Vitality County Championship 2024, Round 12, Day 4, 29th Aug -1st Sept Live Streaming, Latest Scores, Match Reports – All Matches – Division 1 and 2

Here are all the latest scores, match reports and news for the Vitality County Championship 2024, Round 12, Day 4, Division 1 and 2 - 29th Aug - 1st Sept

Round 12 Sunday 1st September

Division One

Essex vs Worcestershire,  The Cloud County Ground.

Two sharp pieces of fielding by Brett D’Oliveira to remove two of the Essex dangermen, Jordan Cox and Robin Das, ultimately turned the tables in Worcestershire’s favour on their way to a stunning 43-run victory at Chelmsford.

The Worcestershire captain claimed the run out of Das and a catch off Cox in the space of three balls to drag Essex from the comparative safety of 69-2 to imminent peril at 71-4. It prefaced a serious collapse as Essex fell well short of their target of 184 in 89 overs.

It was a remarkable effort from Worcestershire, who were 10-4 inside the first half-an-hour on day one, before conceding a first-innings lead of 138. The last-wicket stand of 64 between Tom Taylor and Amar Virdi at the end of the first day proved decisive in the final analysis.

Virdi, on loan from Surrey, bowled unchanged throughout the second innings, sending down 23 overs, tying up a succession of Essex batsmen and finishing with 2-66. His fellow loan signing Logan van Beek chipped in with 4-26

Worcestershire’s third Vitality County Championship win in succession eased their fears of a drop back into division two, but seriously damaged Essex’s outside hopes of catching Surrey at the other end of the table.

It had not looked good for Essex as early as the fifth over. They had only 17 on the board when Joe Leach’s pace accounted for Dean Elgar, lbw for six. Tom Westley included three boundaries in his 21 before he was beaten by an outswinger from Tom Taylor that took the outside edge.

Das had looked comfortable for his 32 before he was the first victim of D’Oliveira’s athleticism from a position at short mid-on just in front of the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

Cox drove back a delivery from van Beek, D’Oliveira stuck out his left hand and diverted the ball on to the stumps with Das out of his crease, immobile and seemingly oblivious to the danger.

Cox then played an almost identical shot two balls later, this time slightly off the ground, and D’Oliveira reached out his right hand to hang on for the catch. From cruising at 69-2, Essex were suddenly 71-4 and in desperate need to regroup at the imminent lunch break.

The reset did not materialise as Matt Critchley deposited the fourth ball back past Amar Virdi for four but next ball turned it off his legs into leg slip’s waiting hands.

An over later, and still 103 runs from the target, Paul Walter slashed wildly at van Beek outside off-stump and was caught behind. If that was reckless in the circumstances, Michael Pepper had not paid attention as he tried s similar shot and was fortunate it flew wide of slip and away for four.

Pepper and Simon Harmer put on 40 for the seventh wicket until Harmer was beaten for pace by Taylor. With 60 required, that brought in the injured Shane Snater with Elgar as his runner. The partnership lasted three overs before Virdi trapped Pepper lbw for 22 and Snater followed to a catch behind off van Beek. It was all over when  Sam Cook hoicked the Dutch international to the square-leg boundary with 46 overs remaining.

At the start of the day, Sam Cook wrapped up the Worcestershire innings in 20 minutes with the new-ball to return figures of 4-23 and in the process  claimed his 300th first-class career wicket . He had Taylor waving at a delivery that whistled past him en route into Pepper’s gloves and then induced a leading edge from Virdi for a tumbling caught and bowled.

Quotes

Worcestershire’s victorious captain Brettt D’Oliveira said of his two crucial interventions: “I’d like to say it was an absolute tactical genius, but that’s definitely not the case. That’s cricket. As a captain sometimes you have to have a gut feeling and go with that feeling and thankfully to came off. I think if you get two wickets in any over when you’re trying to bowl a team out it goes a long way in turning the game. It just came at the perfect moment and today it felt that everything went out way and that comes from years of hard work. Thankfully we reaped the benefit today.

