Vitality County Championship Round 7, Day 4 - 20th May - Live Cricket 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 Round 7, Day 4, May 17th – 20th 2024.

Monday 20th May

DIVISION ONE

Essex vs Warwickshire, 26th Match, Vitality County Championship Division One

Essex (162 & 331-6) beat Warwickshire (397 & 94) by four wickets

Essex 18 pts, Warwickshire 6 pts

Jordan Cox led Essex to one of the more unlikely successful run chase with a swashbuckling century as Warwickshire were beaten by four wickets at Chelmsford.

Cox, who hit 112 from 192 balls, was joined in a record fifth-wicket partnership against Warwickshire of 176 in 54 overs with Matt Critchley that took Esses within sight of their 330-run target.

Critchley, however, was left stranded on 99 not out from 184 balls when Simon Harmer pulled the winning boundary off Che Simmons quarter of an hour before the scheduled lunch interval on day four

Essex’s third win of the season kept them close on the heels of Surrey at the top of the Vitality County Championship. Warwickshire were left to rue what might have been.

The match had swung every which way during the first three days with both sides in the ascendancy at various times. Warwickshire had recovered from 104-6 to gain a first-innings lead of 235, but declined to enforce the follow-on. When they were dismissed for 94 second time around, that decision came under the microscope. It left Essex needing 330 to win in more than five sessions.

Critchley reached his third half-century of the season with a smart drive that eluded a diving extra cover and raced away for his sixth boundary. Cox also kept the scoreboard ticking along in the pre-new-ball overs and pulled Rob Yates for four.

Essex scored 21 from the six overs before the new-ball was taken, still requiring 85 runs to win. Critchley was not fazed and smote a full-toss straight back past Michael Rae for another boundary, and then hooked the same bowler to take the partnership to 150 from 50 overs.

Cox reached his second century for Essex with his 14th four, clipped though midwicket, and then celebrated by lofting Yates over long-on for six.

But he did not last much longer, flicking Che Simmons’s first ball off his legs to Jacob Bethell on the deep square-leg boundary to depart after 192 balls. It reignited the intensity that had been lacking in Warwickshire’s play for the first 75 minutes.

Suddenly Rae was digging the ball in short and Michael Pepper was ducking under a couple of deliveries. Pepper then decided to advance down the wicket, stepped towards leg, was out-thought by the bowler and ended up playing on.

Simon Harmer brought up the 300 by hooking the New Zealander for four, and Crithcley top-edged Rae for six over fine leg and then drive through the covers for four to take Essex within a dozen of the target.

Lancashire vs Durham, 27th Match, Vitality County Championship Division One

George Balderson took four vital wickets with the new ball to help Lancashire secure a 60-run victory over Durham in their Vitality County Championship match at Blackpool.

Balderson’s achievement overshadowed the contributions of more illustrious cricketers on each side. Nathan Lyon took one wicket on the final day, Ben Stokes made just 18, and the seamer’s 4-52 also  ensured that Durham’s centurions, David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson, finished on the losing side.

That was hard on Bedingham, who made two hundreds in the game, and Robinson, who finished on the losing side despite making a career-best 171 not out. But the outcome seemed unlikely when the Durham pair were putting on 216 for the fourth wicket and taking Durham to 313 for three in pursuit of 475 to win.   

The morning session began poorly for Lancashire. Robinson pulled Saqib Mahmood for two sixes in his opening overs and Durham scored 50 runs in the first 45 minutes of play. It was just on the hour mark when Lyon bowled the first maiden of the day, by which time both Bedingham and Robinson had reached their fifties.

Almost the only scare the Durham batters suffered in the first two hours came when Bedingham was dropped on 54, Luke Wells just failing to cling on to a sharp one-handed chance to his right off Lyon.

Robinson eventually reached his first century of the season off 132 balls, having scored 90 runs in the morning, with a sweep off Lyon in the over before lunch. At the interval, Durham were 284 for three; Bedingham and Robinson had scored 150 runs off 30 overs in the session.

After lunch, Keaton Jennings entrusted his attack to the spinners and the flow of runs slowed a little. But Bedingham copied Jennings by making his second century of the match when he cover-drove Wells for four and it was only the tenth time in the history of the County Championship that two players have achieved the feat in the same match.

