And so, suddenly, the County Championship enters the home straight, dusk fast chasing six o’clock stumps. Despite Durham clinching promotion on Monday without playing a ball, courtesy of Leicestershire’s batting malfunction at Hove, there is still plenty to mull over in the last two rounds – from the Oval to Headingley, and everywhere in between.
A victory for Bazball At the start of the season Durham announced they were going to embrace the method championed by their favourite son and throw caution to the wind. Matthew Potts, fresh from touring with England, raised an eyebrow or two when he trumpeted that they would rather lose every game than play for a draw, while the new head coach, Ryan Campbell, revealed: “The players here have a glint in their eye and they want to excite people.” Now, with promotion and six wins from 12 games already under their belt, and only five points away from being crowned Division Two champions, Durham have been as good as their word – cracking along at more than four an over in all but five of their 18 innings, and Alex Lees not only the leading run-scorer in the country but averaging 75 at a strike rate of 73. And if you think Bazball is just for Division Two, think again. “We’re not going … just to survive,” says Campbell, “we’re going to try to win the thing [title], I reckon there’s a lot more exciting cricket to come.”
Surrey’s empire building Surrey strut into the second half of September with an 18-point buffer at the top of Division One. Barring an implosion, a tidal wave of rain in the south-east and Essex winning every point possible, they will collect their second consecutive title, possibly at the Oval next week against the unfortunate Div One cellar-dwellers, Northamptonshire. It would be their third championship in five years, with many more stretching out into the future given the strength of their squad, the excellence of their academy and their big fat wallet. Throw in a fantastic ground, in a central location, a ready, richer-than-average membership and Alec Stewart, director of cricket and quiet excellence since 2014, it is no wonder they are able to add to their homegrown riches with big names. Dan Lawrence being one ready to give up being a big fish in a little pond at Chelmsford to being a little fish in a big one in south London. The only quibble is that there is no space for a genuine spinner, with Daniel Moriarty moving to Yorkshire and Amar Virdi languishing in the second team.
Still room for non-Test match counties Despite the almost-constant rumours of doom and the threat (seen off for now) of the Strauss report, plucky Division Two clubs live on. One other side will win promotion alongside Durham, the most likely of them Worcestershire – provider of bowling attacks to the rest of the country. But the most surprising 2023 renaissance has come from Leicestershire who, despite the mid-season departure of Paul Nixon, have picked themselves off their familiar spot in the bargain basement, dusted themselves down and turned into promotion candidates – at least until they came up against Sussex. They’ve signed Peter Handscomb on a two-year deal, after he warmed hearts leading from the front in an unlikely win against Yorkshire in the opening game, are cherishing, and playing, Rehan Ahmed, and have allowed the former Essex batter Rishi Patel to thrive. What’s more, they compete in the One-Day Cup final on Saturday.
Pointless? This season saw a rejigging of the points system: with five points available for a draw – down from eight – and a shifting up of the batting bonus points threshold from 200 to 250. The win/draw stats seem to be inconclusive as yet: in 2022 there were 50 draws across the two divisions, and in 2023, as of Tuesday morning, there had been 44 with three rounds to play. Throw in the serious mid-summer rain, stir the pot … and leave it for the England and Wales Cricket Board county cricket committee to work out.
Family firm A few familiar names have appeared on England Under-19s scoresheets in their series against Australia. There at the top of the order in the first Test was Kent’s Jaydn Denly, nephew of Joe, while down at No 10 was the Nottinghamshire off-spinner Farhan Ahmed, brother of Rehan. Also in the one-day squad were Durham’s Mitchell Killeen, son of the seamer Neil, and Essex’s Luc Benkenstein, son of Dale. Not forgetting Thomas Rew, brother of the young Taunton run-machine James, turning out for the Somerset Second XI. But the highest profile member of the family firm is Middlesex’s. Josh de Caires, Michael Atherton’s son, whose off-breaks have ripped through both Hampshire (seven for 144) and Essex (eight for 106) in recent weeks. He also took a wicket with his first championship ball at Old Trafford, telling reporters: “I’ll call my dad tonight and see what he thinks. I’ll probably tell him I’m bowling lob-ups!”
There is life after England Three county captains continue to show that being shown the door by your country is not the be-all and end-all. At the Oval, a soon-to-be-ponytail-less Rory Burns is heading towards his third title as captain and, if he hasn’t had a dream season with the bat, he is thriving as a leader of men. As he said after Surrey thrashed Warwickshire in the last round: “Our desire is certainly there in our dressing room, we love playing four-day cricket for Surrey.” At Southampton James Vince continues to lead nearly-men Hampshire with his shirt untucked from slip, 800 easy-breezy runs under his belt; while at Chelmsford Tom Westley has grown into the role, successfully shepherding a club that consistently punch above their weight, while in touching distance of a thousand runs.
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