County cricket

Four wickets in the fourth innings for spinners – this week’s County Championship round-up

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8th August 2016 Championship table

As you can see, Middlesex are still top. Somerset and Yorkshire aren’t a million miles away and the latter have a game in hand, as do Durham in fourth.

Middlesex drew with Surrey

George Bailey – remember him? He scored a hundred for Middlesex. Jason Roy, in his four-day middle-order guise, did the same for Surrey. Zafar Ansari took 4-63 in the fourth innings.

Yorkshire beat Warwickshire

In a low-scoring game, it’s probably worth naming all the batsmen who made fifties: Travis Head (who’s playing for Yorkshire), Rikki Clarke, the alphabet-straddling AZ Lees and Jonathan Trott. Adil Rashid took 4-29 in the fourth innings.

Somerset beat Durham

In an even-lower-scoring game, it’s certainly worth naming all the batsmen who made fifties: Mark Stoneman. Roelof Van der Merwe took 4-45 in the fourth innings. Jack Leach took 4-46 in the fourth innings.

Hampshire drew with Lancashire

Will Smith made a double hundred. We made him ‘one to watch’ once. Twice, actually, but the 2009 thing about him isn’t really worth linking to.

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

Why risk it when it's so easy to sign up?

Similar deliveries:

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16 comments

  1. I like the bit in this article where you say, “Middlesex are still top.”

    That’s far and away the best bit of the article.

    Lots of other words, indeed a veritable verbal diarrhoea, including an abundance of that much maligned commodity; facts.

    Personally I prefer to use the singular when referring to one county, so if it had been entirely up to me the phrase would have read, “Middlesex is still top”.

    Still, any article that contains the phrase “Middlesex are still top” is more than OK with me. It’s a cracking good read, KC.

    Cracking.

    1. Funnily enough, we originally had a singular and a plural in the second sentence and after much thought went with the latter.

      1. As you use the royal plural for yourself, KC, I suppose it is only fitting that you also use the plural for the mighty, regal, Middlesex.

    2. Middlsex isn’t a county, though. Shouldn’t it say “Middlesex was still top”?

      Would it be “Yorkshire were still top”, were it to come to that?

      1. You are unquestionably singular, daneel, thank you.

        “Middlesex is the county cricket club atop the County Championship”. I agree, that explains it better. Is, at the time of writing.

        How is Rutland (or whatever your favourite team is called – I forget those second division names, as I read about that league so rarely) getting on these days, daneel?

      2. There’s a second division?

        Now that you’ve let me know, I’ve checked, and apparently Nottinghamshire Seconds are doing surprisingly well and might actually replace the First XI next season.

        A couple of Middlesex old boys are doing okay, it seems.

  2. I loved the bit where Somerset won, beating Durham at their own game of preparing a minefield of a pitch that would all but guarantee a decisive result.

    Shove it up your arse, Durham.

    1. I’m probably pre-empting a match report by the King on this, but in conditions in which any mortal trundler would have surely given up, TGNW really ran in all day, bending his back on a flat deck against stubborn resistance to record the legendary figures 31-8-61-2

      Well played, TGNW, well played. Time for some well-earned cupping to sooth those aching shoulders.

    2. Do wonder how good Zim might be if they actually had all “their” players turning out for them. Makes me feel guilty of our nicking Gary Ballance.

      1. A Cricinfo commenter mentioned a possible team of C Chibhaba, H Masakadza, G Ballance, B Taylor, C Ervine, S Ervine, S Williams, S Curran, T Curran, G Cremer, K Jarvis. Which is a lot better than the current team.

        Also: a lot whiter. Make of that what you will.

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