Having reached that landmark, Bedingham pushed forward to his next delivery and was caught by Matty Hurst off Lyon for 103, thus ending his 216-run fourth-wicket stand with Robinson.

That breakthrough for Lancashire brought Stokes to the wicket with his side still needing 162 to win but having taken 22 balls to get off the mark with a reverse-swept four off Lyon, the England captain then took a four and a six off successive balls from Wells’ next over. However, the leg-spinner had his revenge shortly afterwards when Stokes was bowled for 18 when attempting a reverse-sweep to a full-length delivery.

Lancashire took the new ball with the score on 362 for five only for Graham Clark’s pulled six off Aspinwall to take Durham to within a hundred of their target.  That, though, was followed by what seemed a pivotal over as George Balderson had Clark caught behind for 18 and Paul Coughlin taken at slip by Jennings for a second ball nought.

Next over, Balderson sprinted forwards to take a return catch off bat and pad to get rid of Ben Raine for three. A gigantic mix-up between new batter Matthew Potts and Robinson saw Potts run out for two thanks to substitute fielder George Lavelle’s accurate throw to the bowler’s end.

Robinson then took the attack to Lancashire’s bowler but his 26-run last-wicket partnership with Callum Parkinson ended when Parkinson was caught at slip by Jennings, Lancashire’s double centurion, off Balderson.

It is Lancashire first victory of the season in the County Championship but it can take them no higher than ninth in the First Division. The only downside for the Red Rose was that Saqib Mahmood bowled only two overs on the last day and seemed to be suffering from an unspecified injury.          

Nottinghamshire vs Hampshire, 28th Match, Vitality County Championship Division One

Hampshire (20pts) beat Nottinghamshire (3pts) by 5 wickets.

Hampshire needed just 80 minutes of the final day to complete a five-wicket victory over Nottinghamshire in the Vitality County Championship at Trent Bridge.

Five down overnight - and with Tom Prest likely to bat only in extremis after suffering a shoulder fracture in the field on day one - Hampshire still needed 85 runs to chase down a target of 169 when they resumed, which looked potentially tricky

In the event, Fletcha Middleton and James Fuller build on the foundations laid on Sunday evening to compile an unbroken match-winning partnership of 127.

All-rounder Fuller finished 77 not out with opener Middleton unbeaten on 59.

It is Hampshire’s first win of the season but their ninth victory in the last 12 Championship matches between themselves and Nottinghamshire and their sixth in seven since they last suffered defeat in 2018

Hampshire finished just behind runners-up Essex in third place in last season’s Division One table but have been out of form so far and the 20 points picked up here will come as a relief in what may prove an unforgiving division this year.

A first century of the season by all-rounder Lyndon James (106 not out) rescued Nottinghamshire from 50 for six in their first innings but - the Middleston-Fuller partnership apart - the key passage of batting in the contest was the 157-run stand between Liam Dawson (95) and Keith Barker (74) for Hampshire’s sixth-wicket on Saturday, which enabled the visitors to claim a narrow first-innings lead, despite England’s Olly Stone (4-62) impressing with the ball.

Nottinghamshire’s top order again found the going tough at the start of their second innings, losing three wickets before even wiping out the arrears, and though they were bolstered by half-centuries by Joe Clarke and Jack Haynes, the 169-run target left was always going to be difficult to defend, even allowing for more damage inflicted by the new ball.

They gave themselves a chance by reducing Hampshire to 44 for five on Sunday evening before Middleton and Fuller weathered the storm, getting through the last eight overs to stumps unscathed.

An early breakthrough looked vital as the last day began under cloudy skies but none of the Nottinghamshire seamers could conjure much out of the pitch and any hope that leg spinner Calvin Harrison could turn the context vanished when he conceded 21 runs in a single over to rush Hampshire towards a win that was finally achieved when Fuller guided a ball from James to the fine leg boundary for his eighth four.

Somerset vs Kent, 29th Match, Vitality County Championship Division One

Matt Renshaw hit an unbeaten 82 as Somerset moved into second place in the Vitality County Championship First Division with an eight-wicket victory over Kent at Taunton.

The visitors battled their way to 564 all out in their secnd innings from an overnight 409 for five, Joe Denly leading the fight with 67 off 129 balls before being last man out. Grant Stewart hit 6 fours in contributing 37, while Josh Davey recovered from illness to take two for 40.

