Bailey’s miserly run ends after 26 successive dot balls; and gentility spoiled at Cheltenham where Bracey retires hurt on 3 after being hit on the arm by a ball from Ben Stokes.
Look away and wince – Middlesex now 66/5: Dawid Malan fluffing his pre-Test lines, out for 6; Eoin Morgan a second for Hannon-Dalby, for 5.
A wicket for Zak Chappell at Canterbury, Denly for 5. Kent 48-4.
At OT, Tom Bailey keeping it tight, hasn’t conceded a run since his first delivery .
Anderson adding to Brook’s Roses education with a bit of casual sledging
A wicket for Stokes at Cheltenham. Gloucestershire 41 for 1. Proper creeket here, Yorkshire 11-0 off six overs. Young Harry Brook learning the power of the leave.
Not a good morning for Middlesex, Nick Gubbins joins the tumbling dominoes, b Oliver Hannon-Dalby for 26, 53-3. And at Chesterfield, another players falls under the frowning gaze of the crooked spire, Hughes b Buck 12. Derby 64/4.
This is a smashing read from Adam Collins – ahead of the KSL . A year tomorrow from the Women’s World Cup win at Lord’s, he spoke to four of the winners about how life/women’s cricket changed as a result.
Anderson, brown hair restored, opens for Lancashire at the Statham end. Uneventful and a little wayward. Not a bad walk-in crowd – 2000 or so cagouled souls.
And Kent too! Bell-Drummond gone for 9, Heino Kuhn for a two-ball duck – Kent 25-2, both wickets to Ben Raine.
Might we say county batsmen are red-ball wobbly today?
And Marcus Trescothick’s first post-metatarsal outing for Somerset has not ended well, lower limbs again letting him down, lbw to Luke Wood for 6. Edward Byrom also out, for 5, so Azhar Ali out in the middle with Somerset wobbling at 11/2.
Here, Yorkshire have won the toss and will bat in front of 62 former players gathered for Former Players Day in the pavilion. Joe Mennie is not included, we think he failed a fitness test this morning.
A pause for the first shortbread of the morning, and five wickets have fallen around the country:
Steven Mullaney out for a two ball duck at Trent Bridge, Notts 16-1, a wicket for Dernbach.
At Lords, Paul Sterling c Bell b Wright for 16; Middlesex 23-1 and Derbyshire are having a shocker, now 23 for 3 with three wickets for Ben Sanderson, Slater, Godleman and Madsen all back in the pavilion.
So we have three games in Division One and five in Division Two.
Division One
Worcestershire v Somerset – A spin off between Moeen and Leach and Bess, a chance for Joe Clarke to show his Test credentials and a County Blog medallion for anyone who spots Ed Smith. Bottom of the table Worcestershire are down but not out, Somerset have lost the remarkable Matt Renshaw but gained Pakistan opening batsman Azhar Ali.
Nottinghamshire v Surrey – first v second, Surrey are at full strength, Notts have lost Ross Taylor.
Lancashire v Yorkshire: start delayed till 11.45 (see below)
Division Two
Middlesex v Warwickshire – Chris Woakes returns after injury, Malan could do with runs before the Test team announcement on Thursday. Can the Bell-Trott run-glut continue?
Kent v Leicestershire – a big one, with both teams doing well. Kent have lost Matt Henry but gained Sam Billings.
Gloucestershire v Durham – the second four-day game at the College ground at the Cheltenham Festival. Wood and Stokes are back; Gloucestershire will include 21 year old James Bracey who has made 3 hundreds in his first 24 first-class innings and is highly rated by Paul Edwards! Placate Paul and keep an eye on him.
Derbyshire v Northamptonshire – a return to lovely Chesterfield – where the runes are more cheerful than the match between these two a couple of years ago which was a wash-out due to drainage problems with the duck pond at Queens Park.
Sussex v Glamorgan – start 2pm. Can Usman Khawaja score runs with the pink ball?
And, of course, we have the start of the KSL – which the Blog will also be covering thanks to Raf Nicholson who will be tapping away at Taunton.
Hello! Not sure if anyone is out there, sandwiched as this round is between Blast fireworks, but welcome to a little Championship July filip.
Here at Old Trafford where a hosepipe ban is due in 10 days, we have the first Roses Championship fixture of the season – so inevitably, we have rain, and approximately 21,000 fewer spectators than turned up for the T20 game on Friday night.
When the players do get out on the pitch, both sides are at full strength, looking far stronger than two teams should who are facing a relegation battle. Lancashire have Jimmy Anderson, Jos Buttler, Keaton Jennings, Liam Livingstone and Graham Onions … and it looks as if they are sticking with Hameed.
Yorkshire include Jonny Bairstow, plus Joe Root and Kane Williamson , third and fourth rated Test batsmen in the world.
Seats are going fast – as they dismantle the temporary stand – and Lancashire are still kicking their rival rose when he’s down . The methods may change, but the enmities remain the same…
Preview of other games to follow…
Lancashire Lightning (@lancscricket)