County Championship Round 19 Discussion Thread

[Shelsey93]

The penultimate round of fixtures are likely to be pivotal to the outcome of the title.

Division One

At Lord's, Middlesex 427-8 (Dexter 125, Berg 83, Crook 66, Chapple 3-77) v Lancashire

At The Oval, Surrey 269 (de Bruyn 71, Wilson 68, Gurney 4-47) v Nottinghamshire 2-0

At Hove, Sussex 221 (Joyce 65, Rehman 3-30) v Somerset 71-4 (Trescothick 31, Magoffin 3-25)

At New Road, Worcestershire 60 (d'Oliveira 18, Wright 5-24, Barker 5-36) v Warwickshire 259-2 (Chopra 141*, Westwood 54, Ali 2-53)

Divison Two

At Bristol, Gloucestershire 220 (A. Gidman 56, Batty 55, Evans 4-38) v Northamptonshire 100 (Peters 35, Fuller 5-29)

At Rose Bowl, Essex 180 (Pettini 58, Balcombe 4-57) v Hampshire 199-8 (Carberry 42, Shafayat 42, Topley 3-49)

At Canterbury, Kent 261 (Jones 80, Groenewald 3-63) v Derbyshire 50-2 (Madsen 27, Davies 2-19)

At Headingley, Glamorgan 272 (Bragg 92, Patterson 4-49) v Yorkshire 64-1 (Lyth 30*, Wagg 1-20)


Commentaries available on the BBC website.

[Guest]

no dave masters in the essex side

The reliable westley failed this time round

also the awful mickelbrugh failed AGAIN!

[Fists of Fury]

Warks annihilating Worcester. 17-4. The title is coming home to Edgbaston, I feel.

[Shelsey93]

Warks annihilating Worcester. 17-4. The title is coming home to Edgbaston, I feel.

Would seem pretty inevitable at this stage. A Warks win this week would all but guarantee it, putting Notts out of contention whatever happens this week and even if Sussex win this week meaning that a major swing would be needed in the last round of matches.

As I see it, and correct me if I am wrong, a Warks win coupled with anything less than a win for Sussex would seal the title.

[Shelsey93]

And as I type the 8th wicket goes down. Worcs 46-8. Four each for Chris Wright and Keith Barker.

[Guest]

Essex 85-4

[guildfordbat]

Even against bottom of the table Worcs, a tremendous effort by Chris Wright and Keith 'Ronnie' Barker to bowl 26 overs between them unchanged throughout the morning session and reduce their opponents to a feeble 57 - 9.

I believe both these bowlers now have 50 first class wickets for the season. Almost unnoticed and, with some respect, hardly the first two names you think of when Warks are mentioned. Yet again, the importance of strength in depth.

[Shelsey93]

Worcs eventually all out for 60 just before lunch. Most likely the decisive session in sealing Warwickshire's title and Worcestershire's relegation.

[guildfordbat]

Already looking like it could be an intriguing match at Lord's.

Mid table Middlesex 164 - 5 against relegation threatened Lancs ....

[Mat]

It doesn't get much worse that. 60 all out against the bears. It can only get better though, right?

[Liam]

Decent start by Glam, excellent knock by Bragg for 92, shame he couldn't kick onto 3 figures. Walters is there now, in superb form and 32 n.o. atm. Hopefully from this position at 188/3, we can make at least 300.

Also, shame to see Harris leaving Glamorgan at the end of the season. Has had a tremendous start to his cricketing career, given Glam everything he has got to give and now deserves to move onto a club in division 1, and hopefully fulfil his England potential.

[Shelsey93]

A good move for Harris if, as rumours indicate, he is Notts-bound. He is a talented bowler but needs a new challenge to step up a level.

[guildfordbat]

Decent start by Glam, excellent knock by Bragg for 92, shame he couldn't kick onto 3 figures. Walters is there now, in superb form and 32 n.o. atm. Hopefully from this position at 188/3, we can make at least 300.

Liam - a very decent start indeed but badly downhill after that, I'm afraid. Your boys need wickets in the morning ....