That left Somerset to make 189 for victory in a minimum of 54 overs. The outcome was never in doubt as opener Renshaw cracked 6 fours in a 122-ball innings and Andy Umeed made 73 not out to help their side take a maximum 24 points. Kent had to be content with two.

The home bowling attack anticipated a tough day under clear skies on a flat pitch. It might have been shorter had Craig Overton not spilled a chance offered to second slip by Harry Finch in the opening over, completed from the previous evening by Migael Pretorius.

Finch went on to make 20 and helped Denly take the total to 455 before Davey, who had not bowled on day two because of a sickness bug, took up the attack from the River End and had him caught behind edging a defensive shot.

Having switched ends, Davey struck again with the score on 480, pinning Joey Evison lbw for 17 and leaving Kent 104 ahead with three wickets remaining. Denly batted throughout the morning session with few mishaps, but lost another partner on the stroke of lunch when Beyers Swanepoel edged to Overton at second slip off Pretorius.

If Somerset thought the job was almost done, Denly and Stewart proved them wrong with a stand of 59 at the start of the afternoon session, Stewart opting to counter-attack and taking 3 fours off a Davey over.

The patient Denly went to a trademark fifty off 110 balls with a nick through the slips for four. It was one of few false shots amid stubborn resistance and Somerset were struggling for another breakthrough when skipper Lewis Gregory took responsibility for wrapping things up.

Stewart had faced only 41 balls when playing one big shot too many and getting an inside edge onto his middle stump, having helped Kent extend their lead to 177. With only last man George Garrett left at the other end, Denly was forced to open up and gave wicketkeeper James Rew his sixth catch of the game when advancing down the pitch to a short ball from Gregory.

With Garrett still missing from their attack because of a groin injury sustained while bowling in the first innings, Kent faced a huge task to make inroads into Somerset’s top order. But they struck with the score on 24 when Sean Dickson, on six, chased a wide leg-side delivery from Swanepoel and glanced a catch to wicketkeeper Finch.

Tom Lammonby has been in great form this season and moved briskly to 30 off 24 balls before his brimming confidence led to an error, skying off-spinner Marcus O’Riordan to deep mid-off where Zak Crawley took a comfortable catch.

Tea was taken immediately with Somerset 60 for two and Renshaw unbeaten on 24. A further 129 runs were needed with a minimum of 40.2 overs left in the day and, with their Australian left-hander at the crease, the hosts had good cause for optimism.

Umeed has settled consistently into the number four batting role in recent games and again looked in good touch as the third-wicket pair blossomed in the final session, Renshaw bringing up the hundred with a square cut for two off O’Riordan.

With the sun still shining brightly over the Cooper Associates County Ground, Renshaw’s fourth boundary took him to a 76-ball half-century, his third of the season. Umeed progressed carefully to his first Championship fifty for Somerset and went on to pass his previous best score for the county of 60 before ending the match with a six and extending the unbroken stand to 134.

Kent had given their all after a poor first innings batting effort, but could not prevent unbeaten Somerset building on an impressive start to the summer.

Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: “I have told the players they will never have to work harder for 24 points. The two first innings centuries that put in such a good position seem an age ago.

“Taking 20 wickets on that pitch was always going to be tough and we knew that after bowling out Kent cheaply, their second innings would be much more of a challenge for us.

“Migael Pretorius has bowled well since joining us without getting his due rewards, so I am particularly pleased for him that he picked up wickets.

“But it was a great team effort over the four days. The spirit in the dressing room is fantastic and we can now go up to Durham looking to build on a really encouraging start.

“As always, we will have a full debrief before thinking about a team for that match. I don’t think we have fielded the same side in successive games all season.”

Kent head coach Matt Walker said: “We lost the game in both first innings. It wasn’t a 500 pitch when Somerset batted or a 175 one when we did.

“Having bowled well this season, we couldn’t find the right lines and lengths. Perhaps 300 would have been a par score, but to let them get past 500 was very disappointing.

“First innings batting has been a problem and it’s one we need to address. Things don’t get any easier with Essex as our next opponents.

“Having said all that, there were certainly positives to be drawn from the character the players showed to take the game into late on the final day. Zak Crawley’s innings was amazing and Joe Denly batted well in both innings.

“If he and Grant Stewart could have stayed together for another half hour today we might have had a chance. But four-day cricket is full of ifs and buts and that was certainly the case for us in this game.

