Key events
Durham doing well to survive this Lancashire pressure – smart bowling from Lyon and Balderson – as Bedingham hoops Balderson through midwicket and over the rope for four.
Yorkshire all out, with a lead of just 45 over Sussex. Sean Hunt 4-64.
And Mark Hopper has a bone to pick with Gloucestershire’s new possible overlord: “He might be able to influence the political direction of the country, but Aaron Banks isn’t very good at PDFs is he?”
Another wicket at Chelmsford – though Barnard is still there on 144 – a second for Harmer, to go in the pot with three catches. It feels like Essex have had unexpected problems with finishing sides off this season.. my wifi isn’t letting me launch anything to double check but maybe against Durham?
And another! Nathan Lyon this time, long sleeves, huge shirt, persuades Bedingham to edge to first slip. Durham in a spot of bother at 34-2 in the sun.
And a change of bowling does it – but it isn’t Lyon! Balderson gets Lees with his fifth ball after replacing the energetic Saqib Mahmood. Durham 34-1.
Nathan Lyon just whistled through an eventful first over. Last night, Keaton Jennings said how much Lyon was looking forward to getting his hands on the ball after watching Callum Parkinson gets some grip and turn.
Thanks to Romeo BTL for pointing out this, um, unexpected development with Gloucestershire.
Good morning Tim Maitland! And thank you for watching atThe Oval:
“Surrey’s English-Australian Dan Worrall just completed his fivefer with wickets in successive deliveries then finished the Pears innings with his third wicket of the over.
”He got Joe Leach with the classic rope-a-dope: a full pitched delivery edged behind with zero footwork after a succession of short pitched balls. He then knocked back the top of number ten Ben Gibbon’s off stump, which – to use a Cantonese saying – was playing piano to a cow.
”Yadvinder Singh resisted for two deliveries, then nipped the third to Foakes.
”He’s available for England if, for instance, they happen to find themselves in need of a skilled pace bowler.”
Indeed! It seems ludicrous to say this, given Anderson’s longevity, but I’d assume that at 32, he’d be considered too old.
And for anyone thinking of going to Taunton next week, confirmation that Stokes will be playing for the visitors, Durham.
“Is,” writes Iain Noble, “this a record? Nine ‘caughts’ in the Lancs 1st dig and only Will Williams preventing a complete set for Durham.”
One for the hive mind.
And in more David and Goliath news – and thanks to Vish for pointing this out – Worcestershire lost their last three wickets in one Worrall over, for 0 runs.
Apologies, a few wifi issues here this morning. Lees has clipped Will Williams for three fours though and Durham have travelled along nicely to 18-0.
Meanwhile, at The Oval, Worcestershire have fallen under the Surrey wheels – all out 128, Dan Worrall 6-22; and Notts are also all out, James stranded on an unbeaten 106: Abbas 4-49, Abbot 3-39.
Around the grounds: maximum batting points for greedy Somerset, though Pretorius has now gone for an entertaining 19; Snater makes the long-awaited breakthrough at Chelmsford – Burgess for 108, and a hundred for Lyndon James at Trent Bridge! And a delayed start at grey Hove, with play due to start at 11.45.
Around the grounds: maximum batting points for greedy Somerset, though Pretorius has now gone for an entertaining 19; Snater makes the long-awaited breakthrough at Chelmsford – Burgess for 108, and a hundred for Lyndon James at Trent Bridge! And a delayed start at grey Hove, with play due to start at 11.45.
A tour of the ground brings the evocative scent of coconut sun lotion and the wicket of Saqib Mahmood, caught having a huge heave-ho for 46, a third wicket for Matthew Potts. Lancashire all out 357.
This morning, I saw a group of Newfoundland dogs dressed as punks being taken for a walk along the seafront. At Stanley Park, the spectators are gathering, caps, rucksacks, newspapers, coffee. Out in the middle, Ben Stokes, in shorts and t-shirt, is bowling.
Saturday’s round-up
Ben Stokes had not played a Championship match for two years. He had not bowled properly since the Lord’s Test last year, excluding that cameo wicket-with-his-first-ball five-over spell during England’s fifth Test innings defeat to India in Dharamsala in March. Blackpool’s amphitheatre might not match the majesty of the Himalayas, but it was good enough for Stokes on his comeback, pounding with increasing vigour across the Stanley Park clod.
From soon after the start of play, Durham winning the toss and fielding against Lancashire, Stokes caught the eye. There he was at mid-off, touching his toes and running through his bowling action, all leonine hair and racehorse physique. There he was talking to Paul Coughlin at the top of his mark, dispensing advice and providing expert ball-polishing skills. There he was, throwing himself after the ball with the carefree joy of someone not coming back from a serious knee operation.
And there he was, suddenly at the top of his mark, that familiar gait, picking up two wickets along the way, with some occasional turf-kicking thrown in. There was huge appreciation from the crowd that Stokes was there, his run-up close enough to the boundary rope that the hot-dog seller next to the scoreboard could have taken an order. Stokes wasn’t the only England bowler in action.
Matthew Potts charged in with vigour, all demonstrative arms and legs, like a giant bounding puppy, trying to catch the eye of the ECB scout prowling the boundary. Potts picked up two wickets, Ben Raine three, while Keaton Jennings made 115 and Saqib Mahmood, also eyeing up an England return, a counter-punching 40 not out in one of Lancashire’s better batting performances of the season, as they closed on 350 for 9. But it was Stokes’s return that dominated close of play thoughts: it was “mint”, said Raine, to have him back in the Durham dressing room.
Elsewhere, Surrey picked themselves up from 15 for four, thanks to half-centuries from Dan Lawrence and Ollie Pope, but still subsided to 213 all out. Dan Worrall and Kemar Roach then almost ran through Worcestershire on a 17-wicket day at the Oval.
Centuries for Ed Barnard and Michael Burgess saved Warwickshire from a precarious position against Essex at Chelmsford; Lyndon James’s unbeaten 92 played a similar role for Nottinghamshire against Hampshire. Mohammad Abbas finished with four for 36.
There were punchy centuries for James Rew and Tom Banton as Somerset took Kent to the cleaners. Marnus Labuschagne was out for 23 on his Glamorgan return, one of four wickets for Middlesex’s Tom Helm; while George Bartlett and Rob Keogh steadied Northants with seventies in Derbyshire.
Ben Charlesworth made a rollicking maiden century and Cameron Bancroft his second in a row as Gloucestershire raced along against Leicester at Grace Road. Yorkshire rattled through Sussex, only to be rattled through in return – Joe Root (67) the only man to pass 26. Jofra Archer, meanwhile, was bowling for Sussex’s second XI.
Close of Play
Chelmsford: Essex v Warwickshire 308-6
Stanley Park: Lancashire 350-9 v Durham
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 212-9 v Hampshire
Taunton: Somerset 440-7 v Kent
The Oval: Surrey 213 v Worcestershire 112-7
DIVISION TWO
Derby: Derbyshire v Northamptonshire 297-5
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 183 v Middlesex 62-0
Grace Road: Leicestershire v Gloucestershire 385-2
Hove: Sussex 150 v Yorkshire 176-7
Preamble
Good morning from Blackpool, where everything in the garden is lovely.
