LV= County Championship 2023: Round 7 May 18th - May 21st - Live Scores, Match Reports, Results, Scorecards
©Cricket World / John Mallett
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LV= County Championship 2023: Round 7 May 18th - May 21st - Live Scores, Match Reports, Results, Scorecards
Here are all the Live Scores, Match Reports, Results, Stats and Scorecards for Round 7 of the LV= County Championship 2023.
Top Tournament Stats: LV= County Championship 2023 Division 1
May 18 – May 21
Division One
Surrey 362 & 58/0 beat Kent 278 & 141 by 10 wickets
(Surrey 22pts, Kent 4)
Tom Lawes dismissed both Zak Crawley and Sam Billings in dramatic fashion early on day three, finishing with a career-best 5 for 22 to set up a crushing Surrey victory by ten wickets against outclassed Kent at the Kia Oval.
Crawley fell for 34, adding just three runs to his overnight score, and Billings bagged an agonizing pair as Kent slumped to 141 all out, leaving Surrey needing just 58 to complete their fourth win in six LV= Insurance County Championship matches this season.
They got there at 58 without loss from 11.3 overs, ending the match just before the scheduled lunch interval, with Rory Burns reverse-slapping Jack Leaning’s off spin for six over third man in a run-a-ball 36 not out. Dom Sibley was unbeaten on 16, and the 22-point haul strengthens champions Surrey’s position on top of the Division One table.
For Kent it is a third defeat of a summer which for them looks like bringing only a desperate fight against championship relegation, and it took Surrey only 16 overs on the third morning to take the last six Kent second innings wickets for 61 runs and give themselves their modest victory target.
All-rounder Lawes, still only 20, underlined his huge potential by adding the scalps of Billings, Crawley and Joey Evison to those of Tawanda Muyeye and Leaning late on day two after Kent had resumed on 80 for four.
It was his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, and Lawes – who broke through into Surrey’s senior side midway through last season – now has 36 red-ball wickets from ten matches at an average of 20.22 in a stellar start to his career. His spell this morning was 6.2-1-20-3, adding to the 2.4-1-2-2 of the previous evening.
Billings, who initially faced the final two balls of Lawes’ third over when play resumed – Leaning having been bowled by what was the last ball of day two – only lasted six balls in all before edging a sharp lifter to keeper Ben Foakes. The Kent captain is enduring a miserable season so far, with only 92 runs from ten championship innings and a top score of 31.
Lawes, having struck in his first full over of the morning, then removed Crawley in his second full over. The England Test opener pushed defensively at a fine ball which left him just enough to take the edge on its way into Ollie Pope’s hands at second slip.
And another excellent piece of bowling soon earned Lawes his third scalp of the day, a pacy inswinging near-yorker plucking out Evison’s off stump on five to leave Kent 107 for seven.
Sean Abbott, replacing Dan Worrall at the Vauxhall End, then had Jordan Cox caught down the legside by Foakes for 15, fending off a short ball, and it was left to Jordan Clark to replace Lawes at the Pavilion End and apply the finishing touches to Kent’s sad rout.
Clark’s fourth ball saw Grant Stewart (6) edge to Pope at second slip and last man Michael Hogan lost his off stump, wafting at Clark in the big seamer’s next over, to go for 2.
It gave Clark second innings figures of 3 for 36, and six wickets in the match, while Abbott took 2 for 17 in what was a brilliant and relentless performance throughout by Surrey’s five-pronged pace attack.
Hampshire v Northamptonshire (Southampton)
Hampshire vs Northamptonshire at the Ageas Bowl
Hampshire 367 beat Northamptonshire 56 & 176 by an innings and 135 runs
Points - Hampshire: 22, Northamptonshire: 3
Northamptonshire succumbed to their third straight innings LV= Insurance County Championship defeat to bogey side Hampshire led by Liam Dawson’s five-wicket haul.
Dawson claimed six for 61 for his sixth first-class five-for and his best figures at the Ageas Bowl to reignite Hampshire’s title hopes after two winless matches with the innings and 135 run victory coming inside three days.
Northamptonshire, who have one win and a solitary batting bonus point so far this season, only claimed three points from the match as they sit rock bottom of Division One.