“We found ourselves two bowlers light today. Nathan Gilchrist has a sore back, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but George Garrett will miss the next game with his groin injury.”

 

DIVISION TWO

Derbyshire vs Northamptonshire, 21st Match, Vitality County Championship Division Two

Derbyshire 12 points, Northants 13 points

Anuj Dal blocked Northamptonshire’s path to victory as Derbyshire emerged with an unlikely draw from the Vitality County Championship Division Two match at Derby.

Northants were on course for a first win of the season at tea when Derbyshire crumbled to 149 for 7 chasing an improbable 371 for victory but Dal’s unbeaten 31 from 139 balls denied them.

Zak Chappell played a big part with 72 in a stand of 108 in 32 overs with Dal and although Rob Keogh took 5 for 62 with his off-spin, Derbyshire clung on to close on 261 for 9.

Northants had declared on 310 for 3 after scoring 115 from only 13 overs in the morning thanks to Emilo Gay’s unbeaten 153 and 55 from Karun Nair.

The visitors made their intentions clear from the first ball of the day which Nair drove to the cover boundary and the foot was pressed hard on the accelerator for the rest of the innings.

Nari pulled Blair Tickner for another four to reach his 50 from 42 balls before Gay went to a splendid hundred by dispatching Daryn Dupavillon for his ninth four.

It had come off only 130 balls and included an array of strokes on both sides of the wicket, the best of which was a straight drive for six off Tickner.

The pair had added 124 from 105 balls and taken the lead past 300 when Nair lost his middle stump swinging at Dupavillon but there was no respite for the Derbyshire bowlers as Northants charged towards a declaration. 

Gay and George Bartlett plundered 67 from 50 balls before Luke Proctor called them in leaving Derbyshire with a stiff target or more realistically 81 overs to survive.

David Lloyd began positively by clipping Proctor through midwicket for two fours but the Derbyshire skipper was dismissed before lunch when Ben Sanderson had him caught at fourth slip off one that moved away.

Derbyshire needed a substantial partnership to have any chance of chasing the runs down but just when one was starting to show promise, it was broken.

Brooke Guest was caught behind driving at Liam Patterson-White who took an excellent catch running from deep midwicket when Wayne Madsen went for a big slog sweep at Keogh.

That signalled an alarming decline in which four wickets fell to the spinners for only 17 runs in nine overs.

Keogh got some drift to beat Reece’s defensive push, Aneurin Donald drove Patterson White low to short cover before Matt Lamb missed a sweep and was lbw.

When Ross Whiteley turned the last ball before tea from Keogh into the hands of forward short leg, the visitors were closing in on victory but they were frustrated by resolute batting from Dal and Chappell.

Dal looked increasingly secure while Chappell combined defence with some flashing strokes to reach 50 which contained 10 fours from 61 balls.

Patterson-White eventually broke through when Chappell chipped to midwicket and Tickner survived 21 balls before Keogh bowled him.

But although Northants claimed a second new ball, they could not break Dal’s resistance as Derbyshire emerged from a tense finale with a spirited draw

Northamptonshire head coach John Sadler said: "There's a bit of dejection at the minute in the changing room. When the emotion wears off we'll look back on what's been a great game of cricket and one in which I thought we played superbly from ball one right the way through to the end.

"I thought we deserved to win. It wasn't an easy decision to bat first, it was green and looked like there was a bit of life in that pitch on day one but we thought we'd take the brave option and bat.

"I thought we played beautifully, getting 400 in that first dig was a tremendous effort and other than a shaky start I thought we bowled magnificently all the way through the first innings.

 "Then we came out and batted, put the foot down and put them under some serious pressure, scored quick runs to set the game up beautifully and unfortunately didn't quite get over the line. 

 "We were in a winning position but at the minute the raw emotion feels a little bit like a loss but as that wears off we'll look back and think we've played a great game of cricket."

 Derbyshire head of cricket Mickey Arthur said: "We spoke about resilience, we spoke about whatever happened today we dug deep. And the other thing was that the dressing room really believed we were going to give that a crack.

"That means a step forward in our dressing room in that we thought we could chase 370 in the last innings. The fact that we believed that shows the process is alive. How we went about it however was not scripted the way it should have been, we were slightly reckless between lunch and tea.

"There are some positives out of this, as I said it's a new group, it's a process and we are bedding everything in. Our good and our bad is probably still too far apart but we'll keep coming back and I totally believe in that dressing room."