[Liam]

Decent start by Glam, excellent knock by Bragg for 92, shame he couldn't kick onto 3 figures. Walters is there now, in superb form and 32 n.o. atm. Hopefully from this position at 188/3, we can make at least 300.

Liam - a very decent start indeed but badly downhill after that, I'm afraid. Your boys need wickets in the morning ....

We just haven't got the middle order who are capable of scoring hundreds unfortunately. We had a newbie in today in Lloyd who went for 0, Wright just can't score big it seems and Allenby has been awful with the bat this year. Tail enders can't seem to score runs and its costing us games.

Excellent start with Bragg scoring 92, James 38 and Walters 42, you then need to kick on from there and we haven't done so. Like you said, early wickets are key tomorrow. Hopefully its overcast at headingly in which Glover and Water's can do some damage. Wagg has been a bit wayward recently.

[LondonTiger]

Supposed to be sunny all day,and in recent seasons wicket is at it's best for batting on day 2/3.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Dreadful first day for Worcs - looks like they have give up on their chances of survival. Difficult to see a team doing much worse at end of day 1 than opponents batting and second and being already 150 ahead with eight wickets left.....

Surrey endured a mediocre day but their spirits will be improved by Middlesex' late resurgence as well as Worcs being more or less obliterated by Warks.

In Div 2 Hants have a good chance of taking first innings lead and boosting their bid for promotion.

[liverbnz]

Supposed to be sunny all day,and in recent seasons wicket is at it's best for batting on day 2/3.

Yorkshire to bat all day and have somewhere close to 400 would be ideal then. Gale is way overdue a score too.

[LondonTiger]

Gale's timing has been out all season, not helped by the mid-season injury.

[LondonTiger]

Lunch time on day 2, and in the 3 matches affecting promotion - things are still finely balanced.

Hampshire would have hoped to get a bigger lead against Essex, and only secured 1 Batting BP. However their game is progressing at a rate of knots and should produce a winner.

Kent have had the better of Derbyshire in the first session - but Derby have gained good runs from the lower order this season.


Glamorgan only managed 28 overs before Lunch and took 2 wickets. They will need to bowl 36 overs in the second session - and if Yorkshire score at their current rate scores will be level at tea.

[LondonTiger]

Supposed to be sunny all day,and in recent seasons wicket is at it's best for batting on day 2/3.

Yorkshire to bat all day and have somewhere close to 400 would be ideal then. Gale is way overdue a score too.

I will put the mockers on him now, but lets hope he can turn this 50 into a big score.

[LondonTiger]

I put the mockers on Lyth instead, out for 95.

[liverbnz]

And Gale it seemed. Out for 55. I heard he may be injured as well.

[Liam]

Good comeback by Glammy, game running away from them at one stage. McGrath still there but a couple of wickets and hopefully we won't be more than 50 behind.

[LondonTiger]

At tea Yorkshire have a small lead with 4 wickets left. Mags and Rafa need to take us past 300 and on towards the 4th bp at 350.

Other important matches in D2 a touch closer than they were at lunch. Shah in the runs for Essex, while Derby have managed to get closer to Kent than it looked originally.

Still game on for all the promotion candidates.

[Liam]

Well played John Glover, excellent spell after tea and now McGrath has gone. Got a bright future, old fashioned wicket to wicket seam bowler, he'll get plenty of wickets in the future. Let's hope we can get these last 2 wickets for no more than 15 runs.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Warks well on course for victory, with Worcs needing to score another 300+ to avoid innings defeat.

Gloucs strongly placed to beat Northants.

[LondonTiger]

Well played John Glover, excellent spell after tea and now McGrath has gone. Got a bright future, old fashioned wicket to wicket seam bowler, he'll get plenty of wickets in the future. Let's hope we can get these last 2 wickets for no more than 15 runs.

We just missed out on getting a 4th batting point - but a nice partnership from Siddy and Patterson. The two late wickets may prove crucial. Yorks will need to win to stay in control of their own destiny.