Hampshire have dominated Northamptonshire in their three Championship clashes – starting at the Ageas Bowl last September and continuing in home and away drubbings this term.
Their three innings have resulted in 1,249 runs – in response, Northamptonshire have only cobbled together 840 in six innings.
This thrashing was fashioned on the first two days.
Hampshire grafted hard to score 367 runs in just over a day, thanks to James Vince’s 95, Dawson’s 63, and forties for Fletcha Middleton and Ben Brown.
Northamptonshire were bowled out for a new Ageas Bowl low of 56 in 30.2 overs and were already two down in their second innings by the close.
Their head coach John Sadler called for “fight, graft and resilience” and promoted the idea of classic red ball batting going forward. Sam Whiteman and Rob Keogh took that to heart.
The duo batted out 39 of the first 42 balls of the day as dots and took little risks, while starting to nibble away at the deficit.
Whiteman would face 93 balls and Keogh 113, but after an hour of occupation under stunning blue skies, a collapse wasn’t far away.
Dawson’s second over of the day was long enough to see Australian Whiteman attempt a drive out of the rough, only to get bowled through the gate.
Ricardo Vasconcelos also took the attacking route out but missed his slog sweep by a distance to leave his stumps exposed.
Keogh had been dropped earlier in the morning by Dawson before the left-arm spinner had him leg before with an arm ball. Northamptonshire now 150 for five having been 89 for two little more than 10 overs earlier.
Mohammad Abbas had James Sales lbw with the first ball after lunch to begin a post-interval collapse of 33 for five.
Dawson returned to pin Tom Taylor in front for a pair – joining Hassan Azad in the scoreless corner – before Jordan Buckingham went back to another one which went on with the arm.
Saif Zaib – who had been the only Northamptonshire batter to reach double figures in the first innings – again impressed with a 78-ball fifty. He showed application, mixed with some attractive shot-making to end up unbeaten on 57.
But Dawson kissed the top of Jack White’s off stump with a ragging delivery and Mason Crane - on his first appearance of the season - got Alex Russell to edge to first slip to end Northamptonshire’s miserable trip to the south coast at 2:40pm. The last eight wickets had been lost for just 87 runs.
Somerset (404) beat Middlesex (175 & 216) by an innings and 13 runs
Craig Overton recorded his best figures this summer to propel Somerset to their first LV= Insurance County Championship win of the campaign as they crushed Middlesex by an innings and 13 runs at Lord’s.
Overton finished with five for 46, supported by fellow seamer Peter Siddle’s effort of three for 57, to dismiss the home side for 216 second time around, with more than four sessions to spare.
Mark Stoneman, who occupied the crease for almost three hours in compiling 60, was the only man to register a half-century in a Middlesex side who have managed to post in excess of 250 only once this season.
Somerset’s victory was only their second red-ball success away from Taunton in more than two years, the other coming against neighbours Gloucestershire at Bristol last summer.
Stoneman and Stephen Eskinazi, who resumed on a steady 81 for one, ground it out for the bulk of an attritional first hour, with almost five overs from Matt Henry and Overton yielding just a single leg-bye.
Although Stoneman tucked Overton away for a single soon afterwards to bring up his second half-century of the summer, Middlesex’s solid base was swiftly demolished by a fiery spell from Siddle at the Pavilion End.
The seamer’s first delivery was carved for four by Eskinazi, but his second jagged back to clip the Middlesex vice-captain’s off bail and his departure for 28 signalled a familiar middle-order collapse.
Stoneman – bowled by an unplayable Henry delivery first time around – was unlucky to fall victim to another ball of similar quality from Siddle, which seamed and careered into his off stump.
Somerset collected three more wickets in the space of 21 balls before lunch, with Overton accounting for Max Holden and John Simpson to sandwich the first delivery of Jack Leach’s spell that pinned Robbie White leg before.
Luke Hollman and Ryan Higgins displayed some fighting spirit after the interval, with the left-hander driving Henry twice off the back foot to the short boundary as he contributed 28 to their seventh-wicket partnership of 44.
