County cricket: Essex v Surrey, Notts v Yorks and more – live!

I was lucky enough to interview Rachael Heyhoe Flint once. She was five foot and a smidge in her court heels, but a special combination of charming and formidable. I met her at Lord’s, and then we hopped in a taxi to the The House of Lords where she showed me around, took me to the canteen and bought me a kitkat. She knew all the names of the workers in the canteen and was chatting to them about their lives. I said my goodbyes and set off for home, only to realise that I’d left my ipad behind, a complete hoo-hah which somehow involved her phoning my land line where she had a great chat with my 12 year old daughter. At the time she was combining caring for her husband with her work in the Lords. A wonderful example of someone who never took no for an answer – what a legend.

I didn’t have space to write about it in the round up but thought this was a lovely story from yesterday, when Essex paid tribute to lifelong member Peter Meggs, who died on Sunday.

The club flag was lowered to half mast, the players wore black armbands and two Essex tops hung on the boundary edge, one had his name printed on it and the other “bowling Napes” – Peter Meggs’ catchphrase when Graham Napier played for Essex. Rest in peace.

In an echo of the Bob Willis Trophy, the ECB have announced the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy – a month long 50-over tournament to start on the August bank holiday weekend. The eight teams from the new domestic structure will play six games each, in two groups of four. The two top teams will meet in a final on September 26.

North: Central Sparks, Lightning, Northern Diamonds, Thunder

South: South East Stars, Southern Vipers, Sunrisers, Western Storm

Rachael Heyhoe Flint’s son, Ben, said: “Mum has provided our family with so many reasons to be proud and we are grateful that her determination to give women’s cricket the platform it deserves continues to be recognised.

“We are honoured that this competition has been named after her, but I know mum would only have cared that female cricketers had yet another opportunity to play the game they love in difficult times, which is something she was very used to.”

Good morning from a humid Manchester, where huge thunderstorms lit up whole streets late last night. This is the last day of the second round of the Bob Willis Trophy. Just five games left after yesterday’s victories by Kent, Derbyshire and Lancashire, and Somerset’ two-day triumph on Sunday.

The scores on the doors:

Yorkshire 264 and 259 for 7 (Bairstow 75, Lyth 50) lead Nottinghamshire 355 lead by 168 runs

Essex 262 and 261 (Finch 4-38, Virdi 4-85) lead Surrey 187 (Jacks 70, Harmer 6-67, Porter 4-53) and 27 for 1 by 310 runs

Worcestershire 455 for 8 and 98 for 2 lead Glamorgan 374 (Root 118, Carlson 79, Leach 4-67) trail by 179 runs

Hampshire 296 (Murtagh 4-61) and 60 for 2 need a further 98 to beat Middlesex 252 and 201 (Gubbins 46, Organ 4-42)

Gloucestershire 210 (Hannon-Dalby 6-33) and 197 for 6 (van Buuren 72, Higgins 51) lead Warwickshire 247 (Lamb 65) by 160 runs