Category: Cricket

Cricket News

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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‘It’s been a lot … It is full on’: Jamie Smith takes stock of first Test summer

England wicketkeeper, who enjoyed a successful six games, is part of a side that has quickly changed

For England, this has been a summer of transition and transformation. Compared with the team that beat Australia at the Oval in the last home Test of 2023, the side that lost to Sri Lanka at the same venue on Monday was, on average, five and a half years younger.

In the intervening period, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali retired, and with Mark Wood and Ben Stokes injured, England went from a team that had taken 2,008 Test wickets to one with 332, from 38,417 Test runs to 22,128 (56% of them scored by Joe Root) and from a wicketkeeper who had done the job in 147 first-class games to one wearing the gloves for the 25th time.

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England 2-1 Sri Lanka: player ratings for the Test series

There’s praise for Joe Root, Jamie Smith and Pathum Nissanka, but doubts still remain about Ollie Pope

By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog

Ollie Pope: 191 runs at 31.8; one catch
His embrace of captaincy duties from the crucial No 3 slot at a time when murmurs were beginning to burble about his form, showed admirable commitment to the team, but may not have been in the very best interests of himself or the group. The value of his 154, anchoring the first innings at the Oval, was demonstrated by the fact that nobody aside from Ben Duckett made 20. Even then, he needed a good helping of luck as he oscillated in and out of form almost from ball to ball, the cogs of his once classic defensive technique screeching. His trust in his charges led to some fine individual performances, but also an almost comically inept use of DRS, trusting advice from those better able to see and hear. But he kept the feelgood Stokes vibe going and delivered the series win, but the collective end-of-term indiscipline evident throughout the third Test will have done him no good in the long run. Grade B-

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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.

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Jay Shah becomes youngest ever chair of ICC after winning election unopposed

  • Shah, 35, is honorary secretary of India’s cricket board
  • New chair could face reduction request in broadcast deal

Jay Shah, honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is now in charge of the global game after being elected, unopposed, to chair the International Cricket Council.

Shah is the son of India’s home minister, Amit Shah, and aged 35 becomes the youngest person to hold the position. He will step down from the BCCI – the ICC chair must be independent of any board – and formally start on 1 December after four years of stewardship by New Zealand’s Greg Barclay.

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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!

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Surrey v Lancashire, Warwickshire v Somerset and more: county cricket day three – as it happened

Tawanda Muyeye gave Kent a glimmer of hope against Worcestershire, while there were runs aplenty at Bristol

My son tells me that one of the Test umpire’s is wearing carbon-plated running shoes – things have moved on a bit since Dickie Bird’s plimsolls.

They’ve made it on to the field at CLS, but Durham are without their main strike bowler Neil Wagner, who is having an MRI scan after slipping and injuring his shoulder yesterday. Ben Raine has already removed Lyndon James, for 56, after Ollie Robinson (that one) dropped him off Callum Parkinson but caught him the next over. Notts 228-9, still a mountainous 303 behind.

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Surrey v Lancashire, Warwickshire v Somerset and more: county cricket – as it happened

Surrey honoured Graham Thorpe before Rocky Flintoff, the 16-year-old son of Andrew, got off the mark for Lancashire

And after a six week wait, Tom Haines is the first Championship wicket to fall – lbw to Ben Coad up in Scarborough, where Jonny Bairstow is wearing the gloves.

Starts delayed at Edgbaston, Bristol, Southampton and Merchant Taylor’s. Dampness sniffing about. This is the Met office’s verdict: “Rain moving southeastwards throughout the day, with sunny spells and blustery showers following across the north and west. Very windy during the morning, but easing through the day. Rather cool for many.”

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