 On Anuj Dal he said: "He plays a very important role for us. As well as being that fourth seamer he provides us with runs at number seven so to see him get some runs today under pressure when we needed him was great and I think that's probably kick started his red ball season."

Glamorgan vs Middlesex, 22nd Match, Vitality County Championship Division Two

Middlesex secured a two wicket victory over Glamorgan in their Vitality County Championship match in Cardiff with Mark Stoneman top scoring in a win that came right down to the last few overs on the fourth day. 

Glamorgan were miles behind in this match before 48 runs and five wickets from Mason Crane took them close to victory in a thrilling finish on the final evening. 

Middlesex looked to be cruising to victory before a collapse of four for 15 put them in real danger of defeat but they managed to sneak home to claim the win thanks to a 52 run stand for the penultimate wicket between Tom Helm and Jack Davies.  

This win gives Middlesex 21 points from this game with Glamorgan securing just two bowling bonus points. 

As was the case in the first innings, runs from Zain ul Hassan and Crane kept Glamorgan in the hunt in this match. The pair had been the top scorers in Glamorgan’s under par batting efforts on day one, and here they put on a stand of 61 to take the lead past 200.

Zain was the first to go when he turned a ball into the leg side for an easy catch for Ryan Higgins off the bowling of Ethan Bamber for 34, the same score he managed in the first innings. 

Crane looked to take the fight to Middlesex as he batted with Andy Gorvin. The pair had put on another 17 runs when Gorvin gave a catch to point off the bowling of Luke Hollman. It was also Hollman who claimed the final wicket when he dismissed Crane for 48 with a thick edge that was well taken by wicket-keeper, Jack Davies. 

Middlesex started their chase brightly with Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman putting on a stand worth 65. Robson was the first wicket to fall when he was dismissed by Andy Gorvin for 31. He chopped the ball on to his stumps, the sixth time this had happened in this match as the two paced nature of this Cardiff surface continued to make an impact. 

Mason Crane got the ball to turn big once he was introduced to the attack and he made the next breakthrough when he spun one past an attempted sweep from Max Holman to bowl him for 28. 

Crane had a huge shout for lbw against Leus du Plooy which was turned down, but Harris got him in the very next over when he struck his pads in front and the umpire gave the decision in the bowler’s favour. 

Crane had Higgins caught behind for 1 and as the game headed into the final session the match it was nicely poised with Glamorgan needing six wickets on a pitch that was getting increasingly hard to bat on and Middlesex still 93 runs short of their victory target. 

Crane made another breakthrough when he had Nathan Fernandes caught at slip but the moment that created this thrilling finish was when Gorvin got Stoneman caught by Cooke for 63. 

 Two wickets in two balls from Crane to dismiss both Toby Roland-Jones and Luke Hollman without scoring left this game on a knife edge before the ninth wicket stand between Davies and Helm took Middlesex to victory with just five overs left in the match. 

Mason Crane, who took five wickets for Glamorgan, said: 

“Disappointed, obviously. We fought really hard to get back into the game having been behind for the majority of it. A superb effort there to put us in a position where from where we were a couple of days ago to maybe win a game, bad sides don’t do that. Obviously, we are doing a lot of stuff right but just not quite enough today. 

“It spun on day four and towards the end there. They had a lot of left handers, more than probably any other side, so spent a lot of the day around the wicket bowling at the rough which is always good fun. It came out of the hand of the nicely and there was a bit there to work with so days like that you need to step up.” 

Toby Roland-Jones, Middlesex Captain, said: 

“For the first two days we felt like we were really in control, and the back end of it there was a really impressive Glamorgan fight back. I think that third innings we were working hard against two top class batsmen trying to be as disciplined as possible on a surface at that point which wasn’t’ offering a great deal. And the rewards that we got at the back end of yesterday were really key.

“Credit to Davies and Helm for the way they got us over the line. It was an incredible effort. I think the way we ended up being set a testing total on a what became a pretty tough wicket to play spin on, we would have liked to have eeked out a few more in the first innings from the position we were in.”

Leicestershire vs Gloucestershire, 23rd Match, Vitality County Championship Division Two

HALF-centuries from Rishi Patel, Lewis Hill, Peter Hanscomb and Rehan Ahmed saw Leicestershire secure a hard-fought draw after being asked to follow on in their Vitality County Championship match against Gloucestershire at the UptonSteel County Ground, Grace Road.

