Fifty for Jet Jennings.
And another….
How is Stuey Law doing in elevating the Middle Saxons up the CC2 table? What has or could be improved?
We’re not getting enough first-innings runs. We’re relying very heavily on Dawid – this is the sort of game where Dawid thinks he’d going to do it again and that’s not fair We’ve got a quality bowling attack, but when you’re defending 75 it’s not that easy for them. Stuart and Nic Pothas are doing a good job and are still trying to find things that work, who they like, who are team players . We’re trying to build a corporate spirit where the team comes first – which is really important. We’ve got a couple of young players who haven’t kicked on – Max Holden, Sterlo’s not had a cracker, I think he’s due, Steve Eskinazi has played ok, Dawid’s played brilliantly. He’s playing as well as anyone else at the moment – if England aren’t looking at him it is a travesty.
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And rain has stopped play at Edgbaston with Warwickshire 313 for five. I’ve just interrupted Hoppsy and Selv arguing about The Hundred just like old times, to ask a few of your questions BTL.
I’d like to ask about what the London clubs are doing to sell out one T20 after another, when tickets are proving harder to shift in some other parts of the country. It’s not prices and it’s probably not just weather.
I can’t speak for other parts of the country (five sell outs out of seven at Hove interjects Bruce Talbot) but we play good T20 cricket, AB has helped a bit – a bit of spike when he arrived. The two sell outs at Lord’s have been home counties – Essex and Surrey.
A couple of wickets have fallen already at Colwyn Bay – both Josh Bohannon and Liam Livingstone fall to Michael Hogan. Lancashire now 93-3.
Ah, what a shame, Yates makes only another two before being dismissed by Brooks. What a waste of a night’s sleep.
And we have the Middlesex president in the box at the moment, looking very Magnum PI. Do send any questions BTL: he promises to answer.
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Start of play scores
DIVISION ONE
Canterbury: Kent 125-6 (Amir 3-30; Cook 3-25) v Essex.
The Oval: Surrey v Hampshire 222-7 (Vince 47; Clarke 5-52).
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 303-4 (Rhodes 82, Yates 139 not out) v Somerset.
Scarborough: Yorkshire 232 (Tattersall 92; Luke Wood 5-67 ) v Nottinghamshire 41-0
DIVISION TWO
Derby: Derbyshire 200 (Higgins 5-54 ) v Gloucestershire 46-2
Chester-le-Street: Durham 368-5 (Alex Lees 181) v Leicestershire
Colwyn Bay: Glamorgan 257 (Hemphrey 56, Patel 54, Carey 51) v Lancashire 85-1
County Ground: Worcestershire 186 (Moeen 42, Leach 53; Hutton 6-57) v Northants 140-3 (Wakely 63)
Hove: Sussex 128-3 (Wells 52 not out, Carey 46 not out) v Middlesex 75 (Robinson 8-34)
Preamble
Good morning from gorgeous Hove – or gorgeous-ish Hove, it is now raining: a squall, I think. The hedgerow are embarrassingly verdant, the gulls are crying and I’m wondering how much one of those lovely victorian villas would set me back.
The last time I covered a match in Hove was when Sussex won the Championship in 2003, just after I got back from my honeymoon incidentally, when there was a queue out of the ground and down the road. No such queues today, but the usual loyal scattering cagouled and sandwiched for the day.
Ollie Robinson awakes a hero – tipped by his teammate Chris Jordan as a potential England player – of the line and length mould rather than Wood/Archer. Yesterday’s figures of 8 for 34 are the best by a Sussex bowler at Hove since 1955. Ted James anyone? Sussex resume today in the driving seat – Luke Wells has fifty and Australian Alex Carey, making his Championship debut, has 46.
Round the grounds: teenage sensation Rob Yates bats on for Warwickshire after a bad day for Somerset; Nottinghamshire aim for at least parity in the search for their first Championship win of the season after letting Yorkshire off the hook; Rikki Clarke kept Hampshire on their toes at The Oval; and Essex and Kent hope for better weather at Canterbury.
Northants are on top against Worcestershire; Alex Lees has batted Durham into a strong position at Chester le Street against Leicestershire with a sublime century; Ryan Higgins’ five for 54 puts Gloucestershire in control at the County Ground and the intriguing game between the Division two leaders continues at Colwyn Bay.
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