LV= Insurance County Championship 2022 Round 13 Day 4: Thursday 15th September - Latest News, Scores and Match Reports

Here is all the latest news, scores and match reports for the LV= Insurance County Championship 2022 Round 13 Day 4: Thursday 15th September.

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Day 4: Thursday 15th September.

Warwickshire vs Somerset, Division 1

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Warwickshire and Somerset's LV=Insurance County Championship relegation battle at Edgbaston ended in a hard-fought draw after neither side could find the firepower to force victory on a placid pitch. 

After Somerset's declaration at 340 for seven set a target of 364 in 82 overs, both sides scented victory at times as the pendulum swung in a tense last session before the home side closed on 256 for six.  

The visitors' decision to bat on 40 minutes into the final day enabled George Bartlett to reach his sixth first class century (111, 228 balls). Finding ten wickets on a flattening pitch was beyond their bowlers, however, as Sam Hain continued his excellent season with an unbeaten 52 (101 balls), supported by Alex Davies (58, 95) and Dom Sibley 54 (110). 

The result only tightens up the relegation equation in Division One, setting up a three-way slugout between Somerset, Kent and Warwickshire over the last two games to avoid accompanying Gloucestershire down to Division Two. 

Somerset resumed on the final morning on 277 for four, already 300 ahead, and added 63 in 12 overs before the declaration. Lewis Goldsworthy (44, 104 balls) was bowled by Henry Brookes in the first over but James Rew made a breezy 22 and Bartlett reached a patient 233-ball ton with a cut boundary off Jayant Yadav before missing a down-the-track attempt to carve Danny Briggs over the covers. 

Warwickshire's second innings started crisply against the seamers with 30 coming from six overs but was damaged as soon as Somerset turned to spin. Rob Yates played back to Sajid Khan's sixth ball and fell lbw. 

It was an isolated threat from Khan, however, as any turn was very slow and Sibley and Davies were little troubled in a stand of 95 in 29 overs until both perished to loose, lofted shots in successive overs from Kasey Aldridge. Sibley failed to control a pull and was caught on the mid-wicket boundary and Davies chipped to mid on. 

Hain and Rhodes (44, 61 balls) kept the board ticking over with a stand of 88 in 20 overs to stir hopes of a Bears victory charge, but those hopes folded when Jack Brooks bowled Rhodes and trapped Michael Burgess lbw with successive balls, 

It was Somerset sensing a late charge when Yadav was spectacularly run out by Khan's direct hit from deep mid-wicket, but Hain and Danny Briggs (17 not out, 46 balls) stood firm through the last 12 overs. 

Warwickshire first team coach Mark Robinson said: 

"Obviously Somerset are trying to keep us behind them so they didn't really want to give us a chance and batted quite slowly and it was a bit stale-matey. Then eventually they declared and then it is about what we wanted to do then...and I love my team when they are in this mood because all the talk was about winning. They wanted to have a go for the target and we did. We were in a good position and right in the game, needing seven an over with 20 to go, and had set it up nicely and then it was a shame we lost a couple of wickets when we did so had to shut up shop. 

"We didn't want to be in this position in the table but circumstances, injuries etc., mean that sometimes you are in those positions. We have just got to keep going and we have had the addition of two fantastic overseas players in Mohammed Siraj and Jayant Yadav. It is clear from their first eight or ten days with us that they are not only very good players but very good individuals." 

 

Somerset captain Tom Abell said:  

"We felt we were in a good position to push on for that win. It wasn't to be but it ended up being a great game of cricket. It ebbed and glowed right throughout the four days.  

"The surface changed throughout the four days and got better to bat on. Chasing 360 on the final day is a big ask but batting had got easier and we had to really stick in there and we always held the belief that we could give ourselves a chance. Full credit to the bowling unit, they were immense throughout the four days. 

"Warwickshire came out and batted with great intent but when we got a couple of quick wickets the game swung back in our favour. But then they shut up shop and it was always going to be tough on that surface to try and blow through the tail."

Sussex vs Worcestershire, Division 2

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Sussex’s Tom Alsop led the resistance with an unbeaten century as Worcestershire’s promotion hopes in the LV= Insurance County Championship suffered a potentially fatal setback.

Alsop’s 137 not out – his fourth Championship hundred of the season – and valuable contributions from Oli Carter (55), Ali Orr (48) and Tom Clark (36) took Sussex to 312 for six, a lead of 92, when the players shook hands with 13 overs remaining at the 1st Central County Ground. 

