County cricket: Hampshire v Surrey, Lancashire v Warwickshire and more â live | County Championship
Key events
âBuenos dias Tanya!â Hello there, Tim Maitland.
âIf it werenât for the band of heavy rain sliding westward off the North Sea and across East Anglia, Iâd tell you to expect a volatile day at the County Ground today.
âThe surprise on the first day was that Yorkshire managed to cobble together such a strong start on a green-tinged pitch and an outfield so lush you half expected to find dairy cows grazing on it. At one point the centurion Adam Lyth was nearly scythed in half by one that cut back into the left hander, while a sizeable portion of the runs were being scored between the slips and gully. Catches werenât put down, as such, but they fell agonisingly close on a few occasions.
âThe loss of six wickets for 79 runs was inevitable and not just because the Yorkshire middle order is a lot less meaty with Joe Root and Harry Brook resting their hams.
âMy suspicion is Northants will be batting relatively quickly, weather permitting, but chasing a score thatâll prove to already be over par. Itâll be interesting to see how the Sri Lankan left-handed quick Vishwa Fernando adjusts in the first of his short three-game stint.â
Yorkshire currently eight down but Jordan Thompson having lots of fun with the bat, 53 not out. Yorks 362-8.
Alex âcarthorseâ Davies goes to his fifty in three hours one minute â the third slowest first-class fifty of his career. The Warwickshire hundred winds slowly up.
And a wicket at Old Trafford! George Balderson joins the Tom Bailey wickets club, as Mousley is caught for two.
A maiden five-fer for Scott Currie! Sam Northeast caught behind off the first ball of the day. And only one more in the runs chart for David Bedingham at Chester le Streetâ a fourth wicket for concussion substitute Jake Ball.
1000 runs before the end of May
David Bedingham needs another 206 runs this match to join the elusive 1000 runs before the end of May clubâ¦.
And action at New Road at last, where HH has won the toss and inserted Worcestershire. There will be a minuteâs applause in memory of the talented and, by all accounts ,lovely young man, Josh Baker.
Friday's round-up
After bowling 38 overs at Blackpool last week, Ben Stokes stormed in for 15.1 more at Chester-le-Street, grabbing four for 54 as Somerset were whistled out for 171. He was then lbw for a duck in Durhamâs up and down 177 for six, one of three wickets for Jake Ball - who only switched into the team as a concussion substitute for Migael Pretorius, hit on the head during his innings of 53. David Bedinghamâs unbeaten hundred crowned him the first Durham batter to score hundreds in four consecutive innings.
Surrey suffered a rare malfunction after being skittled for 127 at Southampton. The first five batters inched into double figures, but only Rory Burns (33) got out of the teens. Liam Dawson, bowling first change, pocketed the top three; Kyle Abbott (five for 25) rattled through most of the rest. In reply, Hampshire had reached 102 for one at stumps.
Clouds hung over Old Trafford but Warwickshire chose to bat first faced with the threat of Nathan Lyon on a fourth-day turner. Progress was lethargic â just 40 scoring shots in a truncated day â with three wickets for Lancashireâs previously off-kilter Tom Bailey. Alex Davies was stranded on 47 when bad light stopped play.
Kent chipped away at Essex on a sunny day at Canterbury, despite losing Wes Agar to a shoulder injury. Dean Elgar top scored with 77, while Jordan Cox got an unbeaten half-century against his old club.
In Division Two, Derbyshire raced towards maximum batting points against Gloucestershire with a first century for Matt Lamb since his move to Derby. Glamorgan survived Marnus Labuschagne being bowled for eight, thanks to half centuries for Eddie Byrom, Kiran Carlson and Sam Northeast against Leicestershire.
Sussexâs Cheteshwar Pujar collected an unbeaten 91 against Middlesex at Lordâs, while Adam Lythâs third hundred of the season propped up Yorkshire against Northamptonshire. There was no play possible at New Road, as Worcestershire returned to the ground for the first time since eight floods ran amok during the winter.
"Iâve not seen a pitch like that."
Loved this from Alex Davies yesterday evening:
âIt was tough graft out there - I played a few years at this club and Iâve not seen a pitch like that. Itâs got grass on it so itâs nipping around but itâs also really bare at the ends so it was a tricky decision with the toss but we took the aggressive option and batted so weâll try and get as many as we can first innings and back ourselves to bowl Lancashire out twice.
âI canât blame Lancashire for the pitch - they have a world class spinner in Nathan Lyon and they have some good seamers so leave some grass on. Both teams need a result so itâs looking like, weather dependant, it will head that way.
âIâve been looking forward to facing Lyon. Heâs a world class bowler and as he reminded us out there he has played international cricket for 14 years and heâs not shy of letting you know. Itâs a really good battle and you want to play against the best players and see how you fare and I did OK today.â
All hail captain Cummins:
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Chester-le-Street: Durham 177-6 v Somerset 171
Southampton: Hampshire 102-1 v Surrey 127
Canterbury: Kent v Essex 287-4
Old Trafford: Lancashire v Warwickshire 89-3
New Road: Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire no play today
DIVISION TWO
Bristol: Gloucestershire v Derbyshire 434-5
Grace Road: Leicestershire v Glamorgan 352-8
Lordâs: Middlesex v Sussex 295-4
County Ground: Northamptonshire v Yorkshire 312-7
Preamble
Good morning from a sun-dappled Old Trafford, the swifts swerving and the newspapers rustling . This might be the only full day Lancs and Warwickshire get, so much haste to get things going after yesterdayâs slow, protracted progress.
Itâs Saturday, get that second pot of coffee on. Play starts at 11am.
