Notts beat Yorkshire, Surrey draw with Essex, and more: county cricket day four – as it happened

Nottinghamshire dance into the Championship’s early summer break at the top of Division One, after bowling Yorkshire out just before tea at Headingley

And now D’Oliveira follows at New Road…a third for Rushworth. This turning into rather a sad little procession.

Worcestershire lost two in two balls and suddenly that run chase tilting uphill – one for Woakes, one for Rushworth., Roderick and Kashif gone.

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Pope determined to prove he warrants England place and Stokes’ defence

Batter relaxed about Jacob Bethell’s potential return after century against Zimbabwe with India and Australia to come

A Test match that began with England saying they wanted to be better at media interactions and show a touch more humility ended with the captain growling about his words being twisted. And they say a week is a long time in politics …

It was my question that sparked all this, as it happens. The day before the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, I asked Ben Stokes about Jacob Bethell, the conversations that surrounded his absence to play in the Indian Premier League, and whether, as the “incumbent No 3” who made such an impression in New Zealand, he would be “straight back in” for the series against India.

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Bazball’s moment of truth arrives in year that will define era of McCullum and Stokes

One-off Zimbabwe Test at Trent Bridge the launchpad for a decisive summer for England and their abstemious captain

So where are we up to right now? Still Bazball 2.0? The start of Bazball 3.0? Given Ben Stokes has knocked the grog on the head this year, perhaps it should be Bazball 0.0% ABV.

Although, jokes aside, that recent revelation on one of those man-chat podcasts said a fair bit about Stokes’s nature. Not only has he temporarily paused drinking during his recovery from hamstring surgery but, so taken by this, he has even bought shares in an alcohol-free spirits company. England’s Test captain is someone who, when he sets his mind on something, sees it through to the extreme. Even abstinence.

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