As the rain falls damply on the Headingley outfield, that’s it for another round. More runs, more draws, with today’s CCLive! gongs going to Matty Potts, Harry Brook and Sam Robson. Two of the three are expected to be in the Test squad to be named later this week. Thanks as always for joining in below the line and general good-heartedness. Best of luck to anyone with GCSEs in their household starting this week, I’ll see you at Old Trafford on Thursday for the last of this first burst of CC matches. Good night!
Roses match drawn
Lancashire 566-9 dec Yorkshire 379 and 10
Harry Brook 82 not out - that’s 758 runs at 151.6 this season.
Lancashire 13 points; Yorkshire 12
Updated
A sixth Yorks wicket falls, but it isn’t Brook. A second for Parky.
Warwicks draw with Northants
Northamptonshire 597-6 dec draw with Warwickshire 568-4
The artificial light has replaced natural light here at Headingley, Bess has a sticker on the back of his bat which keeps blinking little flashes of reflection. I’d better think about writing up here, but will pop back if any more wickets fall. My gut feeling - Brook and the weather have got this.
Now then! Harry Duke is pocketed with swift and sharp hands by Wells off Parky for 9. Yorks train by 63, five wickets left. Bess joins Brook. They won’t shortly be shaking hands.
And with an easy single, that’s another fifty for Brook - his seventh in eight innings, as he passes 700 runs for 2022. And this is pressure.
Matty Potts has been chatting after his career best against Glamorgan.
“As for the news articles about England I tend not to try and read them too much. It would be silly to read them and get too far ahead of myself. If you look too far ahead you can lose sight of what is in front of you. It would be a dream to be picked and obviously to play Test cricket is something I aspire to do, having previously just been a white-ball bowler. I feel I have a lot to offer in the red-ball game, hopefully I can maintain my form and we’ll see what happens.”
Kent draw with Surrey - Rain
Lucky, lucky Kent.
Kent 230 and 114-1 v Surrey 671-9
Kent 10 points, Surrey 16.
Thank you to Scott Read who just pointed out that the Headingley floodlights are shaped like the white rose. I’d never noticed. They’re on and warming up: Balderson and Bailey bowling.
Yorkies, don’t take those crazy runs, you crazy geese. Feels quite like rain here at Headingley. Brook and Duke guarding the family silver.
Right, here we go! Can Lancs pull a rabbit out of the hat?
Teatime scores
DIVISION ONE
Northamptonshire 597/6 dec Warwickshire 526-4
Warwickshire trail by 72 runs
Lancashire 566/9 dec Yorkshire 379 and 102-4
Yorkshire trail by 85 runs
Somerset 591/7 dec BEAT Gloucestershire 186-9 and 159-9
Somerset win by an innings and 246
Surrey 671/9 dec Kent 230 & 114-1. Rain
Kent trail by 327 runs
Division Two
Durham 311 & 249 v Glamorgan 365 and 142
Durham win by 53 runs
Nottinghamshire 415 & 295/5 Middlesex 195 & 133-3. Rain
Middlesex need 383 runs with 7 wickets remaining
Leicestershire 210 & 282-7 Sussex 450. Rain, play due to restart at 3.50pm
Leicestershire lead by 42 runs
Worcestershire 368 and 220-2 Derbyshire 565-8dec
Worcs lead by 23 runs
Anderson tugs on his jumper and pulls on his faded Lancashire cap. The umpire flicks off the bails and Duke and Brook have made it through till tea. Yorks 102-4, scores round the grounds to follow.
A drop, we think, Brook on 31 off Jimmy. Anderson s t a l k s away.
A huge test this for Brook and Duke (his spot already in question because of some untidy work behind the stumps). Anderson back for his third spell. I don’t think I mentioned that both Lancs and Yorkshire players are in black armbands, and there was a minute’s silence this morning in memory of Andrew Symonds. Yorks 94-4.
George Hill gets a feather on mediocre bouncer from Wood, and walks the length of the pitch with his glove to his head. He looks distraught. Yorks 86-4.
Updated
And Jake Libby’s first century of the season has just about made Worcestershire safe: Worcs 213-2, a lead of 16.
Bad light has temporarily put everyone out of their misery brought things to a halt at Edgbaston, with Warwickshire 526-4: Hain 186 not out; Lamb 129 not out.
And raining at Lord’s and at Grace Road.
After an early lunch, they’re taking an early tea at Beckenham.
Kudos to the snapper here.
We're no experts but we think @jimmy9 might have enjoyed that one...
— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) May 15, 2022
🌹 #RedRoseTogether pic.twitter.com/cFj5t69OEe
Over the hill, I am not.