Worcestershire picked up 14 points but they are 28 points behind second-placed Middlesex with two games to play and will almost certainly be in the second division again next season. Sussex remain seventh and have little prospect of improving on that position with two matches to go. 

The visitors were ultimately left to rue the loss of 84 overs to the weather. There were a couple of moments on the final day when they sensed an opportunity but Alsop held things together impressively for the hosts.

The wicket at Hove didn’t really deteriorate but Sussex were still 130 runs in arrears when they lost opener Orr, leg before when Ben Gibbon found some late inswing.

Alsop had come to the crease in the sixth over of the day after nightwatchman Brad Currie had two stumps knocked over by Josh Tongue’s inswinger.

It was hard work at first but gradually Alsop, fluent as always on the leg side, and Clark began to find some rhythm as the ball softened.

Clark went down the wicket to hoist Brett D’Oliveira for a straight six but in the next over he was brilliantly caught down the leg side by the diving Gareth Roderick off the persevering Dillon Pennington after adding 83 in 27 overs with Alsop.

Worcestershire sensed their chance but Carter proved an excellent foil for Alsop in a fifth wicket stand of 110 in 30 overs.

Alsop went to his century with a clip to the mid-wicket boundary off Tongue but two wickets in five balls after tea, when they took the new ball, gave Worcestershire renewed hope.

Carter, who hit nine fours as he passed fifty for the sixth time this season, was beaten by a fine delivery from Pennington which trimmed the bails.

Then in the next over Joe Leach bowled Fynn Hudson-Prentice with one which kept low. Sussex’s lead was just 64 at that stage and their lengthy tail was exposed.

But Alsop stood firm and James Coles belied his inexperience to offer solid support at the other end as they put on 30 runs before the players shook hands. Alsop’s innings spanned 228 balls and contained 18 fours and he departed to a standing ovation. 

QUOTES

Worcestershire coach Alex Gidman said, “I’m pretty frustrated and disappointed because I thought we played some exceptional cricket from the start. It almost feels like a loss. It’s always hard to force a result when you lose so much time on such a placid wicket so the lads deserve every credit for getting us into a position where we could have forced a win. I feel desperately sorry for them because they put in such a hard shift. One of our aims was to get more points than last year and we’ve done that with two games to go. We’ve gone toe to toe with every team in this division and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.”

Sussex batsman Tom Alsop, who made 137 not out, said, "It was a very tough four days for us. If we're brutally honest the weather helped us massively but credit to Worcestershire, I thought they played extremely well. I don't worry too much about statistics but it's nice to get another hundred and spend some time in the middle. We've got two games left and I think it's important to finish strongly and I'll be aiming to do that. It got easier to bat but they created a lot of wicket-taking opportunities so credit to Ali Orr and Oli Carter, they played an important role in a difficult situation alongside me." 

Northamptonshire vs Surrey, Division 1

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Northamptonshire 339 & 426

Surrey 421 

Match drawn: Northamptonshire 14pts, Surrey 16.

Saif Zaib’s first century of the season for Northamptonshire frustrated Surrey’s title ambitions as their LV= Insurance County Championship clash petered out into a draw on day four at Wantage Road.

The 24-year-old left-hander, restored to Championship duties for the first time since May, struck 124 in a 204-minute vigil. Zaib was supported by Ricardo Vasconcelos’ 79 and 30 from Izaad Williams, the latter helping to add a priceless 71 for the eighth wicket before the hosts were bowled out for 426, Dan Worrall taking three for 69.

Facing a nominal target of 345 in 39 overs, Surrey understandably declined to take up the chase, closing on 48 for 1.

Surrey return to the top of the table with the draw, though their lead over Hampshire is a slender eight points with two matches left. Northamptonshire’s reward is the knowledge they are all-but guaranteed top division cricket in 2023 with this result

Buckinghamshire-born Zaib’s only championship half-century this season, a 65, came in the opening match against Gloucestershire in April, but thereafter a string of low scores saw him left out a month later.

A list-A century against Essex in the Royal London Cup suggested a return to form and he underlined that here with tough runs against a Surrey side with seven wins in the campaign.

The hosts were in a precarious position at the start of play with a lead of only 127, just five wickets intact and a new ball on the horizon.

