Championship - June 1

Four of the six county championship games finished inside day three, with Essex victorious in Division 1 at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire. Worcestershire, Glamorgan and Durham successfully ended their games a day early in Division 2


Division 1

Kent v Lancashire, Canterbury.

Day 1 close Lancashire 347 (Flintoff 155, Chapple 66, Ealham 5-54), Kent 12-0
Day 2 close Lancashire 347 (Flintoff 155, Chapple 66, Ealham 5-54) and 94-2 (Loye 52*), Kent 267 (Jones 92, Keedy 5-91)

Lancashire pressed home their advantage early with overnight batsmen Mal Loye and Stuart Law taking their third wicket partnership on to 136 before Loye fell to Sheriyar. Further sound contributions from Carl Hooper and Andrew Flintoff, once again opening his shoulders to good effect put the visitors in an extremely strong position before the off-spin of James Tredwell accounted for both.

Warren Hegg chipped in with 35 as Lancashire were eventually dismissed for 334 leaving Kent with a victory target of 415.

Michael Carberry departed early, lbw to Peter Martin, then the same bowler inflicted a sickening blow on the hand of Kent skipper David Fulton. Despite the injury, the Kent skipper continued, only to be dismissed for 37. Later X-rays revealed that the unfortunate Fulton had broken his thumb and is likely to be sidelined for a month.

Gary Keedy nipped out Greg Blewitt, then Ed Smith, who had battled for two hours for a half century fell shortly before stumps.

Lancashire 347 (Flintoff 155, Chapple 66, Ealham 5-54) and 334 (Loye 86, Law 67, Tredwell 4-114), Kent 267 (Jones 92, Keedy 5-91) and 123-4 (Smith 56)


Nottinghamshire v Essex, Trent Bridge

Day 1 close Essex 203 (Napier 57, Smith 5-42) and 39-3, Nottinghamshire 79 (Brant 6-45, Dakin 4-22)
Day 2 close Essex 203 (Napier 57, Smith 5-42) and 359 (Habib 151, Foster 85, MacGill 5-118), Nottinghamshire 79 (Brant 6-45, Dakin 4-22) and 58-1

Faced with the prospect of making another 426 to make in order to snatch one of the more unlikely victories in the history of the game, Nottinghamshire offerer stiffer resistance than in their first innings but were still found wanting.

As soon as Graham Napier struck to remove Aftab Habib with the total on 90, the all-too-familiar procession to the dressing room started again. James Middlebrook chipped in with three wickets and Napier rounded off the a match the home side will want to forget when he had Nadeem Malik caught behind.

No Nottinghamshire batsman managed to accumulate a half-century in the game, even combining their contributions across both innings, but at least their second innings collapse, losing the last nine wickets for 125 does not even come close to that of the first.

Essex 203 (Napier 57, Smith 5-42) and 359 (Habib 151, Foster 85, MacGill 5-118)
beat
Nottinghamshire 79 (Brant 6-45, Dakin 4-22) and 215 (Napier 5-66, Middlebrook 3-64)
by 268 runs
Essex 18 points, Nottinghamshire 3 points


Surrey v Sussex, AMP Oval

Day 1 close Surrey 401-8 (Thorpe 156, Hollioake 77, Brown 74, Kirtley 3-90)
Day 2 close Surrey 480 (Thorpe 156, Hollioake 77, Brown 74, Martin-Jenkins 3-86) and 22-0, Sussex 307 (Ambrose 75, Martin-Jenkins 61, Goodwin 60, Ormond 4-80)

With an already handy lead of 173 on first innings, Surrey pressed on from their overnight position of 22-0 in their quest for quick runs prior to the expected declaration.

For once, James Kirtley toiled without reward as Jonathan Batty and Ian Ward took their opening stand on to 137 before Batty chopped a ball from Mushtaq Ahmed on to his stumps. Ward pressed on to his hundred before he and Mark Ramprakash both fell to Kevin Innes.

With rain falling, Adam Hollioake declared the innings, leaving Sussex with a day and a half to make 407 for victory. Sussex had just four overs, during which time they added 12 without loss, before more rain brought proceedings to a premature end.

