in the context of the game – 82. Walter 64. Three wickets each for Worrall and Clark. An S is pencilled next to 2024 champions.
Rob Key on Jimmy Anderson, Jamie Smith and Ben Foakes
Khushi adding some Crawley-esque sparkle – 44 off 31 balls, 38 of them in boundaries. Kent 60-1.
Somerset wobbling at 79-3 – can they sail back as Warwickshire did? Tom’s Abell and Banton at the tiller.
ICC team of the T20 tournament
Six Indians, three Afghans, one Australian, one West Indian. And a South African twelfth man.
Gloucestershire making a much better fist of their second innings and keeping the Cheltenham faithful happy – it was a washout there last year so wishing them at least three full days. Gloucestershire’s big money spinner if I remember rightly. Bancroft 70 not out, Hammond 92 not out.
And as tea follows toast, Kent lose their first wicket – Compton lbw to Barker. Feroze Khushi, making his Kent debut as a loan player, 11 not out.
Essex have 150 but the cement is crumbling. Harmer gone, now Snater. Walter hanging on, 53 not out, but only the wag of the tail to play with. Essex 150-7, and only a ten man side.
The umpires talk to the groundstaff, one of whom is having a quiet ciggy leaning on the roller. The umpires come to talk to the match referee, and they all trudge off to talk to the captains. More as we have it.
Hampshire declare 505-8.
Barker, Abbott and Abbas lick their lips.
Louis Kimber, no longer a name to roll around the mouth in puzzlement, is – apologies – was – seeing the ball like a watermelon again. Bowled for 38 – Leics 230-7, lead Middlesex by 323. TRJ 4-60, Brookes 2-59.
A third for Worrall at The Oval – but Paul Walter gives Essex hope, 44 not out, and that Simon Harmer is due a big innings. Essex 118-5.
New from Southport where tea will be taken at 3.10, during which time the umpires will walk out for an inspection.
Essex have a fight on their hands at The Oval. Worrall has two – tall Paul Walter is battered by a hit to the arm but still standing, unbeaten on 36. Essex 109-4, trail by 154.
Andy Umeed fires six to spring the Somerset innings into life , then perishes shortly afterwards, after Warwickshire are bowled out for 412, Pretorius 5-104.Burgess last man out for 147.
And rain at Grace Road just after Harry Swindells falls for 22.
James Wharton – just – misses out on a double ton
Finally out for 188 just before the rain starts to fall again – a terrific maiden f-c century. This was what he said yesterday: “It’s been frustrating the last couple of weeks because I’ve been getting 20’s and getting out in weird ways. I felt good, I was triggering to start with so I thought I’m just going to stay still and stop moving and it seemed to work.”
News from Grace Road: “At 63-4 even a Tory MP wouldn’t have bet on a hundred stand to follow. Nevertheless, there it is with Goldsworthy on 70* playing a lovely innings and Swindells offering stout support. Maybe that third day will be needed after all. Lights on here.”
And, at Trafalgar Road, the rain doth fall and the wind doth blow and the water doth gather on the covers. But – play is back underway at The Oval, Southhampton, Taunton, Grace Road, Cheltenham and Northampton.
Afghanistan women’s letter to the ICC
Why this can’t happen? I can see no reason at all.
A double century for James Vince
Lucky spectators at Southampton.
Anderson and Lyon break a record for Lancashire
They haven’t yet had a bowl but, just by existing in the same team, Anderson and Lyon have ushered this Lancashire XI to the top of the pops. No other first-class side has ever fielded an eleven with more than Anderson and Lyon’s combined total of 1230 Test wickets. The only other county XI with 1000 Test wickets was also Lancashire – against Sussex at Liverpool in 2007. That XI had 1048 wickets: Muralitharan 700 (at the time), Flintoff 197, Cork 131, Mahmood 20.
