Young England white-ball bowler John Turner, sent on a 14-day loan to Old Trafford from Hampshire, was handed his debut Lancashire cap by Jimmy Anderson. A few hours later it was revealed that plain Jimmy was soon to be Sir, knighted in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.
Knight or not, Anderson won’t have been too sad to miss bowling on an Old Trafford pitch as hard as briskly-baked biscuit, thanks to the sunniest March on record and Manchester’s rain taking an overdue holiday. Turner ran in with vigour, and some menace, but tirelessly as he and the Lancs attack bowled, Northamptonshire waved them off. Saif Zaib made a calm and, at times, charming century, while James Sales, in kissing distance of a ton, shovelled the ball straight to mid-on, slumping off the ground like a man destined for the gunge tank.
Durham’s accomplished young man in the wings, Ben McKinney, collected a second Championship hundred, a calm 143 not out against Warwickshire, while Ben Stokes watched from the sidelines. Briefly marooned in the 90s, he reached three figures with a fizz and put on 109 with Matthew Potts (53).
South African Kyle Verreynne was Nottinghamshire’s linchpin as they fought back from 78 for five at Trent Bridge. His collected 111 frustrated Essex, with Rob Key keeping an eye on Sam Cook, who bowled both beautifully and unluckily, for his two wickets.
A century of iron will by Dom Sibley knotted Surrey together at the Oval. Sibley carried his bat – only Geoff Boycott has done so more times since the second world war – while Hampshire, led by Brad Wheal, chipped away at the hallowed lineup.
A topsy-turvy game at Hove left Sussex on top, despite collapsing in the afternoon sun. A late flurry of wickets from Fynn Hudson-Prentice saw Somerset floundering in the dirt at 62 for five at stumps. At Headingley, Yorkshire made the most of top-notch batting conditions, Dawid Malan leading the way with 98. Worcestershire’s slips were given Jonny Bairstow’s finest glower after he was somewhat unluckily given out, caught behind for seven.
Everyone’s favourite boom or bust cricketer Zak Crawley was lbw to Toby Roland-Jones for a four-ball duck at Canterbury. Kent were batting after tea after bowling Middlesex out for 222, but were soon themselves in trouble, finishing 172 for six. Sol Budinger (81) got Leicestershire off to a flying start at Grace Road, the toiling Derbyshire bowlers having to watch the scoreboard tick past 400; while Gloucestershire’s Cameron Bancroft hotfooted it off the plane to make light work of Glamorgan, scoring 163 in his first game as red-ball captain.