Specsavers Championship, Tuesday, September 4, 2017
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Leicestershire 90-4 v Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire's seamers made early inroads after the visitors chose to bowl first in bowler-friendly conditions on the opening day of their Specsavers county championship match against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground.
Rain meant no play was possible during the morning session, but umpires Jeff Evans and Nigel Cowley decided play could start immediately following lunch, with a possible 72 overs left to be bowled.
With the ball swinging in the cloudy and slightly humid conditions, as well as seaming off the green-tinged pitch, batting was a far from straightforward proposition, as Liam Norwell demonstrated in sending both Leicestershire openers back to the pavilion with just 20 runs on the board.
First to go was Harry Dearden, the 20-year-old left-hander edging a delivery which left him low to second slip, where Chris Dent held a good low catch, and Michael Carberry quickly followed, edging an in-swinger onto his pad, the ball looping gently to Kieran Noema-Barnett at gully.
Mark Cosgrove and Colin Ackermann added 33 for the third wicket before the South African Ackermann got into a tangle trying to force an in-swinging delivery from left-arm seamer Matt Taylor through the off side, and succeeded only in edging a low catch to wicket-keeper Gareth Roderick.
Ned Eckersley hit one beautifully timed cover drive to the boundary before he too edged a low catch to Roderick off Josh Shaw, but the occasional false shot notwithstanding, Cosgrove looked in good touch in going to an unbeaten 38 before heavy rain returned.
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UPDATE: Match start delayed, Durham v Kent at Chester-le-Street -
Jon Culley at Warwickshire v Somerset 117-3After the late start and another stoppage mid-afternoon, plus more rain forecast at various stages, it is everyone’s interests for this game to be moving along swiftly. Somerset have done just that, rattling along at five an over, although with the help of a mixed bag of bowling from the Warwickshire seamers. This was encapsulated in two consecutive deliveries from Ryan Sidebottom (which I still can’t type without the temptation to say ‘no, not THAT Ryan Sidebottom’). The short-haired, Australian-born right-armer fed debutant George Bartlett one ball that was so short and wide it would have been rude not to send it on its way to the cover point boundary with a flourish, which the England Under-19 batsman duly did, but then the next one landed on a perfect length, cut back in and bowled him through the gate, middle and off. They are finding it harder work against the spin, which is coming at them from both ends now after left-armer Sunny Singh joined Jeetan Patel in the attack. There is plenty of turn already, with Singh just claiming his first wicket of the match after Eddie Byrom, having reverse swept him for four, tried to do the same off the next delivery and was caught at slip. -
TEA: Somerset 117/3 (26 ov, won the toss) v Warwickshire
JC Hildreth 23* (44) TB Abell 1* (3) -
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WICKET: Somerset 114/3 (24.5 ov, won the toss) v Warwickshire
EJ Byrom c Trott b Sukhjit Singh 43 (67) Partnership: 42 (11.5 ov)
Sukhjit Singh 3.5-0-14-1 JC Hildreth 21* (40) -
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Leach and Bess watching on the balcony like... pic.twitter.com/ZTMCM4mbn3
— Kier ✌ (@webbsyK83) September 5, 2017 -
UPDATE: Match delayed by rain (Play due to restart at 4:15pm), Surrey 16/0 (5 ov, lost the toss) v Hampshire
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Northants 144-2 v SussexBen Duckett gave Northamptonshire a bright start to an important fixture against Sussex at Wantage Road with 84 before tea as the home side reached 144 for 2 having been asked to bat first.Duckett returned to the side after a broken finger and found his fluency to pass fifty in 70 balls with six boundaries. He was a little loose trying to drive past extra cover but looked more comfortable pressing through mid-on and also got a trademark late cut away - very much a sign he is seeing the ball well.He shared an opening stand of 91 with Rob Newton who began brightly with two splendid cover drives off Chris Jordan before being reined in by David Wiese and eventually dragged a length ball into his middle-and-leg stumps playing defensively.Alex Wakely fell soon after, losing control of a hook stroke and edging Ollie Robinson to long leg - a careless dismissal for just 10.
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UPDATE: Match start delayed (Play due to start at 4pm), Durham v Kent at Chester-le-Street
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Notts 137-6 v WorcsEd Barnard gained four wickets for Worcestershire on the first afternoon of their Specsavers County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.Asked to bat first by the visitors, Notts reached tea on 137 for six, after heavy rain had wiped out the entire morning session.Barnard has figures of four for 55 from 10 overs, with Joe Leach and Josh Tongue also picking up wickets.Worcestershire’s decision to bat first denied Chris Read the opportunity to toss the coin for one last time at Trent Bridge. The Nottinghamshire skipper will retire at the end of the season and only has two away fixtures to play after this one.The home side lost an early wicket under cloudy skies, with Steven Mullaney bowled by Leach for seven, in the third over.Two short stoppages disrupted Nottinghamshire’s progress and then Barnard began to make inroads. Jake Libby nicked on 34 and was picked off by Daryl Mitchell, who reacted to the loose ball that had been spilled by wicketkeeper Ben Cox.Cox was more assured to catch both Cheteshwar Pujara for 28 and Samit Patel for 14.Riki Wessels was bowled for nought and then Alex Hales nicked to second slip, off Tongue, for 28.Read walked out to a standing ovation and has hit two boundaries in his unbeaten eight.
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TEAM 100: Somerset 100/2 (19.3 ov, won the toss) v Warwickshire
JC Hildreth 14* (19) EJ Byrom 36* (56) -
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UPDATE: Match delayed by rain, Leicestershire 90/4 (26.3 ov) v Gloucs
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TEA: Northamptonshire 144/2 (36 ov) v Sussex
RE Levi 10* (25) BM Duckett 84* (104) -
TEA: Nottinghamshire 137/6 (29 ov) v Worcs
CMW Read 8* (5) BRM Taylor 8* (11) -
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WICKET: Nottinghamshire 127/6 (27.1 ov) v Worcs
AD Hales c Mitchell b Tongue 28 (29) Partnership: 6 (1.0 ov)
JC Tongue 7.1-3-13-1 BRM Taylor 6* (5)