Zaib 19 not out overnight and Vasconcelos, who resumed on 51 were busy from the start, running hard to maximise the overs against the old ball. The would-be centurion took successive fours off Gus Atkinson in the ninth over of the day and by the time Surrey got the new cherry in their hand, the 100 partnership had been raised and Northamptonshire were almost 200 to the good.

Vasconcelos, who’d clubbed a Cameron Steel full toss to the mid-wicket fence, helped carry the stand to 127 before getting stuck on the crease and falling lbw to Worrall, unquestionably the pick of the visitors’ attack.

Worrall struck again to end James Sales’ vibrant cameo 20 minutes before lunch with the lead 234, but Zaib found another ally in the shape of Izaad Williams. The South African quick edged his first ball just short of first slip but thereafter looked untroubled, proving an excellent foil for Zaib, who emerged with more aggression on the resumption.

A sumptuous boundary took him into the 90s and not long afterwards an on-drive off Atkinson brought the three runs needed to reach his century from 186 balls with eight fours.

Williams finally fell lbw to Kemar Roach after which Zaib opened his shoulders, hitting Ryan Patel for successive sixes before falling to a catch at long-leg attempting a third.

When Surrey batted a second time there was misery for former England opener Rory Burns who was run out for a single by Sales’ direct hit from point, but there were no further alarms before handshakes were exchanged at 4:30pm.

Leicestershire vs Durham, Division 2

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Durham needed only 37 minutes to wrap up a seven-wicket victory after another chastening week for Leicestershire in the LV= Insurance County Championship.

Michael Jones, who fell three runs short of a century in the first innings, added a 58-ball fifty before Durham completed the win effectively inside eight sessions after rain washed out more than two thirds of the opening day.

Nic Maddinson, the Australian international, finished unbeaten on 31 after on-driving Michael Finan for the winning boundary in the ninth over of the final morning, ensuring that England pace bowler Matty Potts’s outstanding performance to take 13 wickets in the match was in a winning cause.

Durham themselves have had a poor 2022. This was only their second red-ball success of a season in which they finished bottom or next-to-bottom of their group in both white ball competitions.

Yet they always had the measure of Leicestershire, who are in danger of suffering a fourth winless season in the last 10 years.

Bowled out for 202 in the first innings after Durham had won the toss, Potts taking six for 52, Leicestershire conceded a first-innings lead of 94 before being dismissed for 198 in the second innings despite Louis Kimber’s 75.

Potts went one better than in the first innings by finishing with seven for 49, recording his second haul of 10 wickets or more in a match with overall career-best figures of 13 for 101.

Chasing a modest 105 to win when Potts took Leicestershire’s final wicket on Wednesday afternoon, Durham resumed on 54 for two, Jones signalling their intention to finish the job quickly by driving Michael Finan’s first ball of the day for four.

Jones, who played some Second XI matches for Leicestershire in 2017, completed his second half-century of the match off 57 balls when he forced Chris Wright through the covers for his eighth boundary.

Wright, underlining the story of the match in that it was a pitch on which no batter ever felt comfortable for long, hit back by bowling Jones next ball, yet it was no more than a fleeting moment of encouragement for the home side.

New batter David Bedingham was close to being out in the next over when he hit Finan in tha air close to the fielder at midwicket but settled to pick up two more boundaries in the over with classic cover drives.

Finan, a left-arm seamer in only his second first-class match at the age of 26, had bowled an impressive spell to take two quick wickets on Wednesday evening. He was unable to stifle Durham’s progress this time but he had made a good impression in the match.

Sol Budinger, another making his first-class debut after his move from Nottinghamshire, caught the eye with a first-innings half-century and Tom Scriven, a right-arm seamer picked up by Leicestershire from Hampshire last winter, also showed some promise on his first-class bow.

Yet these were minor crumbs of comfort for the Foxes, who have two more chances - against Middlesex at home next week and away to Derbyshire in the last week of the season - to avoid another zero in the wins column.

QUOTES

Durham’s match-winner Matty Potts, who took career-best match figures of 13-101 on his return to County Championship action, said:

“It was good to get a win on the board after the way the season has gone and hopefully it will kick-start us to finish the season well in the last two games.

“Winning opportunities have been few and far between for us this year, but it is almost hard to get a result on some of the pitches we’ve had, especially the way the balls have been and the pitches together. That combination has been hard and we haven’t been able to break teams down and take 20 wickets every game.

“Fortunately, this was one where we were able  to get 20 wickets and get over the line.

