*** Official *** County Cricket 2020

[chris.hinton]

Worcester and Warwick is abandoned as a draw, as too is the Roses Match

 

[wpdavid]

Should be a decent afternoon at the Oval, weather permitting. Surrey need 192 from 62 overs, with both sides fancying their chances.

And play is soon to be underway at Taunton, so Somerset should finish that off reasonably quickly.

 

[wpdavid]

Surrey's comedy batting doing their usual. 6 for 2 after Stevens took 2 his first over to remove Borthwick and Smith. Should be 3 down as Stoneman was badly dropped in Podmore's first over.

Make that 20 for 4. If Kent get Foakes quickly, Surrey won't be making 75.

 

[wpdavid]

Darren Stevens is quite remarkable. 3 out of the 4 quick wickets at the start of Surrey's innings, so his captain brings him back when Evan and Foakes added 57 for the 5th wicket. His first ball finds the edge of Evans' bat, not quite carrying to slip. And his 3rd ball sees Evans caught and bowled. The man is 44 ffs.

 

[Howe_zat]

Darren Stevens is quite remarkable. 3 out of the 4 quick wickets at the start of Surrey's innings, so his captain brings him back when Evan and Foakes added 57 for the 5th wicket. His first ball finds the edge of Evans' bat, not quite carrying to slip. And his 3rd ball sees Evans caught and bowled. The man is 44 ffs.

Only way to stop him is to destroy his horcruxes

 

[wpdavid]

Only way to stop him is to destroy his horcruxes

Honesty compels me to admit that I had to look that up. Nice cross reference to the England/Pakistan thread there.

 

[wpdavid]

Watching and listening to this on the live stream, I keep thinking that Kent have unearthed yet another Cowdrey. Then I realise that they are talking about the young off-spinner Qadri.

 

[Gremlin]

Going to be a tight finish at The Oval, if that Foakes chap can keep it together he'll go far!

 

[Howe_zat]

You'd think they were stuffed when Clarke departed but they're somehow clinging in there. Nathan Gilchrist bowls a 9-ball over for 13 for his first over, probably not what his captain was asking for.

 

[wpdavid]

Bugger, strangled down leg off a crap delivery. Not convinced that Dunn and Virdi are going to add 28 runs.

EDIT
All over. Surrey continuing to struggle without any sort of top 4. Foakes was excellent of course, but he can't do it without anything from the guys above him in the order.

 

[Daemon]

Nice to see Kerrigan back playing proper cricket. Scary what happened to him, every debutant's worst nightmare.

 

[chris.hinton]

Tables after 4 games

Central

Somerset 76
Worcester 70
Warwick 42
Northants 39
Gloucester 37
Glamorgan 31

North

Derby 71
Yorkshire 66
Lancashire 46
Leicester 46
Notts 43
Durham 26

South

Essex 70
Kent 64
Middlesex 59
Hampshire 54
Sussex 30
Surrey 14


Projected final: Somerset vs Derbyshire

1 Round to go

 

[chris.hinton]

Next Fixtures 6th Sept- 9th Sept

North

Lancashire vs Derbyshire
Nottingham vs Durham
Yorkshire vs Leicestershire

Central

Glamorgan vs Warwickshire
Glouestershire vs Northamptonshire
Worcestershire vs Somerset

South

Essex vs Middlesex
Kent vs Hampshire
Surrey vs Sussex

 

[wpdavid]

Projected final: Somerset vs Derbyshire

1 Round to go

C'mon, you've got to back your boys in the final match.

 

[chris.hinton]

C'mon, you've got to back your boys in the final match.

