Oh Hass. A regulation slip catch. Head down, right arm flapping forlornly, slender figure’s shoulders slumped, he trudges off the pitch. Lancashire 55/3. Enter Liam Livingstone, off the mark with a four.
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Cameron Bancroft gone for 18, another for Rampaul at Chester-le-Street. Wonder how he feels, captaining struggling Durham as Warner and Smith bustle out for Australia. I felt like he hadn’t scored many runs so just checked the averages – turns out he’s topping the Durham averages, at 31.67, with one fifty – a highest score of 70.
Somerset stutter; losing Trescothick and Hildreth in consecutive overs to Rikki Clarke and Matt Dunn. 39/3.
Scorecards blowing everywhere in the press tent, Abbas has been seen off and Dieter Klein, in his first over, demolishes Jake Lehmann’s stumps! He walks off, replaying his stroke. Lancashire 46/2.
Adam Lyth and debutant Fraine are galloping away at Headingley against Essex – 43/0 in ten overs. Rhodes out in the battle of the doldrums, Warwicks 33/1, Sibey 11 not out.
Tres still there at Guildford, but Abell Morkelled. Somerset 27/1. Bancroft and Lees plodding away in Div 2 – Durham 17/1.
Glamorgan, oh, Glamorgan – 29/3 – Billy Root and Hemphrey still there. Ben Sanderson 3-14. And Sussex’s lead at Lords now 62 – Van Zyl 64 not out.
An absolutely cracking back foot drive by Lehmann off Abbas – four all the way. Lancashire 36 for one.
What a fillip it would be if the old carthorse could get stuck in at Guildford. Short boundaries, fast pitch, not unusual for balls to get toppled through the trees and into Woodbridge Road. Somerset 20/0 – Trescothick three boundaries in his 14.
Another edge through the slips by Hass, as the wind whittles the fielders trousers and Abass looks a tricky beast to tame.
A wicket at Chester-le-Street, Ravi Rampaul dismissing Michael Jones for a duck. Durham four for 1.
A debut too for Essex’s Will Buttleman. Good luck!
And here’s that fielding in full. Poor Keaton left splayed on the grass:
And with that Hameed edges Abass through the slips.
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Will Fraine is making his first-class debut for Yorkshire. And oh my gosh, an astonishing bit of fielding at short leg by Hasan Azad to the third ball of the day after Keaton Jennings just tipped the ball to him, he snapped it up and threw down the stumps with Jennings just out his crease. Lancashire 0/1.
It’s an uncontested toss here and Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed get the, er, early pleasure of Abbas under cloudy skies.
Lancashire’s last victory here was in golden 2011, their last game before the Taunton triumph, since then they haven’t won in eight first-class games at Aighburth.
The diddy green stands, wheeled straight outta of Trumpton, are slowly filling and there’s a good queue for the breakfast barms – £3 for the salivating.
Good morning!
Today it’s Aigburth – where the camellias have faded but the flags are still flying from Saturday’s triumph. The sun is in, and sometimes out, and I’m concerned I’ve come underdressed, as Cricinfo’s Paul Edwards is in an anorak, scarf and flat cap, and Lancashire’s Ken Grime has a bobble cap in his laptop bag. The wind off the Mersey can apparently be quite tasty.
Here, at Aighburth’s 200th first-class game, top-of-Division-Two Lancashire play eighth-place Leicestershire – beware Mohammad Abbas. About the counties, it’s another uneven round so two games are already underway – Northampton v Glamorgan at a verdant County Ground and Middlesex v Sussex at Lord’s. It wasn’t a good day for the sides batting first – Middlesex were skittled for 138, where at least one South African was smiling, David Wiese walking off with five for 26. Sussex already have a 31- run lead with six wickets in hand. Northants were held together by Adam Rossington’s 77 – all out for 209, Glamorgan 5/0 in reply.
Otherwise: Surrey play Somerset at lovely Guildford, Warwickshire play Nottingham in an intriguing battle of the faded giants and Yorkshire take on Essex at Headingley. In Division Two, Durham entertain Derbyshire.
World-Cup wise, after that thrilling match where Bangladesh upset the South African apple cart yesterday at The Oval, England play Pakistan today – on the pitch where they scored 481 for six against Australia last year. Mark Wood is expected to pull on his bowling boots. Follow the bounce-fest with the knock-me-down-fabulous duo of Tim de Lisle and Rob Smyth here.
But for the thread beneath the cloth of gold, do pop in below the line. All refugees from the World Cup welcome, at lunch-breaks or whenever the diet of easy wins gets a little dull.
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