“The balls have been better the last couple of weeks. This one consistently swung and stayed hard and you always felt in the game as a bowler.

“It is always nice to take a few wickets and to notch a new CB, but it is all about the goal of the team and me putting in a performance helps the team achieve that.

“I actually felt a bit rusty at the start if I’m honest, lacking a little bit of game time. My first spell on Monday was all over the shop by my standards but I kind of grew into it as the game progressed.”

Leicestershire head coach Paul Nixon said:

“We came up against a bowler in Matthew Potts who is in the form of his life this season. It was a wonderful performance to take 13 wickets in the match and hats off to him, he put the ball in good areas and asked questions of our batsmen and we weren’t good enough.

“I felt Durham had the best of the conditions and they exploited them, but we can’t be 74 for one and 97 for two and be 200 all out. You don’t win matches like that.

“It was a nice pitch. There was a bit of rain around beforehand and it was probably a tiny bit soft, but it was a good pitch, a good cricket pitch. You could score on that pitch if you valued your wicket and hit the bad balls for four.

“But Durham did the basics better than us, they batted better and they bowled better and won the game and that’s the disappointment for us.

“There were good individual performances. Mikey Finan is a quick learner and looked a really high-class county bowler yesterday in that spell in the evening.

“But as I said before you can’t get bowled out for 200 in the first innings and win a game. We should have got up to 250 minimum. And we batted poorly in the second innings too, we were weak.”

Middlesex vs Glamorgan, Division 2

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Middlesex (390 & 45-0) beat Glamorgan (214 & 220) by 10 wickets

Middlesex swept aside Glamorgan by 10 wickets at Lord’s and leapfrogged their opponents in the battle to secure an LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two promotion spot. 

It took the Seaxes less than an hour on the final morning to seal a comprehensive win that catapults them into second place in the table, 12 points clear of Glamorgan with two rounds of matches to play.

Seamer Toby Roland-Jones finished with figures of five for 61 – his fourth five-wicket haul of the summer – as Glamorgan were bowled out for 220 in their second innings.

That left the home side needing just 45 for victory and opening pair Mark Stoneman and Sam Robson knocked those off in only 5.2 overs.

Having gone into the fourth day with a narrow lead of 15, Glamorgan extended it by another 29 before Roland-Jones, already the Championship’s leading wicket-taker, added two more to wrap up the innings.

Ajaz Patel – who had been put down by Ethan Bamber in Roland-Jones’ previous over – was first to depart for eight, held at mid-off by Tim Murtagh.

Last man Michael Hogan went for his shots, hitting over the top and hammering Roland-Jones and Murtagh to the boundary in a cameo knock of 14 that ensured the visitors bettered their first-innings total of 214.

However, Bamber atoned for his earlier drop by running back to take a harder, steepling catch when Hogan took one swing too many at Roland-Jones, leaving Middlesex to chase a modest target.

Their openers made short work of the 45 required, with Robson (25 not out) crashing three consecutive boundaries off former team-mate James Harris and Stoneman (20no) confirmed victory by sweeping Patel to the fence.

Middlesex captain TIM MURTAGH said:

“I’m really happy with the character we’ve shown and I think it was an important marker, the comprehensive nature of the win against a team who had gone above us last game.

“We’ve done it the tough way, which is really pleasing and we’ve had a couple of big match-winning performances with Mark Stoneman’s hundred – on that pitch, he looked the most comfortable anyone did throughout the game.

“Then Toby (Roland-Jones) with a five-for – he’s such a big player for us, he gets wickets when we’re struggling.

“We certainly didn’t start as well as we’d have liked with the ball but we hung in there and got our rewards in that last session, which was as good a session of cricket as I’ve been involved in here.”

 

Glamorgan coach MATTHEW MAYNARD said:

“We had a poor session with the bat and it’s cost us the game, essentially.

“After watching Dave (Lloyd) and Eddie (Byrom) play as they did, putting on that 123 and going at four an over and making it look very easy, maybe a bit of complacency set in.

“We lost some poor wickets. There was no momentum and we didn’t try and wrestle any back, so we’re bitterly disappointed.

“We’re looking for one of our guys to get a big hundred to put us in a position to score 400 runs and we haven’t managed that in the last two Championship matches.

“So we need to get that right for the last two games if we’ve got any chance of promotion. We need to get maximum points from both games to stand any chance.

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