James Hildreth hobbled to a ton with a runner at his side to set Somerset on course in the first innings before a late collapse, while it was tight at Lord’s
That’s close of play around the grounds. Here is how it’s poised after the first day of play:
Durham have made a couple of breakthroughs at the Ageas Bowl but from the Hampshire angle they were pretty soft dismissals.
Vince had made 92 and was clearly in boots-filling mood when Sean Ervine, who had played a stroke to Stokes in the covers, called for a sharp single.
Tea at Lord’s and Middlesex, largely through the diligence of Nick Gubbins, are hanging on to their innings. Gubbins is at the end of a prolific season that has taken him close to England selection and has made 96 of Middlesex’s 168 for 5.
It has been a battle, in keeping with the status of the fixture and no less than we might have expected. There is not a huge amount to be gained from the pitch for Yorkshire’s five seamers, although there has been what appears to be some reverse swing for Tim Bresnan, who sent down a challenging spell from the Pavilion end that tested Gubbins to the full.
Well, the pessimists down here are fretting. Perhaps this pitch is too flat. Somerset’s three victories here have come without them achieving any batting points but at tea they have reached the dizzy heights of 215-2. Chris Rogers has hit his second century for the club, an exhibition of supreme efficiency rather than elegance, but no one gives a fig about that.
Meanwhile, James Hildreth has produced one of his gutsiest innings. He has faced more demanding bowling but never in such pain. He was hit on the right foot on 7 and has been hobbling ever since, with Tom Abell acting as his runner. Once when Hildreth swivelled to hook a bouncer from Hutton he was obviously in agony. Otherwise he seems to have made a virtue of his movements being restricted. His head has been textbook static and he has not been able to indulge in his usual array of sweeps, whether orthodox or reverse. Instead he has simply played everything on merit.
It’s tea here at the Ageas Bowl and Hampshire are 267 for three, with Vince on 89. Tea at 3.10, would you believe, instead of 64 overs, because we’ve had a lot of spin.
Mark Stoneman became Durham’s seventh bowler just before the break.
Tea at Edgbaston and these are nervous times for Warwickshire, who sit 165 for six and have been a bit passive all day, to be honest.
A hangover from Saturday’s Lord’s final win? Or simply in keeping with what has been an underwhelming red ball season?
Spinners Borthwick and Pringle have been twirling away as if to suggest they own the match on day one. The temerity of it all!
But James Vince, thrillingly, is having none of it and has counterattacked in eye-catching style, driving both through the covers for four. Then, in the same over, he swept Pringle to square-leg for four before lofting him over mid-on for six.
Now then, Kyle Jarvis has certainly changed things at Edgbaston after lunch. First came the wicket of Ian Bell, lbw for 37 to a ball that nipped back. And then in the next over from Simon Kerrigan, the Zimbabwean pounced at mid-off with a one-handed pick up and throw that levelled the stumps at the striker’s end to see Tim Ambrose run out for a duck.
Crazy single from Sam Hain, who sits unbeaten on 11 and now needs to drag his side from 105 for five in the 44th over with Rikki Clarke for company. Lancashire in control here.
We’ve had a really excellent morning’s cricket at the Ageas Bowl – and the highest scoring match in the country so far.
Hampshire are 116 for one at lunch, with Will Smith 52 not out and Tom Alsop, who has only just come in, unbeaten on one. The batting has been very positive against a varied attack in which Rushworth and Onions were followed by Ryan Pringle, Brydon Carse, Ben Stokes and Steve Borthwick. Off-spinner Pringle and leg-spinner Borthwick have already got substantial turn, so it might really rip later on.
The hobbling Hildreth and the dutiful Rogers have taken Somerset to 99-2 at lunch with an unbroken 66 run partnership.