Lunchtime scores
Division One
Surrey 262 v Essex 85-3
Somerset v Warwickshire 379-8
Lancashire 344-8 v Nottinghamshire no play yet today
Hampshire 415-6 v Kent
Durham 190 & 33-3 v Worcestershire 112 no play yet today
Division Two
Leicestershire 179 & 149-4 v Middlesex 86 all out
Gloucestershire 179 and 48-2 v Glamorgan 197
Northamptonshire 97 v Sussex 143 & 173-5
Derbyshire 76 all out v Yorkshire 402-5
Anderson to remain with England after the Lord’s Test
England MD Rob Key has confirmed that Anderson will remain with the England coaching set up all summer.
“He’s got so much to offer English cricket. We don’t want to see that go,” said Key.
“When we asked him, he was keen. He is going to have a lot of options. English cricket would be very lucky if he chooses to stay in the game.”
“What he does with Lancashire will probably work out after the Lord’s Test.
“We’ve got some conversations to have after to find out what he thinks is the best thing to do. Everything so far has been him gearing up for this Test match.”
“Good morning Tanya,” hello Geoff Wignall!
“I hope you remembered your coat today (hat, gloves, hand warmers). [I stayed over so unfortunately not]
“Should you ever have time and if it still exists, a little known gem of Southport is it’s 2nd hand bookshop, tucked away down a narrow alley off the west side Lord St., a little way north of the Monument/ Nevill St.
“Three floors of books, haphazardly arranged and nothing catalogued. My kind of place.
“Among other treasures I found there my original 1905 copy of Beldam’s ‘Great Batsmen and Their Techniques’ for a fiver, albeit with some child’s pencil scrawls in a few places.
“It was there in the early 70s and still there in 2011, when I paid a valedictory visit to the town; perhaps it still exists.”
Paul Edwards, a local, tell me that if it is Broadhursts in Market Street then it still exists and it is an absolute gem and is where he bought his first cricket books too in the 1960s.
It is now sheeting down. Raining too at Chesterfield, Taunton and Chester le Street.
A round of the ground reveals lots of cold people, including an older man with an anorak hood done up so only his eyes are showing and an umbrella covering the rest of his body. The drizzle continues to fall.
And the covers are wheeled back on…
Thinking of those in the Caribbean facing this:
Hurricane #Beryl has just become the first June Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in history.
We have never seen such a strong hurricane this early in the season.
This is exactly why we were so worried about hurricane season this year.
Unprecedented. pic.twitter.com/8I4f624B5z
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) June 30, 2024
Here is Raf’s report on Maia Bouchier’s maiden first-class century yesterday:
Good morning Martin ODW“Looks like yesterday’s Trafalgar Road idyll has evaporated and t’other side of county cricket weather is saying hello. Hopefully Jennings, then Jimmy and Notts can put on a show to warm us all up… some of us figuratively, but I bet you’re hoping literally.”
I sure am, because, as the tent billows in the cross-breeze, I’m a wimp and I forgot my big coat.
In warmer climes Essex, minus Jordan Cox, have ominously lost both their openers already: 27-2.
Goldsworthy and Swindells have ushered Leicetershire past three figures (101-4) and a lead of 194 over Middlesex.
Glamorgan, thanks to that man Mason Crane again (43 not out), have sneaked a 17-run lead at Cheltenham.
Sanderson has three wickets at the County Ground, but Sussex at 120 for four have a lead of 166 over Northampton.
And Wharton’s debut f-c century has grown to 165 as Yorkshire give Derbyshire a proper schooling at Chesterfield. The lead? 284. Tattersall 69 not out.
Sorry, I’m so cold I keep forgetting to type. They’re pulling the covers off here. Restart due at 12.15 with lunch at 1.30 and tea at 4.10. Let’s delve into Division Two.
Mike Daniels is in the Grace Road scorebox: “Bit of a breathless start here in the same vein as the first day. Patel and Currie gone already, Currie to one which squatted. Variable bounce here and not sure even a third day will be required.”
Oh dear. Leicestershire 68-4 in their second innings, lead Middlesex by 161 runs.
I don’t know if there are CCLivers who can match Ken Grime, whose first Lancs game was Brian Statham’s last and might now be watching Jimmys’ last game for Lancs too. Statham walked away with 6-34 v Yorkshire.