  “We were talking about the way the fields were, it was a bit tactical and we got the ball reverse-swinging and we were trying to use that to our advantage as much as possible. And that worked for that catch at the wicket and fortunately it was me at the time. I actually managed to drop a catch and get a run-out at the same time! I don’t think I have ever done that. The cricket gods were with us, that’s for sure.

  “I just said in there to the lads that it was one of the best games I’ve played in. We just had our team song and I can’t think of a better four-day win I’ve been involved in. Just the nature of the way the game went: we were behind the eight-ball straight away at 10-4. But the character and strength of that group have shown over the last 12-18 months has been incredible and it has come to the forefront in this game. I can’t remember ever coming to Chelmsford and getting a four-day win.

  “Logan will openly admit he is rusty in terms of full fitness, but he is very optimistic and believes in his own ability, like we all do. But he was a crucial partnership-breaker for us all the way through the innings. Amar was important for us, too, just for the sheer volume of overs he bowled and never once did I hear a complaint from him. He was happy to keep bowling.

  “I haven’t looked at the table, and probably own’t, but all we can do is focus on what we do. If you start trying to think too far ahead it can catch you up. We’ve got a huge game in a couple of weeks’ time, Warwickshire at home, and it is something every person in that dressing room is looking forward to now.”

 

Anthony McGrath, Essex Director of Cricket, said: “It’s an opportunity missed for us, I think, given the context of where we are in the season. We were really good for two days having lost the toss on a good surface. To get a lead of 130-140 after two days, well, we would normally drive that advantage home.

  “I thought we were really sloppy yesterday, we dropped loads of chances in the field which was very unlike us. If we had held on to them, obviously, we’d have been chasing fewer runs.

  “Today we were 69-2 and then it all went wrong for us. It’s one of those days when you scratch your head wondering how it was allowed to happen. But that’s cricket. We’ve been on the right end of those situations ourselves many times.

  “I think it shows the importance of really forcing home your advantage when you have it and it’s unlike us not to do that. We have to reflect on what happened, but I don’t want to be too critical because I believe that normally after two days of where we were, nine times out of 10 we would have gone on and won the game.”

Nottinghamshire vs Surrey, Trent Bridge.

Surrey saw their romp towards a third consecutive Division One title lose a little momentum as they were forced to settle for a draw against relegation-threatened Nottinghamshire in the Vitality County Championship at Trent Bridge.

On a day when their teenage off-spinner Farhan Ahmed’s 10-wicket match haul claimed a 159-year-old record set by no less a cricketing legend than W G Grace, the home side, who had been set a target of 298 to win from a minimum 48 overs when Surrey declared at 177 for nine in their second innings, were 121 without loss when the sides shook hands on a draw at 5pm, openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater having each made half-centuries.

The result means that Surrey’s lead of 35 points at the start of this round of matches, after winning seven of their previous eight matches, is cut to 24 thanks to Somerset’s victory over Durham at Taunton. Surrey and Somerset meet at Taunton next week.

At the other end of the table, after Warwickshire and Worcestershire both won, the points taken for the draw - a merit worthy achievement after trailing by 120 on first innings - leaves Nottinghamshire 10 points ahead of Lancashire in the battle to avoid being relegated alongside Kent. All sides have three matches to come.

Rory Burns made 71 to go with his first-innings 161 with Liam Patterson-White finishing with five for 94 before the declaration came, but the Nottinghamshire left-arm spinner’s achievement was again upstaged by his young team-mate Ahmed, with whom he shared all 53 overs of the Surrey second innings.

Already in the record books on his Championship debut as the youngest player to bag five wickets or more in a first-class match in Britain, he achieved another mark of distinction, arguably even more prestigious, when he claimed Jordan Clark as his 10th wicket of the match.

This enabled him to replace Grace as the youngest to take 10 or more wickets in a first-class match in Britain - in fact anywhere other than in South Asia.