Anderson gets Root!pic.twitter.com/kahm9FbwAq
— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) May 15, 2022
Watching Harry Brook through binoculars. He has none of the technical twitches and jerks that have been so common with recent England selections. Still and precise. Like a silver-service waiter. Paul Edwards tells me Brook goes back to Sedbergh school often to get batting advice from Martin Speight. And that’s the end of Anderson’s spell 6-2-7-2 (to go with 6-4-4-0 before lunch)
Also, there was some talk BTL on Adam Lyth. Apparently, Lyth was told last year that he was the next cab off the rank for an England opener’s spot. But that knowledge preyed over and over in his mind and he lost form.
I love the amateur hour vibes of this whole story.
In the 2006-7 Melbourne Test. England's bowling plans mysteriously 'appeared' in the media. They included :Andrew Symonds, bouncer ESSENTIAL!! So for every one of his 156 runs there was a man out on the hook. And he didn't hook once.
— Mike Selvey #StandWithUkraine (@selvecricket) May 15, 2022
Durham beat Glamorgan by 53 runs and Matty Potts (7-40) inks his name into Rob Key's squad list
Durham 311 & 249 v Glamorgan 365 and 142
Durham win by 53 runs
Back from a circuit of the ground, it’s actually pleasant watching weather now. If you’ve got time on your hands and want to watch England’s two best players of the last 25 years, slip down the road to Headingley.
It might be my imagination, but I’m sure Jimmy gave Root - hang on, hang on.... it doesn’t matter how many glares he gave him - he’s been bowled for four. Neck, crop etc. Just after gliding him through the slips for four as well.
Malan gone too and this is an official white rose wobble. Enter Harry Brook, celestial saviour of the hour.
Lunchtime scores
DIVISION ONE
Northamptonshire 597/6 dec Warwickshire 483-4
Warwickshire trail by 114 runs with 6 wickets remaining
Lancashire 566/9 dec Yorkshire 379 and 39-1
Yorkshire trail by 148 runs with 9 wickets remaining
Somerset 591/7 dec BEAT Gloucestershire 186-9 and 159-9
Somerset win by an innings and 246
Surrey 671/9 dec Kent 230 & 108-1
Kent trail by 333 runs with 9 wickets remaining
Division Two
Durham 311 & 244 v Glamorgan 365 and 125-8
Glamorgan need 66 to win
Nottinghamshire 415 & 295/5 Middlesex 195 & 133-3
Middlesex need 383 runs with 7 wickets remaining
Leicestershire 210 & 253-7 Sussex 450
Leicestershire lead by 13 runs with 3 wickets remaining
Worcestershire 368 and 162-1 Derbyshire 565-8dec
Worcs trail by 35 with 9 wickets remaining
It’s lunch at Headingley and suddenly the rain falls and the covers race on. Scores to follow.
Interesting from Nick Friend, who has been watching at Lord’s:
Pretty outrageous hundred for Sam Robson at Lord's. Middlesex 132-3 from 0-2, Notts throwing everything at him (Broad, Pattinson, Fletcher, short leg, short stuff, plenty of swing, overcast). Not many guys with his record at the top of the order in the last couple of years...
— Nick Friend (@NickFriend1) May 15, 2022
And Glammy lose their eighth.
Parky on in the last minutes before lunch.
A hat-tip to Simon Kerrigan - that’s a lot of leg arm work. Lamb nears his hundred, Hain sniffs his double ton. Warwicks 482-4.
✨ 𝓢𝓲𝓶𝓸𝓷 𝓚𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓪𝓷 𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓣𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓽 ✨
— Northamptonshire CCC (@NorthantsCCC) May 15, 2022
A supreme effort from Kegs, he's just completed his 50th over of the innings. 👊 pic.twitter.com/zCq0G1gSVE
A fifth for Potts (5-35) as Glamorgan wobbled dangerously - still 76 behind. Cooke is joined by Neser. Here is Ali on Potts and England’s limping seam-bowling unit.
And in Division Two, this is happening:
Ollie Robinson bowling off-spin at Grace Road
— Huw Turbervill (@huwzat) May 15, 2022
Leicestershire have lost a couple this morning in their inevitable slide to defeat - Patel Lenham’s fourth wicket, for a 209- ball 68. Leicester trail by six, three wickets behind.
Libby and Azhar in no trouble at Derby, Worcestershire 68 behind, still nine wickets in hand.
And it is raining at Lord’s, where Sam Robson is 101 not out! Middx 383 behind, seven wickets left.
Let’s take a leisurely stroll round the grounds, Division One to start :
Malan and Hill are hanging on - 12 for one against testing spells from Jimmy and Bailey. The last time Lancashire a Roses game at Headingley was in 2011 - the year of the Red Rose.
It is raining at Beckenham, which will give a boost to Kent’s mammoth survival task -333 behind, nine wickets in hand.
