Key events
Meanwhile, at Headingley, David Hopps sniffs the autumn air.
There are some who claim perfectly sincerely that avoiding relegation and reaching the semi-final of the Metro Cup would represent a reasonably successful season for Yorkshire.
But to present reaching the last four of a developmental competition as success, while ignoring yet another summer’s failure in the Blast is like telling a 11-year-old on Christmas Day not to get too upset over the absence of a Skalextric because a dressing gown will come in very useful. You don’t just get cricket on this blog, you get emotional scars, too.
And that relegation cannot yet be discounted. Yorkshire might have dominated much of the first day against Durham, their rivals in distress, but Ben Raine’s doughty assault against the second new ball (87 not out from 85 balls) sees Durham resume on 322-7 and not too far off parity. An engrossing day lies ahead.
The Notts players are warming up with a spring in both steps, heart and lungs. Three hundred runs will clinch the Championship for them today after Surrey’s shambling day at Hampshire. The sun shines on.
Thursday’s roundup
As the season’s last round of championship cricket rolled around, players paid tribute to Dickie Bird, who died on Tuesday, aged 92. At his spiritual home, Headingley, a minute’s applause was observed, the players lining up on the pitch, and a bouquet of flowers and trademark umpire’s white cap placed on Bird’s dressing‑room balcony chair.
Bird, who funded the balcony in 2015, would have enjoyed the first five overs of the day when Yorkshire reduced their fellow relegation candidates Durham to seven for two, but 93 from David Bedingham and an unbeaten 87 from Ben Raine turned the tables. Yorkshire need eight more points to be sure of Division One cricket next year, Durham may require a win because of Surrey’s impression of a soggy paper bag at the hands of fellow strugglers Hampshire.
Surrey, champions for three years on the bounce, needed a maximum point win to put pressure on the leaders, Nottinghamshire. But, albeit with a side weakened by illness and the withdrawal of England players, they were dismissed for just 147, their lowest total of the season. Dan Lawrence top scored with 36. There were three wickets each for James Fuller, Washington Sundar and Kyle Abbott, who passed fifty wickets for the summer for the sixth time. Hampshire then sailed calmly to a seven-run lead at stumps.
All of which was music to the ears of Nottinghamshire, who bowled out Warwickshire for 258 in a frenetic last session and now need just two more points – 300 runs – to secure the title. Warwickshire had revived at 244 for five but lost their last five wickets for 14 runs, Dan Mousley last man out for 74.
Elsewhere, Steve Eskinazi made a first century for Leicestershire against Northamptonshire, Middlesex’s captain, Leus du Plooy, biffed an unbeaten 171 against Gloucestershire, the Somerset academy graduate Josh Thomas hit a run-a-ball fifty on his championship debut proper, and James Rew his fifth 50 of the summer to frustrate Essex, who remain in relegation danger.
After a season of wrangling, meetings, more meetings, letters and votes, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that the motion to remodel the County Championship structure had not received the required two-thirds majority of votes it needed to pass. The 18 first-class counties were tied at 9-9, which means the current two-division 14-game, two up, two down, competition remains.
The announcement drew an immediate retort from the Professional Cricketers’ Association. The union’s chief executive, Daryl Mitchell, said the current structure was “not fit for purpose,” while its chair, Olly Hannon-Dalby, said: “Over the past two years, we have seen increasing levels of genuine concern for player health and wellbeing and as an association we represented this in the strongest possible way. Ultimately the required minimum number of 12 county chairs did not see player welfare as a priority.”
Scores on the doors
Chelmsford: Essex v Somerset 339-6
Southampton: Hampshire 154-3 v Surrey 147
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Warwickshire 258
New Road: Worcestershire 123 v Sussex 228-5
Headingley: Yorkshire v Durham 322-7
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 265 v Lancashire55-0
Canterbury: Kent v Derbyshire 389-2
Lord’s: Middlesex 394-5 v Gloucestershire
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire v Leicestershire 392-7
Preamble
Good morning from a sun-kissed Nottingham morning, just the sort of morning to win a County Championship…
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