Grace returned the extraordinary match figures of 13 for 84 - on his first-class debut - for Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South at the Oval in June 1865, at the age of 16 years 340 days.  

With a match analysis of 10 for 247 at the age of 16 years and 192 days, Ahmed lowers the record by 148 days. He bowled a staggering 76.4 overs in the match, which may be a record in itself for a debut appearance.

Surrey, who had missed out on a fourth first-innings batting point that seemed theirs for the taking, arguably made another mistake when they declared just shy of an hour after lunch.

The timing meant Nottinghamshire would have to score at more than six runs per over to win the contest on a pitch that had yielded at barely three-and-a-half all game, with the Kookaburra ball reportedly hard to get away on a slow surface.

Surrey were banking on England off-spinner Will Jacks, who had matched Ahmed by taking seven first-innings wickets, and leg-spinner Cam Steel to exploit the fourth-day pitch but Hameed and Slater were rarely troubled as neither could find a way through.

Earlier, Surrey had advanced from 13 for one overnight to 104 for four by lunch, playing in light for that period so gloomy that bowling spin was the only option for Nottinghamshire skipper Hameed.

A second-wicket stand worth 57 was broken by Patterson-White, who induced a miscue to short midwicket by Ryan Patel, following up by turning one sharply to bowl Will Jacks three balls later.

Patterson-White had Burns dropped at square leg on 39, after which the Surrey captain’s stop-start dithering over a single into the offside off Ahmed saw new partner Ben Foakes run out by Hameed’s throw to ‘keeper Kyle Verreynne.

As the tempo increased after lunch, with Surrey now chasing runs for the declaration, Ahmed completed his 10 for the match by bowling Burns and having Clark caught behind in a botched scoop attempt.

Patterson-White raised his five for the innings by having Sai Sudharsan caught at deep midwicket and bowling Conor McKerr and Tom Lawes, for his pains getting clubbed for two meaty sixes by Dan Worrall before Burns signalled the declaration.

Quotes

Surrey head coach Gareth Batty said:

“There were moments that could have made a difference to the outcome. This morning, if we had been able to put together a longer, deeper partnership we might have been able to force the pace a bit earlier.

“From a bowling point of view, we possibly were a bit impatient at times. We could have strung more balls together in good areas to create more pressure, and not just from the ball that zips past the outside edge. The sustained pressure was going to be the difference between winning and drawing a game of cricket and we missed a few points there.

“We were happy with declaring when we did. We felt that if we were going to bowl them out it would have been within around 50 overs but we had to bowl well and we didn’t quite get going as we wanted, but there was no way we were going to give them any sort of a chance to win.

“The surface and the Kookaburra ball dictated the pace of the game and unfortunately that pace meant it petered out as a draw.  It was a good pitch, a bit on the slow side, and the spinners came into the game, but the speed of the Kookaburra ball reacting made it hard to force dismissals but also to force runs.

“I have no problem with what the use of the Kookaburra is trying to achieve but I just don’t like [what it means for] the integrity of the league over 14 games with different balls. It is very strange, like playing a round of Premier League games next week with no offside rule.”

Nottinghamshire’s Liam Patterson-White, who took five for 96, said:

“It was a pleasing performance across the whole game. We knew what we were up against, champions two years in a row, top of the league again and a very strong side again, so to go toe-to-toe with them over the four days bodes well for the team going forward.

“After the defeat at Durham, there have been a lot of chats either with the coaching staff or among the players, really honest and harsh chats at times but very open and I feel that has reaped its rewards this week.

“To get the draw was so important considering the situation in the table. We wanted to put ourselves in a position where we were able to not lose that game and we did that pretty successfully this week.

“The changing room is a really positive place. We never think we’re out of the game even if the opposition puts a big score on the board or not, we always back ourselves to do our best and in the context of the table it feels more like a win for us. We can take a lot of momentum from this game.

“From my own point of view, I was pleased with my own performance. It is nice to get back into the team and to perform for the team. There is a lot of competition for places and I feel like I’ve worked hard for the opportunity, so I wanted to grab it with both hands if I could.”