And Warwickshire bat on, and on. Sam Hain 159 and counting, Matthew Lamb 80.
Just got around to reading this excellent Spin by Raf on the Fairbreak invitational women’s tournament in Dubai, which had been widely promoted on social media but not analysed.
The Spin | Is new women’s T20 tournament in Dubai a sign of progress or a threat? By @RafNicholson https://t.co/wq5ZsgMGV4
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) May 11, 2022
And because of the magic of the internet, here is Raf on her wedding day to Syd. Congratulations!
Best wishes to a gorgeous couple 😘 https://t.co/4hQziv3Pz0 pic.twitter.com/MV0f1ZxEqE
— Andy (@andydinger) May 14, 2022
Jimmy tosses the ball from hand to hand at the Howard Stand end, preparing to bowl to another of England’s West Indies tour rejects, Dawid Malan. He must be in with a shout of a Test call up this season, though that would give England a heavy Yorkshire top six with Root, Brook and Bairstow also in the mix.
Has anyone tried a Yorkshire Tea and Biscuits brew? I had one this morning. Slightly sickly yet strangely beguiling.
And almost immediately, Adam Lyth is lbw for 2, Yorks 2-1. He drags himself off, pulling off his gloves, tiny steps all the way back to the pavilion. On gallops Dawid Malan.
A second wicket this morning and a fourth wicket in all for man of the moment Matty Potts. Glamorgan 90-5, need another 101 to win. Northeast, crucially, has gone, for 26.
PLAY THAT 😲
— Durham Cricket (@DurhamCricket) May 15, 2022
An absolute beauty from Matty Potts in his first over of the day, 70/4! #ForTheNorth pic.twitter.com/KAg5ZpK11E
Here at Headingley, under lights, Tom Bailey has the ball at the Kirkstall Lane end.
Lancashire enforce the follow-on
Yorkshire all out as Haris Rauf has an Sunday roast swing at Parkinson and is bowled. Parky 4-90, the deficit is 187 and Yorkshire will bat again.
Andrew Symonds in his prime:
One minute of Andrew Symonds direct-hit run outs! pic.twitter.com/MHRqNp1w1d
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) May 15, 2022
And some tributes from around the world:
Very sad and shocking news of Andrew Symonds. Condolences to his friends and family. pic.twitter.com/BdBnXWKrwY
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) May 15, 2022
Absolutely shocked and gutted to hear the sudden demise of Andrew Symonds. One of the greatest all rounders of all time. Life is truly unpredictable. My heartfelt condolences to his friends and family. May his soul rest in peace. 🙏
— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) May 15, 2022
Sad to know of #AndrewSymonds passing away in a tragic accident. He was one of the best entertainers in his playing days and his passing is a great loss for world cricket. Condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/DznBYRtXv9
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) May 15, 2022
Think of your most loyal, fun, loving friend who would do anything for you. That’s Roy. 💔😞
— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) May 15, 2022
Updated
Some disillusionment with the Dukes balls came out yesterday at Durham’s after-play press conference. Scott Borthwick was not happy: “The balls have been shocking this year. We have been on a call with the ECB at the start of the week. I think there have been more ball changes so far this season than all of last season.
“They seem to go soft pretty quickly and then swell a bit and go out of shape. I think the pitches are firmer and a bit harder so that may be a cause. But they are just not a great batch to be honest.”
Snaffled him! Patterson gone for 19, safely taken at gully. Yorks 374-9 and the follow-on beckons.
A lovely email on Andrew Symonds from Gary Naylor
“In 198 ODIs, Andrew Symonds averaged 40 at a strike rate of 92. He played from 1998 to 2009. They are numbers at least a decade ahead of their time. As a comparator, Ricky Ponting (indisputably an all-time great) averaged 42 at 80. Symonds also took 133 wickets in ODIs at an economy rate of 5.0. Numbers aren’t everything, but that volume of runs and wickets with that differential between strike rate and economy rate can’t have been bettered by many all-rounders. Roll in his fielding and the game has lost a true giant.
“RIP Roy.”
So true. We were just mulling over how many more Tests he’d have played if he’d decided to take up the ECB on their offer of an A tour to Pakistan. What a player.
Updated
Terrible news from Australia overnight with the death of Andrew Symonds at the tragically young age of 46.
Updated
Arrived at Headingley to hear that Harry Brook’s innings yesterday outclassed Root’s and, according to the Yorkshire Post, was the best he’s played all season.
Jim's Saturday round-up
At 27 minutes past three on a sun-soaked and soporific afternoon at Headingley, Matt Parkinson hopped and skipped to the crease to send down another fizzing delivery. Joe Root, on 99, effortlessly clipped the ball away off his pads and scampered the single he needed to bring up his first century of the summer.
