Key event
At Canterbury, Worcestershire, playing for the first time since the death of their young spinning all-rounder Josh Baker, lined up on the boundary edge alongside their opponents, Kent, before play for a minute’s applause in memory of the 20-year-old.
On a beautiful day, with the ice-cream van happily doling out cones, Gareth Roderick completed back-to-back centuries, gently tapping the embroidered 33 (Baker’s number) on his shirt with his bat, as he did so. Kashif Ali made 72 as Worcestershire ended an emotional day on 308-5.
Lancashire’s Keaton Jennings was furious with himself after top-edging to slip on 91 at Trent Bridge, while Tom Bruce collected his first half century in what has been a tough early summer, a rock-about innings containing ten fours and one six.
Nottinghamshire’s Dillon Pennington spoilt the visitors’ day with three quick wickets towards the end. Jimmy Anderson who, it was revealed, will step away from Test cricket at the end of this summer, was watching from the sidelines.
After a slow start to his Hampshire career since moving from Sussex this winter, Ali Orr made his first century for his new side. His steady 126 was brought to an end by Peter Siddle, pulling on county cap number five, this time running in for Durham. Callum Parkinson took three wickets and Tom Prest bish-bashed 65.
Surrey’s Jordan Clark kept tabs on Warwickshire on a queasy-green Oval pitch, with four for fifty, but Ed Barnard stitched together a lower-order recovery, 96 not out at stumps.
Division Two leaders Sussex were picked apart by Glamorgan’s James Harris (4 for 93) and Mir Hamza (4 for 70), though some clever accumulation by the tail added 138 from the depths of 140 for seven.
Siddharth Kaul, the Indian seamer called up for three Championship matches with Northants, picked away at Gloucestershire, but Miles Hammond steadied nerves with 112, reaching his first ton for two years with a six.
And that’s it for today, on an afternoon when the first pencil of a faint line was drawn under Jimmy Anderson’s long and lustrous Test career. Jim Wallace will be here tomorrow, to guide the blog with style. Have a lovely Friday night!
Close of play scores
Division One
The Rosebowl: Hampshire 336-4 v Durham
Canterbury: Kent v Worcestershire 308-5
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire 306-8
The Oval: Surrey v Warwickshire 318-8
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 21-1 v Sussex 278
The County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire 338-8
Five of Jimmy Anderson’s greatest summers:
Close of play in Canterbury, where Worcestershire end what has been a difficult and emotional day on 308-5. Stumps also in Southampton, where Hampshire have reached 336-4 against Durham; and at Northampton, where Gloucestershire end on 338-8.
Here’s Andy Bull on the news that Jimmy Anderson has just one more Test summer ahead.
Here are the latest scores, with all the teams who opened the batting still making hay – although Sussex have just one wicket in hand at Sophia Gardens. At Canterbury, Gareth Roderick has passed the century mark for Worcestershire – before pointing his bat to the sky, and to the No 33 on his shirt.
Division One
Hampshire 283-4 v Durham
Kent v Worcestershire 274-3
Notts v Lancashire 273-5
Surrey v Warwicks 262-7
Division Two
Glamorgan v Sussex 247-9
Northants v Gloucs 309-6
Updated
I now have to write up for Friday deadlines, so must disappear again, huge apologies. A very light-touch blog today.
Jimmy Anderson to end Test career this summer
Apologies about that. Ali has news:
Apologies, I’ve had to hop on to something else briefly, back shortly. Please keep chatting BTL.
Games all proceeding as if in unison around the grounds, with Worcestershire aptly flying most high, at 167-1 at Canterbury.
Elsewhere: Hampshire 156-2; Lancs 149-2; Warwicks 154-4; Sussex 133-5; Gloucs 158-3.
Updated
No games for Leicestershire this week, but Rehan Ahmed has been speaking about his pilgrimage to Mecca.
“Leaving Leicestershire for two weeks and coming straight back into the team is a privilege,” he told BBC Radio Leicestershire.
“Whenever I do play, I try give as much as I can and I respect them a lot for allowing me to go.”
An attentive fifty for Keaton Jennings at Trent Bridge, Lancs rattling along at 136-2. Balderson playing second fiddle.
Ali Orr has moved onto 78 at the Rose Bowl
Another Warwicks wicket against the relentless Surrey fast medium assault. A second for Jordan Clark. Mousley gone for the second 25 of the innings. Warwicks 134-4.
At Sussex, all three Toms have been and gone, but Pujara is spreading love around the Gardems. Six fours in his 33 not out. Sussex 117-3.
While in the other Division Two game, Ollie Price is batting in stone boots, 10 off 60 balls; Hammond skittish by comparison. Glos 119-3 – two wickets to Siddarth Kaul, the Indian seamer who is playing the first of three Championship games for Northants.
And an email from Gary Naylor floats and lands, like a dandelion seed on the wind.