Somerset vs Durham, Cooper Associates County Ground

Jack Leach completed match figures of 12 for 174  as Somerset maintained their challenge for a first ever Vitality County Championship title with a crushing 293-run victory over Durham at Taunton.

The left-arm spinner claimed seven for 50 in the visitors’ second innings total of 126 all out, aided by teenager Archie Vaughan, whose off-breaks reaped two for 40. Nightwatchman George Drissell top scored with 33 in an otherwise disappointing Durham batting effort.

Somerset took a maximum 24 points from the game to Durham’s four and, with Surrey up next at the Cooper Associates County Ground next week the second placed Cidermen will have the chance to close the gap on the Division One leaders.

Play began under overcast skies with Durham 15 for three. Somerset fears that the weather might scupper their victory bid appeared justified when rain started falling after just 5.4 overs, with their opponents having added 14 to the overnight score.

Seven overs were lost from the half hour interruption and nightwatchmen Drissell and Callum Parkinson continued to offer stout resistance when the match resumed, taking the score to 63 in the 26th over.

Drissell used his feet well against spinners Leach and Vaughan, while Parkinson dealt effectively with most deliveries on a good line and length, only to fall for 18 to a leg-side ball from Vaughan, which saw him pick out Lewis Goldsworthy, who took a tumbling catch at backward point.

It was 70 for five when Ollie Robinson edged a turning delivery from Leach and Lewis Gregory took a sharp slip catch, diving low to his left. With seven runs added, Drissell’s battling contribution ended in similar fashion, Gregory pouching a more straightforward chance off Leach.

By lunch, Durham were struggling on 94 for six, their hopes of salvaging a draw resting largely on the weather, the seventh-wicket partnership between Ashton Turner and Bas de Leede, which was worth 17 runs at the interval, and first innings centurion Brydon Carse.

Leach had been extracting considerable turn from the River End, while teenager Vaughan maintained exemplary accuracy on an impressive first class debut. Neither gave away cheap runs and skipper Gregory was able to stick with attacking fields.

It was Leach who struck again early in the afternoon session, this time finding the edge of Turner’s bat. Overton accepted the straightforward chance at second slip, his sixth catch of the game, to leave Durham 108 for seven.

With 16 added, including a Carse six over mid-wicket off Leach, the rain returned and Somerset faced further frustration. Carse had appeared to survive a chance to wicketkeeper James Rew on two, Leach being the unlucky bowler.

Play resumed at 2.50pm with a further seven overs lost. The first delivery saw Carse push forward to Leach and edge to second slip where Overton again made no mistake diving to his right.

At 124 for eight, the Durham cause was almost lost. Ben Raine could add only two to his first innings half-century before being caught at short-leg to become Leach’s sixth victim of the innings.

The next delivery clean bowled last man Daniel Hogg, sparking celebrations among the Somerset players. Within moments the rain was falling again, but it was too late to dampen spirits in a jubilant home dressing room.

Quotes

After recording match figures of 12 for 174 against Durham, Somerset left-arm spinner Jack Leach spoke of his desire to regain the England place he has seen occupied by county team-mate Shoaib Bashir this summer.

He said: “I totally understand the reason why Bash has been selected. I rate him really highly and think he is already a very good bowler with a lot of promise for the future.

“We have worked together a lot and I am very proud of him and want to see him flourish. But there is a tour to Pakistan coming up and if England need me, I am more than happy to go.

“I would imagine they will take more than one spinner and I feel I am getting back to my best after almost a year with niggles that have taken some overcoming. You don’t always realise how hard it is to come back from injuries.

“Long spells like I have had against Durham certainly help in that respect. It would be nice if both Bash and myself could make the Pakistan tour and there is no reason why that can’t happen.

“I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I am as determined as I ever have been to play for England.

“In the meantime, I want to do all I can to help Somerset win the Championship. We are all excited at the prospect of facing Surrey at Taunton next as one of three hugely important remaining games.