A miserable scene here, the big covers have been hauled on and wet-bottomed fans sit under opened umbrellas. Elsewhere in Division One though, action:
At The Oval, Surrey have been dismissed for 262, adding only 14 runs this morning. Three late wickets for Snater. Ten-man Essex are 4-0 in reply.
Warwickshire have added five runs on a damp morning at Taunton, while James Vince has continued to accumulate against Kent, though lost Ben Brown for 110. Hampshire 319-4.
Rain at Chester le Street
Jordan Cox has appendix surgery
News from The Oval, where Jordan Cox will play no further part in the game after having an appendix operation yesterday evening. Unlike for concussion injuries, no replacement will be allowed.
Weather watch
Rain in Southport and Chester le Street. Elsewhere, play is underway. The Met Office says: “Dry in the south and east with early sunshine. A band of showery rain spreading southeastwards across the United Kingdom, heaviest in the north but patchy further south. Turning brighter in the northwest later. Feeling cool in the northwesterly breeze.”
It has, I’m afraid, started raining again. The man with the cover chases the man with the mower down the pitch.
Now in the tent. It has stopped raining and the players are in the middle warming up. Jimmy is having a bowl in his tracksuit – this is only the second game he has played here – and last time he was withdrawn after two days by the ECB.
On my way to the ground I bumped into a rare species – a conservative candidate, wearing a huge royal blue rosette and carrying a bundle of leaflets. He wished me a good day, he wasn’t coming to the cricket.
Sunday’s round-up
The dirty duvet of cloud hanging over Trafalgar Road on Sunday morning could have been pre-ordered by Jimmy Anderson, playing his first match of the year for Lancashire in advance of his international farewell at Lord’s. But Haseeb Hameed, formerly of Lancs, won the toss and, with a twinkle, chose to bowl – so the sell-out crowd had to settle for the consolation of watching Nottinghamshire’s Dillon Pennington, just called up for the Test squad as a possible Anderson replacement.
Pennington, tall and strong, pounding through his run-up, bowled with fire and picked up a couple of wickets. His figures looked a little less tidy after Keaton Jennings, who loves batting at this ground, went on the rampage in the evening session against the second new ball. The sun suddenly out, and the skies forget-me-not blue, he peppered the short boundaries for fun – sixes scattered hither and thither. He finished 183 not out and was applauded off the pitch by a crowd balanced on the fold-up plastic seats who, a few minutes earlier, had roared in Jude Bellingham’s equaliser.
Surrey’s Jamie Smith left quite the calling card during the top-of-the-table clash at the Oval, celebrating his call-up for the Test squad by powering his way to an audacious hundred while none of his teammates passed 26. Eathan Bosch had done the early damage for Essex with three for 52.
At Southampton, Hampshire’s James Vince continued to enjoy his midsummer moment, with a second century in a week, 149 not out against Kent. He was accompanied in his task by an unbeaten 106 from Ben Brown. Michael Burgess cracked an unbeaten 126 as Warwickshire fought back against Somerset at Taunton. More tempestuous times at the Riverside, where Ben Stokes rustled 56 for Durham and Kashif Ali 55 for Worcestershire, on a day when 23 wickets fell.
Sides crumbled like a damp cream cracker on an extraordinary day in Division Two, 75 wickets falling as four games screamed into fast forward. At Grace Road and Northampton the matches moved into their third innings, while at Chesterfield Yorkshire rustled out Derbyshire for 76, with Vishwa Fernando seizing five for 30.
Scores on the doors
Division One
Surrey 248-8 v Essex
Somerset v Warwickshire 373-8
Lancashire 344-8 v Nottinghamshire
Hampshire 301-3 v Kent
Durham 190 & 25-1 v Worcestershire 112 (latest)
Division Two
Leicestershire 179 & 40-1 v Middlesex 86 all out
Gloucestershire 179 v Glamorgan 133-7
Northamptonshire 97 v Sussex 143 & 83-2
Derbyshire 76 all out v Yorkshire 283-5
Preamble
Good morning from a wet and cold Southport.