“I share your barely concealed contempt for the ICC’s decision re Aramco - and not just with regard to climate issues - but is this an oipportunity to lean on cricket’s authorities to take a lead elsewhere?
“I’ve long advocated publishing a carbon cost of sporting events (not just sports actually, but let’s start there) via an agreed methodology that the public can understand. It would be an estimate, but useful for getting a grip on scale and comparisons. So, what, after local decisions re energy supply, transport options for fans and players and ground maintenance etc, is the carbon cost of each of today’s matches? If it were (say) 100 at Canterbury and 5 at The Oval, that might concentrate a few minds - better still if we’re talking about a whole IPL or World Cup.
“You can’t control anything until you can measure it.”
(Ooof Mousley has a wild swish at Roach).
Very true. I think an agreed methodology would be the first thing – I believe that even Lord’s and The Oval measure their carbon emissions in a different same way – including different things. A lot of clubs are making excellent strides, shame about the dudes at the top.
Actually – this reminds me to plug the Cricketer’s Greenest Ground competition 2024 which is now open to all clubs in the UK. If you know a club making efforts to improve biodiversity, and/or save carbon – please point them in the direction of this form. A £500 prize from Ortus Energy for the winner.
All up and running after lunch, with counties racing to tick over the hundred mark. At The Oval, Kemar Roach, orange soles, heavy gold chain, tucked in whites, turns and accelerates in.
The postman disturbs my peanut butter sandwich to brings Simon Lister’s new book on Frank Worrell – it’s lovely and yellow and looks excellent.
Eight billion people on earth, and few know more about Northamptonshire than Andrew Radd:
There are eight billion people currently living on earth - and just 40 of them have played 100 or more first-class matches for @NorthantsCCC, including the most recent addition to the 'club' @sando567. The other 53 to reach that milestone since 1905 have moved to greener fields. pic.twitter.com/4gL9R8QVOj
— Andrew Radd (@oldmanradd) May 10, 2024
Lunchtime scores
Division One
The Rosebowl: Hampshire 85-1 v Durham
Canterbury: Kent v Worcestershire 94-1
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire 83-2
The Oval: Surrey v Warwickshire 88-3
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Sussex 94-2
The County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire 80-1
Sorry everyone, a few problems with the interface this morning. A couple of big wickets just before lunch – Josh Bohannon sent on his way at Trent Bridge for 35, and a disgruntled Sam Hain by Kemar Roach at The Oval. Scores to follow.
And the first fifty of the round goes to Ali Orr, actually his first half-century for Hampshire since he skipped along from Sussex in the off-season. Hants 82-1.
A second Tom gone at Cardiff – Clark joining Haines back in the pavilion, caught off James Harris. Sussex 87-2.
Parky! Callum, in his first over at the Rose Bowl bowls Fletcha Middleton. A needed breakthrough for Durham with only 15 minutes till lunch, Hants 74-1. Siddle’s first five overs were tidy but unrewarding.
“Morning, Tanya”. Lovely to hear from you Smylers. “I presume this is actually round six, given that the teams not playing today have already played five matches. But that raises the question ... why does the Country Championship do this, where each county misses a few rounds each season?
”Resting? (But surely that would apply to all teams.) Grounds needed for international matches? (But out-grounds exist. As do away fixtures.)
”Surely without these gaps, every county playing every round, the season could start later, avoiding the need for playing any matches early in cold and soggy April? And it would make the tables more meaningful, with everybody having played the same number of matches.”
The consensus seems to be that eight matches in two months is too intense, so each team is given a week off (and by the way, you’re quite right that this is round six) – so by the end of May, everyone will have played seven games. In terms of why everyone doesn’t play everyone else in Division One – I think because there isn’t enough space in the season once you’ve shoehorned four competitions between a wet April and a dark September.
A crunching six from Josh Bohannon, at Trent Bridge, Lancashire 42-1. And a wicket for George Scrimshaw at The County Ground – and a snorter it is too:
15.2 | And there it is! 😅
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) May 10, 2024
Scrimshaw gets an edge from Charlesworth and McManus has a simple catch.
Gloucestershire 44/1.
Watch live 👉 https://t.co/CU8uwteMyd https://t.co/C84yAsgZ51 pic.twitter.com/SvFuFIz4EG
And Surrey start to open the throttle: Abbot arrows the ball in, hitting Rob Yates bang in the bullseye. Warwicks suddenly 59-2. Rory Burns, in floppy hat, joins the celebrating throng. I’ve just finished Ben Bloom’s Battling for Time and was amused/surprised to read that Burns had taken the whole of August off last year(?) to go on a family holiday because there was no red-ball cricket to play.
Switch over to the Surrey stream, where Jordan Clarks’ shirt is being flustered by a brisk breeze and the pitch is the colour of a queasy sailor. A scurry through the slips by Al Davies brings another boundary. And there’s the wicket! Davies loses his off stump the very next ball. Warwicks 59-1.