With all the comings and goings, firings and hirings of the past few weeks it was a timely reminder from Root, as if anyone really needed one, that he is still around, still in great form and still the best red-ball batter in the country.
Root lifted his helmet to reveal that beaming, mischievous smile and raised his arms to the blue skies. It was a poignant moment for the batter formerly known as the England Men’s Test Captain and an innings that will have pleased the newly formed axis of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum with the first Test of the summer looming a matter of weeks away. Yorkshire, just like England of late, needed Root’s runs, he fell to Parkinson eventually for 147 and the home side still trail Lancashire by 210 runs with first innings wickets remaining.
The sun was not just shining in God’s own county but up and down the shires. In Beckenham, despite the favourable batting conditions, Kent were put under the pump by Division One leaders Surrey.
Jamie Overton, bowling fast and nasty, hit Ben Compton with a short ball that clonked the opener on the head, dislodging Compton’s helmet which plopped down onto the stumps. Celebrations soon turned to confusion, not for the stricken Compton but the Surrey fielders as the umpires informed them that the batter wasn’t out due to an ECB amendment (introduced in 2020) to Law 29 that deems a batter not out if their helmet is knocked off and breaks the wicket.
Compton looked rattled nevertheless and fell shortly after to Will Jacks’s off-spin. Jacks picked up four wickets as Surrey bowled Kent out for 230 and stuck them in for another go after tea by enforcing the follow-on. Zak Crawley cutting a frustrated figure as he chopped on to Jacks before the close leaving Kent on 82 for one and 359 runs adrift.
Jack Leach twirled his way to eight wickets in the match as Somerset registered their second largest win in 147 years of first-class cricket, thumping Gloucestershire by an innings and 246 runs.
Runs kept on flowing at Edgbaston where Warwickshire trail Northamptonshire by 203 runs, Sam Hain playing an obdurate innings to still be there at stumps on 140 off 337 balls.
Durham’s Matthew Potts became the first bowler to 30 wickets in this year’s Championship. Earlier Glamorgan’s Marnus Labuschagne wheeled away with glee after having Ben Stokes sharply stumped off his bowling but was less happy a few hours later as the shadows crept across Chester-le-Street, Ben Raine pocketing him for 31 to leave the visitors needing 126 more with seven wickets in hand.
Nottinghamshire’s Steven Mullaney launched a blitzkrieg at Lord’s, smearing Middlesex’s bowlers around HQ in a 58-ball hundred which allowed Notts to declare on 295 for five. Luke Fletcher then removed Mark Stoneman and Josh de Caires to leave Middlesex reeling on 2-0, a relative recovery to 69 for three leaves them facing a tough battle on day four.
Not so rosy for fellow Midlanders Leicestershire as they stare down the barrel against Sussex, following on they still trail by 45 runs and only have five second innings wickets in which to eke out a notional lead, 17 year old Archie Lenham picking up 3-47 for the south coast side.
Anuj Dal finished on 114 not out for Derbyshire as they continued to rack up the runs in this campaign. They posted 565-8, Worcestershire on the end of a lower order wagging in Derby. At 59-1 and trailing by 138 runs in their second dig the visitors will be hoping tomorrow yields yet more sunshine and runs.
Updated
Start of play scores
DIVISION ONE
Northamptonshire 597/6 dec Warwickshire 394-4
Warwickshire trail by 203 runs with 6 wickets remaining
Lancashire 566/9 dec Yorkshire 356-8
Yorkshire trail by 210 runs with 2 wickets remaining
Somerset 591/7 dec BEAT Gloucestershire 186-9 and 159-9
Somerset win by an innings and 246
Surrey 671/9 dec Kent 230 & 82-1
Kent trail by 359 runs with 9 wickets remaining
Division Two
Durham 311 & 244 v Glamorgan 365 and 65-3
Glamorgan need 126 to win
Nottinghamshire 415 & 295/5 Middlesex 195 & 69-3
Middlesex require 447 runs with 7 wickets remaining
Leicestershire 210 & 195-5 Sussex 450
Leicestershire trail by 45 runs with 5 wickets remaining
Worcestershire 368 and 59-1 Derbyshire 565-8dec
Worcs trail by 138 with 9 wickets remaining
Updated
Preamble
Good morning! It’s a grey Leeds day and a giddy night at a lovely friend’s fiftieth means things are a little are a little overcast this end as well.
Yesterday I missed Joe Root scoring what sounds like a beautiful century (and thank you so much to Jim for covering yesterday’s blog so brilliantly - you can read his report on proceedings above), but I might have a chance to watch another if Yorkshire are bowled out quickly this morning. It’s going to be entertaining at The Riverside, where Glamorgan need another 126 with seven wickets in hand; elsewhere draws look likely at Headingley and Edgbaston and elsewhere it is a case of the batting side holding on for dear life.
