Good morning from Clifton Park.
Monday proved to be a historic day for York CC as county cricket returned to the Minster City for the first time in 129 years and, despite rain costing us 29 overs, it proved to be an intriguing opening day’s play as Yorkshire reached 208 for 8 from 66.4 overs. Craig Miles and Oliver Hannon-Dalby were particularly impressive in sharing seven wickets in seamer-friendly; swing, seam, pace and carry. But there is no doubt that Yorkshire, despite losing five wickets for eight runs at one stage to slip from 93 for 1 to 101 for 6, are still very much in this game.
That is largely thanks to Gary Ballance’s fifth score of 50-plus in Championship cricket this season – 54 – and a 60-run stand between Steve Patterson and David Willey for the eighth wicket, recovering from 145 for 7.
Elsewhere, wickets fell like nine pins. At Chelmsford, Essex, who posted only 214, won by an innings against Hampshire, with Simon Harmer taking 12 wickets in the match. That result is particularly good news for leaders Somerset, who now lead the table by 23 points from second-placed Hampshire with a game in hand. They are 30 clear of Essex, both having played six. The two meet at Chelmsford next week, with Dom Bess likely to play as a second spinner after returning from his loan spell at Yorkshire.
There are now only two Division One fixtures in play, with Kent posting 309 against Nottinghamshire at Tunbridge Wells, recovering superbly from 81 fpr 4 and 100 for 5 through the opener Zak Crawley’s 111. Cliche alert: James Pattinson fired an Ashes warning with six wickets in his last outing for Notts before linking up with the Australia A squad. Notts closed on 30 for 0.
In Division Two, Jimmy Anderson’s excellent pre-Ashes form continued with 5 for 18 from 17 overs against Derbyshire at Derby. The hosts were bowled out for 153, with Graham Onions claiming three to move to 698 career first-class wickets. The leaders, Lancashire, closed on 8 for 1 in reply, with only 59 overs of play possible there. Amazingly, Anderson’s record this season stands at 24 Championship wickets in his fifth match at an average of 8.87 with an economy rate of 1.69. He has taken two five-wicket hauls.
At the halfway stage of the match between Middlesex and Glamorgan at Radlett, Dawid Malan’s side hold sway having posted 410 and restricted Glammy to 112-3. Sam Robson and Paul Stirling posted centuries, and Glamorgan will hope Billy Root continues his excellent recent form (16 not out). Leicestershire, after one day at Grace Road, have the early advantage over Gloucestershire at 343-5 – hundreds for Hassan Azad and Neil Dexter.