2 minute readWhat an incredible sport. What an incredible competition. Somerset beat Essex, which somehow resulted in both teams vaulting ahead of Surrey in the County Championship. Essex started the week level on points with Surrey at the top of the table, but defeat took them three (bonus) points ahead. Somerset’s skittlesome
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2 minute readWe have now entered Phase 3 of this year’s County Championship and after almost four rounds of matches, only three sides have so far managed a win. Durham have won one, while Essex and Surrey have won two. Durham’s efforts have only earned them fifth place in the table, but
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3 minute readA single player like Dan Lawrence moving from one club to another is quite a big deal. That might seem odd in a world where the biggest cricket tournament won’t be permitting its teams to keep any more than five players from their squads at the end of this season,
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4 minute readPoor pathetic Durham could only muster 517 all out in their first innings against Warwickshire and were therefore invited to follow-on. Fortunately, they managed to escape with a draw after Matt Potts – yes, that Matt Potts – made 149 not out. It is safe to say that in its
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2 minute readSix years ago we handed out a bunch of awards to various county cricket grounds, in recognition of the terrible names they’d been saddled with as a result of sponsorship. Most of these names have since changed, but some of the new names are quite funny or potentially funny, so
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2 minute readOnly one team successfully beat both the weather and the opposition this week and Sam Cook’s 10-73 was Essex’s most significant contribution. Those figures were also a pretty handy rebuttal to anyone who suggested Cook was a bowler guaranteed to suffer at the listless hands of the slumberous Kookaburra ball.
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2 minute readSam Northeast finished last season with 166 not out. He started this one with 335 not out. It wasn’t his highest score for Glamorgan. In 2022, he made 410 not out. These are hugely impressive feats; the kinds of feats that get you talked about as a possible England batter.
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5 minute readSay what you like about the County Championship, it doesn’t stay still for long. Ever-changing, never static – is it carefully calibrated to appeal to modern, smartphone-eroded attention-spans? Or is it more the kind of spoilt, overworked artwork you end up with when you just can’t stop fiddling with something?
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5 minute readJames Anderson and Stuart Broad made their debuts in their early 20s and then just carried on playing until they were middle-aged. This means the players we might ordinarily think of as constituting ‘the next generation’ are mostly now on the cusp of retirement themselves. England have however given Test
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2 minute readThe 2023 County Championship was won in the way all great sporting competitions are won: by another team failing to secure quite enough bonus points halfway through a game taking place elsewhere. Surrey are champions again. Essex are not. Essex had needed at least 400 in their first innings against
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