Although Hollman was caught at third slip, Toby Roland-Jones took up the baton by giving Leach the charge and also hammered Overton over long-on for two fours in a cameo of 27 from 24 balls.
But Overton had the final word, bowling the Middlesex skipper before completing his side’s win as Higgins (31) hooked him into the safe hands of Lewis Gregory at long leg.
Nottinghamshire v Essex (Nottingham)
Nottinghamshire move up one place to fourth in the Division One table after their LV=Insurance County Championship match with Essex ended in a draw, the home side declining to embark on a frantic run chase in the final session of the fourth day at Trent Bridge.
Having been 144 runs behind on first innings, Essex recovered well enough to declare at tea on 362 for eight in their second innings, giving Nottinghamshire 39 overs to chase 219 to win.
In other circumstances, Nottinghamshire might have seen a required rate of 5.6 runs per over as within their compass, yet they were sufficiently respectful of the threat posed by off-spinner Simon Harmer in dry conditions on a fourth-day pitch not to risk defeat in pursuit of victory.
They were 97 for four, still 122 runs short of their theoretical target when the sides agreed to call it a day with five of the scheduled overs unbowled, with Joe Clarke 42 not put, he and fifth-wicket partner Steven Mullaney having survived 10 overs with most of the Essex fielders clustered round the bat. Nottinghamshire take 11 points to Essex’s seven.
Earlier in the day, former England captain Sir Alastair Cook, who has never made a century on this ground, failed tantalising by one run to correct the statistical anomaly in his record but skipper Tom Westley made 95 and Tom Lawrence 52 to put Essex in a strong position.
All-rounder Lyndon James was the pick of a Nottinghamshire attack in which Brett Hutton could not bowl due to injury, taking three for 67 including the wicket of Cook. Leg-spinner Calvin Harrison finished with three for 52 on his Championship debut.
After Matt Montgomery’s 177 had enabled Nottinghamshire to be seemingly in control of the game at the halfway stage, Essex batted through two sessions on Saturday for the loss of only one wicket, taking a lead of 55 into the final day with Cook seemingly poised finally to post a three-figure score on this ground for the first time at the age of 38, needing just 13 more runs.
After surviving two difficult chances on Friday, he must have fancied making Nottinghamshire pay for their lapses and having emerged unscathed from a brief joust with former international team-mate Stuart Broad at the start of the day he clipped a ball from James behind square for his 11th boundary, putting him just one hit away from a celebration that no one present would have begrudged him.
But a couple of overs later it was James who was celebrating, having found a gap between Cook’s bat and pad with a delivery that looked to brush a glove on its way through to ‘keeper Joe Clarke, who took a good catch low to his right. Spectators stood to applaud Cook regardless, having seen some moments of England’s greatest Test runscorer at his best.
Broad’s second spell of the morning was always more threatening than his first and it was with a fine ball angled into the body that he denied Westley - the leading runscorer thus far in the Championship - a second hundred of the season, the right-hander successfully defending his stumps but at the cost of an edge that Clarke took comfortably at shin height.
At 258 for three at lunch, 114 ahead, Essex still looked to have the game under control but wickets in consecutive overs midway through the afternoon session offered Nottinghamshire hope that they might yet force the issue, despite being a bowler short with Hutton off the field nursing a tight calf.
First Matt Critchley became a third victim for James, who brought one back sharply to bowl him off what looked like an inside edge for a dogged 20. Then Adam Rossington departed without scoring, handing leg-spinning all-rounder Calvin Harrison a maiden Championship wicket via an easy return catch.
Lawrence, who has been recalled to the England squad for the summer’s opening Test against Ireland next month, completed a 94-ball half-century but when Steven Mullaney relieved James at the pavilion end he was leg before, playing across one, at which point the Essex lead was 175 with 48 overs left to play.
Seven overs and 19 runs later, Doug Bracewell clipped tamely to short midwicket to give Harrison a second success. Shane Snater slog-swept his first two balls for six but though Harrison took revenge by bowling the Zimbabwe-born Netherlands international for 18, it still came as a surprise that skipper Westley chose to declare at tea rather than bat Nottinghamshire out of the game.