But just four overs remained when Gloucestershire captain Graeme Van Buuren shook hands on the draw after an outstanding two day effort on the part of his weakened and largely inexperienced bowling attack.

Beginning the final day on 24-0 and needing another 311 runs simply to make the visitors bat again, the Foxes lost three wickets in the morning session, including that of Patel.

Only one wicket fell in the afternoon, but with the hitherto largely unresponsive pitch beginning to offer turn, young spinners ED Middleton and Ollie Price, along with seamer Josh Shaw, picked up three wickets after tea to give Gloucestershire hope of pulling off what would have been a remarkable win before Ben Mike and Tom Scriven steered theFoxes to safety.

Needing an early breakthrough when play began, Gloucestershire were handed one on a plate when Marcus Harris, his feet planted, reached for a wide delivery from Shaw and bottom-edged a catch through to wicketkeeper James Bracey. A shot that would have embarrassed a club player, from an Australia international opener with his side fighting to save the game it was unaccountable.

Louis Kimber, a big hitting young batsman yet to establish himself at number three in the Leicestershire batting order, was bowled driving at a straight delivery from Beau Webster, and Gloucestershire's lunch must have tasted even better when, with the interval approaching, first innings centurion Patel, who had once again batted beautifully in going to 50 off 131 deliveries, hitting six fours and a six, pushed forward at a Price delivery that turned and bounced. Bracey flung himself forward and managed to scoop up the ball one-handed just before it hit the ground.

The afternoon session saw only one wicket fall however, as Hill and Hanscomb first dug in and then began to play more expansively. Van Buuren mixed up his bowlers, and a deliberate policy of inviting Hanscomb to glance down the leg side almost paid off when the Victoria captain guided a Taylor delivery to leg slip, only for Price to fail to hold a low chance to his right.

Hill passed 50 for the first time this season, the half century coming from 107 balls and including eight fours, and Hanscomb - who already had three 50s and a hundred to his name this season – reached the landmark in the same over, although his only occupied 63 balls and included nine fours.

Just when it looked as though they were going to bat through the session however, Hill, who had already had one fortunate escape when a sweep at Middleton only just cleared Taylor at backward square, attempted to repeat the shot, missed, and was bowled behind his legs.

Ahmed, a firm believer in attack being the best form of defence, charged to a half-century at almost a run a ball, but was then stumped by Bracey after being beaten going forward to Price, and when Ben Cox, caught at slip after Shaw flogged some life from the pitch, and then Hanscombe, also stumped by Bracey, this time off Middleton down the leg side, went in short order, Gloucestershire still had hope. It was extinguished by Mike and Scriven, who compiled a chanceless unbeaten partnership of 61 for the eighth wicket.

Gloucestershire head coach Mark Alleyne:

"It was a really good four day game. They left a bit of live grass on the pitch, hoping to create some jeopardy, they won the toss, so everything was in their favour but we got it right from the start.

"The batters tucked in and put us in a dominant position in the game, starting with Ben Charlesworth and Cameron Bancroft, Graeme [Van Buuren] too, and with the bonus points being weighted the way they are it does put a premium on a big first innings.

"Then I was really pleased with the bowling group, though not surprised because I know what they can bring. Matty Taylor came through unscathed after his toe injury, and he and Josh Shaw led the attack really well. Ed [Middleton] bowled really maturely, gave their batters very little to hit.

"We'll have some fresh legs on Friday [against Derbyshire] and some of these lads will be ready to go again too."

"Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas:

"We had our backs against the wall from day one, when we didn't bowl well enough, we know that. We were ill-disciplined and there were a lot of extras conceded. It's a young and inexperienced attack, but there's no lack of effort on their part.

"The pitch was patchy - what we wanted we certainly didn't get. Hopefully we'll have a pitch next week when it's a more even contest between bat and ball because I don't think people want to watch a game like we've had, when the average runs per wicket is 65, 70 - I don't like playing cricket like that.

"The positives are our batters got time out there and we got away with the draw, but we're not jumping for joy about that. It was a great effort to bat out the two days after a long time out there fielding, but four day cricket challenges you mentally as well as physically and we're under no illusion there's a lot of room for improvement. We don't want to be all about securing draws."

 

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