Somerset are too strong & i believe they will do enough to win/draw against us. I'm hoping we win but we have done well in the comp considering we are a 2nd division side

 

[Tom Flint]

Predicting a Somerset Yorkshire final. Middlesex need ýorks to lose and we win by a huge margin

 

[chris.hinton]

T20 Blast is starting tomorrow. With the Finals day in October

Matches tomorrow

North Group:

Derbyshire Falcons vs Leicestershire Foxes (6:30)
Durham vs Lancashire Lightning (6:30)
Yorkshire Vikings vs Nottinghamshire Outlaws (6:35)

Central Group

Gloucestershire vs Northamptonshire Steelbacks (2:00)
Glamorgan vs Worcestershire Royals (6:30)


South Group

Kent Spitfires vs Hampshire (2:00)
Essex Eagles vs Middlesex (6:30)

2 Matches: Birmingham Bears vs Somerset, Sussex Sharks vs Surrey will be played on Friday

 

[chris.hinton]

5 Players to watch for the T20 Blast (From the ECB Website)

Scott Steel
A graduate from the Durham academy, Scott Steel made his debut in all three formats in 2019 and put in a particularly impressive Vitality Blast campaign.

In 11 games, the local lad scored 369 runs ad an average of over 33, featuring two 50s and a strike rate in the high 130s. As well as his big hitting at the top of the innings, Steel can also bowl some handy off-breaks and picked up five wickets last year.

Without overseas player D’Arcy Short this season, who topped the team’s run-scoring charts in the Blast last year, Durham will be hoping Steel can step up and deliver again this summer.

Jordan Cox
Kent wicketkeeper-batsman Jordan Cox is only 19 years old and has already written himself into the Kent history books as part of a 423-run partnership with Jack Leaning in the Bob Willis Trophy earlier this month.

Cox scored 238no in that innings and will look to take his learnings from that incredible knock into his second season in the Vitality Blast. He made his debut last season, playing in seven matches in a summer where he also lined up as a key batsman for England U19s.

His T20 record last season was relatively unremarkable, but his potential in the shortest format is undoubted. Cox has the ability to clear the boundaries with his aggressive style, but his performances in white-ball cricket for England U19s, and his marathon knock in the Bob Willis Trophy, show he’s just as adept at digging in when the situation requires.

Jordan Cox impressed in white-ball cricket for England U19s
Matt Carter
Tall off-spinner Matt Carter took 14 wickets in the Blast last year and while that was only the eighth highest total for a spinner in the competition, when combined with a low economy rate it goes some way to showing how key Carter’s role was in Notts’ journey to Finals Day.

Carter went for just 6.59 runs per over, which was the lowest for any bowler who bowled more than 40 overs in the competition.

With Harry Gurney, who picked up 22 wickets last year, ruled out of the Blast through injury, Notts will be relying on the likes of Carter to hold up their attack in the North Group.

George Munsey
Scotland smasher George Munsey has turned a few heads in recent years with his hard-hitting exploits, which have earned him a Vitality Blast contract with Hampshire this summer.

While some may downplay the quality of opposition he may face while playing for Scotland, his incredible statistics are hard to ignore.

The most eye-catching stat has to be his career T20 strike rate of 159.78, which is the fourth highest ever in the history of the format among players who have faced at least 400 balls.

Last September he scored the fifth fastest IT20 century, when he reached three figures against the Netherlands in just 41 balls and his final score of 127no is the fifth highest IT20 score ever.

If he can hammer out such stats for Hampshire over the coming weeks then they’ve got themselves a potential match-winner and a very exciting player to watch.


Jack Shutt
Spinners are hot property in T20 cricket and Yorkshire have a good prospect in the shape of Jack Shutt. Like Carter, Shutt’s economy rate is a key part of his appeal for the Vikings, as he went for just 6.83 per over last season when he made his Blast debut and played in seven games.

The off-spinner took 10 wickets, including a fine 5/11 against Durham at Emirates Riverside. The absence of England spinner Adil Rashid from the side in the opening matches could give Shutt an opportunity to impress once more.

 

[Chubb]

Jack Shutt

OMG that poor kid, what were the parents thinking?

 

[theegyptian]

I knew the t20 stuff was starting today but i just kind of assumed that they would be evening kickoffs so was surprised to see a number of games already started; obviously with no crowds they can start whenever.

Pissing down here in glos so no surprise the bristol game is off.