The likelihood of Essex taking 10 wickets in the final session of the contest seemed remote, yet scoring 5.6 runs per over looked a carrot Nottinghamshire might chase.
Yet even though Haseeb Hameed dispatched the last ball of the opening over to the boundary, it quickly became clear that Nottinghamshire were sufficiently wary of Harmer’s ability to exploit last-day pitches to take an approach that was for the most part conservative.
Sam Cook produced a couple of good deliveries to have Hameed caught behind and opening partner Ben Slater bowled before Montgomery trapped on the crease by a Harmer off break.
Harmer turned one sharply to bowl James, at which Westley brought on Critchley to bowl leg breaks from the other end, which meant that Clarke and Mullaney spent the last 40 minutes or so with most of the Essex fielders crowded around the bat.
Top Tournament Stats: LV= County Championship 2023 Division 2
Division Two
Worcestershire v Leicestershire (Worcester)
LEICESTERSHIRE 173 AND 180; WORCESTERSHIRE 83 AND 274 FOR SEVEN
Worcestershire beat Leicestershire by 3 wickets
Adam Hose and Gareth Roderick played major roles in Worcestershire achieving a three wicket win over Leicestershire with a day to spare in the LV=Insurance County Championship encounter at New Road.
The odds were in the Foxes favour after Worcestershire lost two wickets for two runs yesterday evening on a pitch of variable bounce after being asked to chase a 271 target – the highest of the game.
But Hose struck a fluent 84 and Roderick dug in for more than five hours to make an equally crucial 59.
Then Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira, who battled away for 137 deliveries to score an unbeaten 41 , and Adam Finch saw Worcestershire home.
Wiaan Mulder did his best to pull the game out of the fire for Leicestershire with four wickets to add to his five-fors against Derbyshire and Sussex in the previous two games.
Ultimately a see-saw third day was a superb advert for Championship cricket with first one side and then the other appearing to be in the ascendancy.
Worcestershire showed immense character, determination and skill to fightback in superb fashion from being bowled out for 83 in just 21.1 overs on the first day.
Their bowlers set the tone by bowling out Leicestershire for 180 in their second innings with Joe Leach and Matthew Waite sharing nine wickets.
Then their batters showed tremendous application in attempting to chase down a testing target on a still difficult pitch.
Hose made the switch from Warwickshire to New Road on a three year deal during the winter, partially because he felt he would have a greater chance of playing red ball cricket.
He had not played a Championship game for three years since the end of the 2019 season and has spent the past year impressing in T20 cricket.
He was the third highest scorer in last year’s Vitality Blast and then made a significant contribution for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League and earned praise for his calming influence from Head Coach Jason Gillespie.
Hose had scored his capabilities in Championship cricket by making 59 and 41 in the previous home game against Sussex when England’s Ollie Robinson had bowled superbly to pick up 14 wickets.
Here he produced a knock worthy of a century given the challenging conditions in making 84 and was given excellent support by Roderick.
He had been a top five batter during his time with Gloucestershire but has spent the bulk of his time at New Road in the middle order.
Here he was promoted to number three for this game and provided rock solid support for Hose in dropping anchor at the other end.
Worcestershire resumed on 26-2 on a pitch still offering plenty of encouragement to the bowlers with its unpredictable bounce.
Loan signing Josh Davey made the first breakthrough of the day when Jack Haynes was adjudged lbw to a delivery angled back in.
The England Lions batter smacked his bat in frustration before leaving the crease.
Roderick was joined by Hose who was fortunate when a delivery from Davey popped up onto the offside.
But he was soon into his stride in straight driving Chris Wright for four and then pulling Davey for six.
The former Warwickshire batter looked in good touch but Roderick’s contribution was also invaluable.
The 50 stand came up in 13 overs but there was still threat of a delivery misbehaving and Roderick edged one delivery from Tom Scriven high over the slips and keeper to the boundary.
A straight drive by Hose brought him his eighth four and enabled him to complete an excellent half century from 66 balls.
The third wicket pair had extended their stand to 92 by lunch and the century partnership came up shortly after the resumption from 168 balls.
Wright came back into the attack after lunch and Roderick flicked him off his legs for a boundary.
