- The latest updates from all the season openers
- Deep list of overseas stars head for County Championship
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DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford: Essex 356-4 v Surrey
Continue reading...County Championship bursts back into life with calm before the storm
The 125th edition – the calm before the 2026 storm – begins on Friday with notable names headlining the cast list
The cut of the grass, the shine of a boot, the sigh of a drop, the joy of a catch, the crunch of a four, the hope of the spring. Time stealthily gouging out lines, on faces, over scars, around knees. A first season. A last.
Here, suddenly, is April, unexpectedly sunny and dry. And with it, 135 years after the first County Championship (minus one year for Covid, four for world war one and six for world war two), the 125th.
Continue reading...The Spin | Intriguing and deep list of overseas stars head for County Championship
Familiar faces such as Kemar Roach will feature, as will the two Camerons in Bristol – Bancroft and Green
Those of us lucky enough to watch county cricket in the 1980s, with a packet of Salt’n’Shake in one hand and an autograph book in the other, could tick off Viv Richards at Somerset, Malcolm Marshall at Hampshire, Michael Holding at Derbyshire (imagine!) and Courtney Walsh at Gloucestershire in only a couple of games. And that was just for starters.
The growth of franchise cricket means that players at the peak of their powers will rarely now sign on the dotted line to spend their entire summer in northern climes perfecting their red-ball skills. But the appeal remains, like a sudden blast of Madonna’s Into the Groove from a passing car as you wait for the lights to change. The 2025 County Championship overseas roster is an intriguing one. Choose your games carefully and you have a chance to watch some of the world’s best do battle against each other and the indignities of the British weather.
Continue reading...Yorkshire’s fresh start: ‘It will be tough, but we’ve got everything in place’
After years of strife, Headingley starts the County season with a new coach, a strong squad and a burning desire to prove the critics wrong
The spring sun beams down benevolently on Leeds and the mood at Headingley is buoyant. After the turbulent years following the fallout from Azeem Rafiq’s revelations, relegation in 2022 and two years of fines, disappearing sponsors, a points deduction and strained relationships between players and management, an uncanny calm seems to have settled over the spikey old ground.
There’s a new coach in town, a new captain, two new fast antipodean bowlers to pound into the Yorkshire turf in Jordan Buckingham and Ben Sears. The club are debt free after Sunrisers Hyderabad took a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers – though an argument over demutualisation is brewing on the horizon. There’s even a new coffee machine in the press box.
Continue reading...The five county cricketers of the year
A player can only make the list once. View the previous winners: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
The Australian (with a British passport, so watch this space) conforms to the template of an English seamer. Even his curved run up is old-school, helping to get the shoulder turn and slightly round-arm action that promotes the outswing that leads to nibble after nibble after nibble.
Continue reading...The Spin | County Championship 2024 awards: the final word on the season
Surrey won Division One yet again, but more counties get a look-in – for reasons great and farcical – in these awards
The 2024 County Championship season dribbled to an end on Sunday afternoon, handshakes taken as early as was polite, while the autumn roared in. It was the longest Championship season on record – stretching from 5 April to 29 September – finishing with the favourites, Surrey, easing to victory with one round to go and Sussex winning Division Two on the final day, a thousand supporters hanging around in gloves to watch Clare Connor present the trophy.
But how quickly things move on. Rod Bransgrove announced the sale of Hampshire to the Delhi Capitals co-owners before the Spin had time to pull the season’s trophies out of the Guardian cabinet where they have been gathering dust since last year. So belatedly, and somewhat overshadowed by powerbrokers in important shoes rustling papers in mahogany boardrooms, here are the summer’s County Championship awards.
Continue reading...County cricket talking points: joy at Glamorgan and Yorkshire as season slips away
Yorkshire replace Lancashire in Division One of the Championship, with Glamorgan winning the One-Day Cup
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
Even the weather gods seemed irritated by the scheduling of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup Final, rained off on the Sunday and held over to the reserve day, a miserable, back-to-school, Monday if ever there was one.
Continue reading...Notts v Warwickshire, Worcestershire v Lancashire and more: county cricket – as it happened
On a rain-lashed first day of the final round of games, Lancashire at least made hay against Worcestershire
Yorkshire go into today with a 15 point lead over Middlesex, so ten points would confirm their promotion after two seasons in Division Two. Middlesex need to win and hope Yorkshire lose, or draw with maximum points and hope Yorkshire have collected just one point.