Whether Hildreth’s right foot is unbroken remains to be seen. A full length delivery from Jake Ball hit that foot and he can barely move. He has had Tom Abell to run for him – although you can be more or less guaranteed that Marcus Trescothick would have volunteered. Hildreth has stayed still at the crease and watched the ball carefully, hitting a couple of back-foot boundaries along the way. Rogers has eked out his runs stealthily.
Lunch at Lord’s, where Middlesex are 84 for three. It’s been a hard morning’s batting and the situation could easily have been worse still, since Yorkshire have dropped two catches. Nick Compton played one lovely on-drive but was out for eight soon after, another lbw for Jack Brooks.
The next man in, Dawid Malan, rattled along to 22 at a run a ball. He was dropped once by Adam Lyth at slip and then played on attempting another luxurious cover drive off of David Willey, the ball shooting off the inside edge into his stumps.
What felt like something of a sleepy morning at Edgbaston burst into life six minutes before lunch when Jordan Clark, who had struggled for any sort of rhythm up until that point, got one to leave Jonathan Trott and had him caught behind for 25.
It means the home side are 83 for three at the interval, with Ian Bell unbeaten on 24. Trott had been at the crease since the first over of the day after Ian Westwood was trapped lbw by Tom Bailey, while Bell, who has had an underwhelming first-class season, joined him for the start of the 14th when the same man had Alex Mellor caught at first slip.
Much brighter here at Edgbaston following a cloudy start, with Warwickshire finding themselves 43 for two, with Tom Bailey the man to pick up both wickets for Lancashire.
Ian Westwood was jackknifed in the first over for a simple lbw and just now his opening partner, Alex Mellor, has edged to Liam Livingstone at first slip for 27 off the last ball of the 13th over.
33-2 at Taunton. Tom Abell has just clipped a full length ball from Ball straight to mid-wicket. There will be many fluctuations over the next few days. But just at the moment the Tykes around the country must be smiling (“What’s new?” I hear you ask). Meanwhile, it’s quiet as a library at Taunton.
Trescothick c Read b Ball 25 – a bit of a lunge outside the off-stump. Tahir bowled the 10th over and there is some evidence to suggest that Abell has yet to pick his googly. Somerset folk reckon they need 350 – for the bonus points and to win the game. That looks a long way off with the departure of Trescothick. 33-1
It’s a soupy sort of morning at Lord’s, where the air is thick and a bit sticky, a little like a canteen kitchen the vegetables are on the boil. The toss went uncontested and Yorkshire are bowling. They’ve already taken their first wicket, Sam Robson lbw to Jack Brooks, falling over a full ball like a man who had stepped on his own shoelaces.
As I type this Middlesex are 24 for one. There are a couple of hundred fans gathered in Mound and Tavern Stands, a couple hundred more in the pavilion. Up in the press box, the Guardian are mob-handed, with myself and his Lordship Mike Selvey both at the match. Feels a little like a throwback, that, to the time when newspapers really cared about the County Championship.
Welcome to a rather damp and cool Ageas Bowl where all the interest is at the other end of the table.
Relegation is the ugly word in these parts. We will go through the various permutations over the next few days but basically Hampshire have to beat Durham over the next four days to avoid going down with Notts.
It was no surprise that this toss was contested. Somerset won it and are batting. No surprise there either.
Both teams are playing three spinners; the pitch is not so green as the last one against Warwickshire and Somerset are hoping that they fare better in their first innings than they did then (they were all out for 95 before lunch yet went on to win the game).
Morning all and welcome to what looks like a rather tasty final round of County Championship fixtures, with both the title and the final relegation spot up for grabs in Division One.
We have got all bases covered in the top flight this week, with Mike Selvey leading the charge at Lord’s for leaders Middlesex v second-placed Yorkshire and Vic Marks poised at Taunton for title hopefuls Somerset v relegated Nottinghamshire. Paul Weaver will be at Hampshire v Durham, which will dictate whether my time watching Warwickshire v Lancashire at Edgbaston is a relegation battle or not.
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