Hose went into overdrive with a flurry of boundaries which took him into the 80s and brought the target to within realistic proportions.
But after adding 131 in 37 overs with Roderick, Hose’s superb knock came to an end when he pushed forward to Wiaan Mulder and was caught behind.
His two and a half hour knock spanned 117 balls and contained one six and 14 fours.
Roderick was dropped at slip off Wright on 49 in the same over as he completed a 185 ball half century.
The scoring dried up after Hose’s dismissal and Worcestershire Club captain Brett D’Oliveira needed 53 deliveries to collect his first boundary.
Roderick’s patient knock ended on 59 when Colin Ackermann held onto a chance at second slip off Mulder.
The second new ball was taken at 206-5 and Matthew Waite made a quickfire 22 before the former Yorkshire all-rounder and Joe Leach both went lbw to Mulder.
But D’Oliveira and Finch held their nerve to settle the issue in favour of the home side.
Glamorgan 123 and 737 - Sussex 481 and 1-0
Match Drawn
Glamorgan piled up a vast total of 737 – the highest second innings score made in England, and the second highest total ever made by the county - to save their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Sussex.
Glamorgan turned a first innings deficit of 358 to a lead of 379 against a weakened Sussex side with Australia’s Michael Neser becoming the third century maker of the innings, following Marnus Labuschagne and Kiran Carlson. By the time the players finally shook hands the match was as dead as the parrot of Monty Python fame. Both teams remain unbeaten after six matches.
At the start of play at the 1st Central County Ground the game was finely balanced, with Glamorgan – on 499 for five – leading by 141, with captain Kiran Carlson 187 not out and Chris Cooke unbeaten on 12.
Carlson achieved his career best when he reached 192, but he did not add to it. In the seventh over of the morning he drove at Ari Karvelas and gave the bowler a simple return catch. In a deeply impressive innings – despite giving tough chances at three and 21 – Carlson had faced 278 balls and hit 18 fours and two sixes as he reshaped the match.
That made it 510 for six. Sussex, though, bowled too many four balls to maintain the pressure on Glamorgan’s lower order. In mitigation, though, they were handicapped by the absence of the injured Ollie Robinson, who was seen on the ground on crutches and wearing a protective boot prior to the scan on his sore left ankle on Monday. The pitch also remained in good condition, even though the occasional delivery kept low. Bizarrely, though, Sussex didn’t take the new ball when it was available at 160 overs just before lunch, preferring to toss the old ball to the part-time leg-spinner Steve Smith. Then, another part-time spinner, James Coles, was given the new ball. At lunch Glamorgan were 603 for seven after 163 overs, a lead of 245, and the game already had the whiff of a draw about it.
Sussex were being led by their vice- captain Tom Alsop, with captain Chet Pujara off the field with a stiff neck. Their interest in winning the match received another fillip at 573 when they took the seventh Glamorgan wicket. Chris Cooke received a leg-stump half-volley from Tom Haines, which he thrashed straight into the hands of Ali Orr at midwicket. Shortly afterwards, Glamorgan reached their highest second innings score, beating the 577-4 they made against Gloucestershire at Newport in 1939, a match in which Wally Hammond made 302.
Glamorgan lost their eighth wicket at 623 when Timm van der Gugten, hooking at a short delivery from the impressive Karvelas and edged it to Oli Carter behind the stumps. But there was still more pain for the nine Sussex bowlers – including the lesser spotted Alsop and Orr.
All-rounder Neser, vying for a place in Australia’s Test team, scored his first century in Glamorgan colours and he reached three figures when he smashed a delivery from his compatriot Smith out of the ground for six.
James Harris is also one of the most accomplished No 10s in the game, with 18 fifties and an average of over 22. Sussex finally took the ninth wicket when Harris pulled a long hop from Smith to deep midwicket where substitute fielder Sean Hunt took a remarkable catch, jumping up to palm the ball in the air, going over the rope but then stepping back inside it to complete the catch. After that last man Jamie McIlroy had time to complete a career best 11 not out. A late tea was taken with Glamorgan 730 for nine and, finally, Smith ended the innings when he bowled Neser for 123.
Gloucestershire v Durham (Bristol)
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