Surrey 480 (Thorpe 156, Hollioake 77, Brown 74, Martin-Jenkins 3-86) and 233-3 dcl. (Ward 135, Batty 56, Innes 2-64), Sussex 307 (Ambrose 75, Martin-Jenkins 61, Goodwin 60, Ormond 4-80) and 12-0



Division 2

Derbyshire v Worcestershire, Derby

Day 1 close Worcestershire 374 (Hick 155, Singh 50, Ali 4-124), Derbyshire 24-0
Day 2 close Worcestershire 374 (Hick 155, Singh 50, M Ali 4-124), Derbyshire 179 (di Venuto 54, Gait 50, Hayward 4-53, Mason 3-27, Hall 3-28) and 185-6 (Cork 44*, Welck 36*, K Ali 3-60)

With ten runs still required to avoid an innings defeat and only four wickets in hand, it would have needed a near miracle for Derbyshire to escape the hole they had dug for themselves. Despite half-centuries by Dominic Cork and Graeme Welch, it was not to be. Once Cork departed, the rest of the innings subsided quietly, leaving Welch undefeated on 51. Nantie Hayward again took four wickets in the innings and Kabir Ali chipped in with three.

Faced with the formality of scoring 51 for victory and with the thunder clouds rolling over the horizon, Worcestershire lost little time in wrapping things up, taking a ball under eight overs for the loss of just Anurag Singh.

Worcestershire 374 (Hick 155, Singh 50, M Ali 4-124) and 51-1
beat
Derbyshire 179 (di Venuto 54, Gait 50, Hayward 4-53, Mason 3-27, Hall 3-28) and 245 (Cork 52, Welck 51*, Hayward 4-67, K Ali 3-60)
by 9 wickets.
Worcestershire 21 points, Derbyshire 3 points



Northants v Glamorgan, Northampton

Day 1 close Glamorgan 269 (Dale 37, Brown 4-52, Phillips 3-33), Northamptonshire 70-0
Day 2 close Glamorgan 269 (Dale 37, Brown 4-52, Phillips 3-33) and 71-4 (Hughes 34*, Phillips 2-19), Northamptonshire 262 (White 55, Powell 55, Harrison 4-64, Kasprowicz 3-77)

Jonathan Hughes stood firm at Northampton as the bowlers continued to have the edge in this hard-fought affair. Hughes was seventh out, batting just over three hours for his resolute 73. Andre Nel picked up three wickets during the day as it looked as though the hosts would be chasing well under 200 for victory, but a half-century by Robert Croft, ably assisted by Michael Kasprowicz (23) at the end gave the visitors what proved to be the decisive edge.

With the target for victory of 228 well within their capabilities, Northamptonshire would have been happy on 37 without loss, but this was before Michael Kasprowicz took matters into his own hands with the ball. He took the wickets of both openers in successive overs, but then a stubborn innings by Phil Jaques once more gave the home team hope.

Enter Kasprowicz once more as his pace accounted for Jaques for a battling 59, and then the Northants tail went the way of the rest. Kasprowicz ended a fine day with both bat and ball with the impressive figures of 6-72 to finish with nine in the match.

Glamorgan 269 (Dale 37, Brown 4-52, Phillips 3-33) and 220 (Hughes 73, Croft 50*, Nel 4-57, Phillips 3-59)
beat
Northamptonshire 262 (White 55, Powell 55, Harrison 4-64, Kasprowicz 3-77) and 172 (Jaques 59, Kasprowicz 6-72)
by 55 runs
Glamorgan 19 points, Northamptonshire 5 points


Yorkshire v Durham, Headingley

Day 1 close Durham 267-7 (Lewis 120*, Pattison 62, Kirby 2-40)
Day 2 close Durham 280 (Lewis 124, Pattison 62, Silverwood 3-80) and 99-3 (Lewis 43*), Yorkshire 220 (Lumb 105, Plunkett 5-53, Pretorius 3-54)

On a wicket still giving ample assistance to the bowlers, Durham started the day favourites to make it two victories in as many weeks to end a two year drought. John Lewis ground out 66 in four and a half hours as Chris Silverwood picked up four wickets for the home side, and useful runs from Nicky Peng and Philip Mustard ensured that Yorkshire would need to make 261 for victory.

With scoring always difficult, Yorkshire needed someone to bat with the application of Lewis for them to have any chance whatsoever. What they produced, though, was two hours of senseless stroke play and steady capitulation.
Dewald Pretorius exploited the conditions and the frailties in Yorkshire's batting perfectly, picking up four wickets for 15 runs from just nine overs. Only two Yorkshire batsmen made it to double figures as they subsided for a sorry 93 in just 30 overs.

Durham 280 (Lewis 124, Pattison 62, Silverwood 3-80) and 200 (Lewis 66, Silverwood 4-40)
beat
Yorkshire 220 (Lumb 105, Plunkett 5-53, Pretorius 3-54) and 93 (Pretorius 4-15, Muchall 3-26) by 167 runs
Durham 19 points, Yorkshire 4 points


Posted by Eddie