2 minute read County Championship first division status is crossing the Pennines from Lancashire to Yorkshire and has now made it to, ooh, let’s say Todmorden. It just passed second division status going the other way. (What we’re saying here is that Lancashire have been relegated and Yorkshire have been promoted.) How did
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Lancashire pin hopes on some kind of Anderson
2 minute read Anderson, Flintoff – it’s a strong looking Lancashire team sheet this week. Pity they couldn’t dig out a Chapple or a Fairbrother or a Wasim Akram. It’s always been reassuring for Lancashire supporters to see Anderson on the team sheet. The club therefore went out and found one. With the
Continue readingWhy are Lancashire probably getting relegated?
5 minute read Lancashire are 15 points behind Nottinghamshire and 20 points behind Warwickshire going into the last round of matches. Those two teams will play each other and a draw plus a couple of bonus points for Notts would be enough to save both. That would be true even if Lancashire were
Continue readingDan Worrall unfazed by Durham’s ‘night of the watchers’
2 minute read As Somerset showed last week, there are ways to beat Surrey. But if you can’t muster the same quality of spin bowling and you aren’t in charge of the pitch, what are your options? This week at the Oval, Durham tried something different. Durham tried reversing into their second innings,
Continue readingWorrall, Burns, Jennings, Gregory – the Not-Quite-England players shaping the County Championship run-in
2 minute read If you’re in charge of a county cricket club and you want to deliver on-field success, the last thing you want to do is produce England players. If you want to do well in the County Championship, your goal should be to develop (or hire) as many Not-Quite-England-Players as you
Continue readingA surprisingly easy effort to catch up with the County Championship after several months with our eyes elsewhere
3 minute read Our calendar says it’s time to check back in on the County Championship. When we last reported on the first division, all the way back in May, Surrey were top, Kent were bottom and Jordan Cox was the hot topic of conversation. As we return to it now, Surrey are
Continue readingWe’re mostly talking about Jordan Cox v Kent this week
2 minute read The County Championship enters its first hiatus with not much in it at the top after Essex won by an innings and Surrey lost by an innings. Third-placed Somerset also lost by an innings, weirdly. What happened with Surrey then? Dunno really. Despite the fact everyone in their top six
Continue readingWe’re mostly talking about Dans Lawrence and Worrall, Essex’s bowlers, Jordan Cox and Tom Banton this week… and also Keaton Jennings
3 minute read It’s not so easy to narrow things down this week. Quite a lot of interesting players made important contributions in the last round of county games. Upshot is… we’re talking about a lot of things. Dans Lawrence and Worrall If anything sums up Surrey’s strength right now, it is that
Continue readingCan Haseeb Hameed avoid diversions?
4 minute read Timing is important. Ask anyone who has sat in a long line of cars at a temporary set of traffic lights, gazing wearily at a conspicuously queue-free expanse of empty asphalt at the other end of the cones. When timing is on your side, things open up for you. When
Continue readingCounty Championship: Essex lose their way to the top
2 minute read What an incredible sport. What an incredible competition. Somerset beat Essex, which somehow resulted in both teams vaulting ahead of Surrey in the County Championship. Essex started the week level on points with Surrey at the top of the table, but defeat took them three (bonus) points ahead. Somerset’s skittlesome
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