At the miserable end of Division One, Lancashire are favourites to go down, currently 15 points behind third from bottom Notts, and 20 points behind fourth from bottom Warwickshire. Notts will be safe if they collect 10 points, Warwickshire need five. Lancs must win with max bonus points and cross their fingers.
Continue reading...County cricket talking points: Surrey champions again as Somerset hearts are broken
Rory Burns’ team makes it three in a row and Sussex will play in division one next season
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
So we’re halfway to the quiz question we’ve all been waiting for – what connects Kennington and Kansas City? All we need now is for Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce to emulate Rory Burns and Ben Foakes and deliver their Super Bowl three-peat to match Surrey’s in the County Championship. With Taylor Swift apparently indisposed on Friday, there’s still a chance for somebody to witness both hat-tricks in person.
Continue reading...Lancashire chief fears players’ agents threaten County Championship’s future
- Daniel Gidney says agents ‘don’t care’ about county game
- Long-serving executive wants higher salaries for players
Lancashire’s chief executive has said agents are the main threat to the future of the County Championship. Daniel Gidney, one of county cricket’s longest-serving chief executives, criticised agents for not caring about the championship and instead turning players’ heads to the ever-burgeoning number of franchise tournaments.
“We need to have more of an open conversation,” Gidney said as he watched Lancashire turn the tables on Somerset at Old Trafford to improve their survival chances and give Surrey the title. “Coaches get blamed, administrators get blamed, but if you want to blame anybody, blame agents … I think the game as a whole needs to come together to find a way to support the championship.
Continue reading...Surrey seal title as Somerset fold against Lancashire: county cricket day four – as it happened
Surrey sealed their third title in a row as Somerset’s forlorn chase against Lancashire lasted barely 30 minutes
Just popping down to speak to Somerset, as Lancashire bellow loudly in their dressing room. Elsewhere, Glamorgan are nine down, and Worcestershire seven, as the penultimate round zips towards a conclusion.
What a match! A century and 4-36 in Somerset’s crucial second innings.
Continue reading...Surrey celebrate third straight County Championship title after Somerset loss
- Title confirmed by Somerset’s Friday loss to Lancashire
- First side since Yorkshire in 1966-8 to win three in a row
Surrey had to wait just 43 balls on Friday morning before they were crowned the 2024 County Champions, as Somerset, their only possible challengers, slipped away like a soggy sandcastle at Old Trafford.
The Surrey squad, watching in the dressing room at the Oval, hugged and punched the air. Maybe it lacked the piquancy of winning the title on the pitch, but who was going to turn their nose up at a third Championship in a row, the first time any club have done that since Yorkshire under Brian Close in 1966, 67 and 68? Rory Burns, who has played in every one of Surrey’s 13 championship games, alongside Dom Sibley and Jordan Clark, and who passed 1,000 runs for the season against Durham this week, wins his fourth pennant as captain.
Continue reading...County cricket talking points: a glorious week for the West Country
Somerset give themselves a chance in the championship and there was a poignant victory for Gloucestershire
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
Tell 20,000 nailbiters streaming the denouement on YouTube that county cricket is outdated. Tell the grandparents, explaining to their grandkids why they have tears in their eyes, that county cricket doesn’t matter. Tell a 36-Test veteran and a wide-eyed teenager that county cricket doesn’t matter.
Continue reading...County cricket: Somerset’s win applies a little pressure to Surrey
Defeats for Kent and Lancashire keep them in the relegation slots but Somerset still have a shot at glory
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
With Surrey only able to draw at Trent Bridge against a resilient Nottinghamshire, Somerset needed a win to apply a little pressure to the serial champions. With their top three back in the hutch after an hour, somebody needed to bat well to avoid wasting the chance to bat first against the Kookaburra ball.
Continue reading...Surrey beat Lancashire, Warks draw with Somerset: county cricket day four – as it happened
Surrey’s lead at the top of Division One is now 35 points, while Lancashire and Notts slip towards trouble
No hattrick for Worrall but Lancashire in trouble at 36-3, still 204 behind. A hard morning for poor old Rocky Flintoff but, Ali reminds me, his dad dropped a handful of catches off Wasim Akram on debut - so he’s in good company.
“Me debut was a disaster,” Flintoff said. “Played against Hampshire, down at Portsmouth on the army ground. Wasim [Akram] was playing, and Bumble [David Lloyd, then Lancashire coach], he said I was the best slip catcher he’s ever seen, I think, and I catch pigeons. I do, but in kids’ cricket!
Continue reading...