“We are still right in the fight for the title, which is where we wanted to be at this stage of the season. I think the pitch against Durham suits our style of cricket. You had to be patient as a bowler, but if you kept putting the ball in the right place you were rewarded.”

 

Durham head coach Ryan Campbell said: “We have been outplayed in all facets of the game, which is disappointing. We came here on the back of a really good win against Notts and losing the toss was massive.

“After being in the field for a couple of days last week, having to go out and do it again first up was probably a bridge too far for some of our youngsters. But we will bounce back.

“Jack Leach was unbelievably good and is a world class bowler. For our spinners, it was a great learning curve watching him because of his consistency in conditions we don’t often encounter in county cricket.

“Just because the pitch turns, it doesn’t mean spinners only have to turn up to take wickets. If you haven’t bowled on that type of wicket often, you can try too hard and feel a bit of extra pressure.

“We knew when we arrived what the pitch was going to do and how important the toss would be. I have to be careful what I say, but being told to go back out on the field last night was totally unacceptable.

“You can’t come off, then it gets darker, and then be told we are going to play because the other team are going to bowl spin. Our batters couldn’t see the seam on the ball and the three wickets we lost might have made a difference today with the rain around.”

Division Two

Glamorgan vs Leicestershire, Sophia Gardens.

Leicestershire’s overseas stars laid the platform for their side to salvage a draw against Glamorgan, Australian Peter Handscomb unbeaten on 139 to steer his side to safety.

It was his last act of the English season before heading back to Australia on Monday, though the draw does little to help the mathematical chances of promotion for Leicestershire, 22 points behind second placed Middlesex.

Indian Ajinkya Rahane had also scored a century as part of the visitors’ rearguard efforts, while Liam Trevaskis formed a solid partnership with Handscomb to see the game out, Leicestershire reaching 369 for 6, a lead of 70 runs in their second innings when bad light cut proceedings short.

Glamorgan were given flickering hope from an unlikely source, the part-time off spin of Kiran Carlson bringing two wickets, including that of Rahane, Dan Douthwaite the only other wicket-taker on a day of toil as the hybrid, part synthetic, pitch in Cardiff held up well.

Leicestershire’s hopes of survival depended strongly on their international pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb and they did not disappoint in the morning session.

Indian Rahane moved smoothly onto three figures until he fell to the unlikely source of Kiran Carlson’s off spin, getting an edge to a wide ball which was not quite short enough to cut, caught behind by Chris Cooke for 102.

That was shortly before lunch and just after the break it was Carlson who made the breakthrough again, a bit more lift outside off stump and Rehan Ahmed steered the ball to Mason Crane in a deep gully position.

Louis Kimber kept Glamorgan interested with a jittery start, a caught and bowled chance for leg spinner Mason Crane who dropped his fourth catch of the innings, this time from a difficult one-handed attempt to his right.

Kimber left one ball from Timm van der Gugten which went just over the top of middle stump, then edged and was given out caught behind by Cooke, though it was adjudged not to have quite carried after both umpires consulted.

Dan Douthwaite’s mixed bag brought the breakthrough, two half volleys the first of which was crashed for four by Kimber but the second was smashed in the air to Carlson at extra cover who took the smart catch.

Meanwhile, Australian Handscomb carried on smoothly passing three figures and calmly accumulating – carrying his side’s hopes on his shoulders.

Glamorgan had long periods of bowling spin, possibly because of poor light, and also resorted to some creative tactics such as eight catchers in front of the bat, four on each side of the wicket in an arrowhead formation.

With Liam Trevaskis forming a solid partnership with Handscomb, the drama dried up before bad light brought an end to proceedings.

Quotes

Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill: “Glamorgan dominated the first two three days, Colin Ingram played really well, but we have come back well today to secure the draw.

“Pete (Handscomb) this year has been averaging close to 70 in the two formats, so my words cannot do enough for him this year, he has been fantastic.