A wicket falls at Canterbury, Agar the greedy guzzler at it again, Libby lbw for 19. A wicket too at Trent Bridge, where Luke Wells, after scurrying up to 17, is a wicket for Paterson. The first chunk out of the biscuity coating.
Sussex have lost one of their Toms, this time T Haines, for 19 – a wicket for Mir Hamza. Meanwhile Warwickshire are galloping along at almost five an over at The Oval, 51-0.
Has anyone played for more counties than Peter Siddle? Currently pulling on cap number five with Durham – following stints with Somerset, Lancashire, Notts and Essex. Must wait to make his mark, usurped to the new ball by Potts and Raine – Hampshire 13-0.
Rep Number: 1️⃣9️⃣5️⃣ x @petersiddle403
— Durham Cricket (@DurhamCricket) May 10, 2024
I think in the last couple of weeks you have already shown us what a great bloke you are. #ForTheNorth pic.twitter.com/kU6HwOhvfJ
Tweet of the day?
Long to rain over us? https://t.co/tCQLsrw0G0
— Patrick Kidd (@patrick_kidd) May 10, 2024
With nearly half an hour gone, there are no wickets round the grounds.
It must be a CCLive morning – my inbox pings, hello Tim Maitland!
”I’m trying again on the issue of Lancashire’s batting woes.
”Is there a consensus on what their issue might be?
”Is it that they’re less like an Uncle Joe’s Mint Ball and more like Mentos? Once you’ve got through the crunchy exterior that is their top three, you expose a soft and rather unsatisfactory middle?”
I think its very much a Mentos situation, or possibly a Gold Bar. A crunchy and tasty top three, though even Bohannon has only made one half century this year, followed by young but brittle biscuit talent lacking guidance in the absence of old heads and an overseas who, and I feel desperately sorry for him, can barely buy a run at the moment.
Agar, paint dabbed on his nose, is looking to do to Worcestershire, what he did to Lancashire last week. Lancashire, meanwhile, are 6-0 against Notts, boosted by the return of Saqib Mahmood – with Nathan Lyon taking a round off this week.
Canterbury looks beautiful on the live stream, lime grass and sunshine. Worcestershire and Kent lined up before play on the boundary edge to remember Josh Baker, the talented and much-loved 20 year old Worcestershire spinner who died just over a week ago. Silence, then a minute’s applause.
Updated
Bat? Bowl?
The captains have tossed a coin, and these are the decisions, decisions:
Hampshire will bat.
Worcestershire will bat.
Lancashire will bat.
Surrey will field.
Glamorgan will field.
Northants will field.
But, to restore your faith in humankind, a lovely spin by Rob Smyth on walking cricket:
And this was Barney, chewing over and spitting out private investment in Hundred Franchises:
News dropped yesterday that the ICC had renewed their deal with oil and gas giant Aramco, a global partner for another four years, until the end of 2027. Not content with ignoring the plight of its own game played in many of the most climate vulnerable nations in the world, the desperate calls of the UN for immediate action, and the worries of their own players over air pollution, they went ahead and trousered the money.
The “themes at the core of the partnership are performance with a focus to engage a younger audience” reads the press release, ignoring the depth of young people’s climate anxiety and their involvement in climate activism. “How to toxify your brand” might have been a better way of putting it.
Jonathan Liew wrote this in 2022 when the original deal was signed.
Division Two table
1 Sussex (4) 72
2 Middlesex (5) 68
3 Leicestershire (5) 68
4 Yorkshire (5) 60
5 Northamptonshire (4) 54
6 Glamorgan (4) 44
7 Derbyshire (5) 43
8 Gloucestershire (4) 39
Division One Table
1 Essex (played 5) 74
2 Somerset ( 5) 72
3 Surrey ( 4) 71
4 Warwickshire (4) 55
5 Durham (4) 50
6 Kent (4) 46
7 Worcestershire (4) 45
8 Nottinghamshire (4) 43
9 Hampshire (4) 31
10 Lancashire (4) 27
Fixtures
Division One
The Rosebowl: Hampshire v Durham
Canterbury: Kent v Worcestershire
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Lancashire
The Oval: Surrey v Warwickshire
Division Two
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Sussex
The County Ground: Northants v Gloucestershire
Preamble
Good May morning from round six. We’ll be a third of the way through the season by Monday, the apple blossom barely on the trees.
There are six games in this round – with a heavy first-division focus. Surrey entertain Warwickshire, Durham travel to Hampshire and cellar-dwellers Lancashire walk out at Trent Bridge. Worcestershire play their first game since the death of young Josh Baker, and will be in Canterbury, wearing his squad number, 33, on their shirts today and for the rest of the season. Ali writes about it movingly, here.
In Division Two, Glamorgan entertain Sussex, and Gloucestershire travel to Northampton.
Updated