“We have got the draw here and we have three games to go to really give it a good crack, if we come up short then that is what happens but it will not be through lack of effort.”

Glamorgan’s Kiran Carlson, took two wickets: “We were in a good position when we declared and had every faith in our bowling attack and fielding group to get us over the line, but fair play to Leicester - they played really well today and halted our progress.

“Every time we took a wicket then you never know what is going to happen, but Pete Handscomb really glued up one end for them and the pitch died down quite a bit which was obviously a shame.”

Sussex vs Derbyshire, 1st Central County Ground.

Yorkshire vs Middlesex, Headingley.

 

Middlesex and Yorkshire, second and third in Division Two, will head into the final three games of the Vitality County Championship season separated by just one point after they put the finishing touches on a high-scoring draw on day four at Headingley.

The promotion rivals will battle it out with leaders Sussex for two top-flight places in 2025.

Middlesex started the final day on 441 for five in their first-innings reply to Yorkshire’s 601 for six declared. They reached the follow-on target of 452 comfortably but were bowled out for 522 in the closing stages of the morning.

Former England off-spinner Dom Bess finished with seven for 179 from a marathon 70.4 overs, while in-form Ryan Higgins completed an excellent 155 off 259 balls.

Yorkshire’s second innings began shortly before lunch, with a lead of 79, and they reached 150 for two from 35 overs when bad light stopped play at 4.10pm. Opener Adam Lyth made 62 and James Wharton was 50 not out.

Yorkshire took 13 points from this 11th round fixture and Middlesex 11.

Given the placid nature of the pitch - only two batters across both sides failed to reach double figures during the four days - this final day was unlikely to be one that lived long in the memory, as a crowd of only 237 indicated.

It started with no prospect of a win for either side, especially given both wouldn’t want to risk a defeat to their closest rivals in the table. 

If this had been a final round dead rubber, for example, it would have been no surprise to see a contrived result. But there was absolutely no chance of that in a match with such high stakes.

Despite conceding 522, with Sam Robson’s opening 108 yesterday supporting in-form Higgins, Yorkshire bowled tidily and kept the scoring rate below three runs per over.

Of the 174.4 overs in the Middlesex innings, 143.4 of them were bowled by the spin of Bess, Dan Moriarty and Lyth.

Bess and left-armer Moriarty - nought for 174 from 61 - bowled more overs than they ever had previously done in a first-class innings.

Bess led the way impressively, while new ball seamer Ben Coad added two wickets during the fourth morning to finish with three for 54 from 14 overs.

Bess made the breakthrough in the day’s second over when he had Luke Hollman caught at second slip by Jonny Bairstow - one-handed at the third attempt, leaving Middlesex 441 for six.

Despite being 11 runs short of the follow-on, there were no alarms during the early stages of a day played out under the Headingley floodlights.

Higgins reached his 150 off 252 balls. Of his five Championship centuries this season, four have been above 150.

But he was next to go, bowled by Coad, who uprooted off and middle stumps. And when Coad bowled captain Toby Roland-Jones shortly after, Middlesex were 513 for eight in the 169th over.

Bess then wrapped up the innings, and his third career seven-wicket haul, by getting Tom Helm caught at short-leg and Noah Cornwell brilliantly caught by a diving Jordan Thompson as he ran back from mid-off.

Yorkshire started their second innings just before lunch with personal milestones and time in the middle the only targets.

Lyth needed 105 to reach 1,000 Championship runs for the season, a milestone Higgins achieved in his innings on day three.

Having shared 66 for the first wicket with Fin Bean, he reached his fifty in 63 balls after lunch in no frills fashion. But he fell short of a century and 1,000 when he drove Tom Helm’s seam to short cover on the verge of tea, leaving Yorkshire 149 for two in the 34th over.

Earlier, Bean had been trapped lbw by Hollman’s leg-spin for 30, while Wharton added the aggression, pulling two of the three sixes he hit against spin.

The latter reached his fifty just after tea, off 55 balls, but the players left the field for the light almost immediately and did not return.

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