[Shelsey93]

Warks should wrap up the title today. I believe that with Sussex missing out on full batting points a win would be enough to do it.

[Hoggy_Bear]

C'MON YOU BEARS!!!!

[Fists of Fury]

YOU BEARSSS!

Fantastic stuff. The best side in English cricket by a considerable distance right now, in my book.

[Shelsey93]

Well done to Warwickshire. Clearly the best side this season.

This is a difficult competition to predict though and I wouldn't be nailing them on for next year just yet. Sussex, Notts and Yorks (if they go up) could all have very exciting teams next year too.

[liverbnz]

Well Lancs won it last season...

[liverbnz]

Yorkshire set 1101 to win by Glamorgan.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Well done Warks. The Wheelie bin no doubt is doing a lap of honour....

[Gregers]

Well done to Warks. Thrilled by second though, afterall I thought we'd be battling relegation not fighting for the title!

Goodwin made 77 in his last ever innings at Hove. What a legend, 48 hundreds for Sussex, average of 50 (ish) over CC/50/40/T20 for Hove.

[LondonTiger]

Congrats to Warwickshire.


Now on to the important stuff

Good win for us today, with promotion still in our own hands. Hopefully we can finish it off properly in Chelmsford next week. With financial worries eased a little and some promising young players things are looking brighter for the White Rose.

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Middlesex lead Lancs by 118 with eight wickets left. Could well be buffet bowling and an agreed target tomorrow. Let's hope Middlesex are not too generous....

[Guest]

congrats warks..

Essex have had a fantastic day against Hampshire, and tomorrow is nicely poised

[Mat]

I hate cricket We haven't really been up to it all season, but the utter capitulation at the hands of your nearest(and not so dearest) rivals to hand them the title is just thorougly depressing.

[guildfordbat]

Belated congratulations to Warks! Thoroughly deserved by a very strong squad.

[Shelsey93]

I hate cricket We haven't really been up to it all season, but the utter capitulation at the hands of your nearest(and not so dearest) rivals to hand them the title is just thorougly depressing.

I think Worcester have done well to get to Division One in 2010 and then stay up last year. The squad has got gradually weaker in the last couple of years, and I can't see things getting better next year with no Solanki or Scott, Richardson another year older, and question marks over whether Hughes will return for a full stint.

This year was always going to be tough again and things haven't been as bad as this game all the time.

[Mat]

I hate cricket We haven't really been up to it all season, but the utter capitulation at the hands of your nearest(and not so dearest) rivals to hand them the title is just thorougly depressing.

I think Worcester have done well to get to Division One in 2010 and then stay up last year. The squad has got gradually weaker in the last couple of years, and I can't see things getting better next year with no Solanki or Scott, Richardson another year older, and question marks over whether Hughes will return for a full stint.

This year was always going to be tough again and things haven't been as bad as this game all the time.

We do well to get to this level in fairness, it's just frustrating that we can never kick on from it for a variety of reasons, most of it to do with cash.

There's a few promising youngsters but it needs the more senior batsman to set the platform instead of putting the pressure on the likes of Leach, Pardoe, Pinner etc, Hughes is the only player we've had to consistently score runs this seasons(I told CF he'd be a good signing! ) the likes of Mooen, Solanki and Kervezee have been poor whilst Mitchell hasn't scored big runs but not doing too badly either.

We desperately need Hughes to stay, Division 2 Richardson will be fine for I would have thought. I feel there's going to be some serious face-lifting of the squad, more so out of neccessity with like you said no Scott or Solanki, with Cameron retiring.

[Shelsey93]

Do we know why Scott is leaving? Surely they would have wanted to keep him, as he's a good gloveman and hasn't done too badly with the bat this year. Also probably not a huge strain on the wage bill like Solanki

I guess he's off to another county - Gloucestershire maybe?

[Mat]

Do we know why Scott is leaving? Surely they would have wanted to keep him, as he's a good gloveman and hasn't done too badly with the bat this year. Also probably not a huge strain on the wage bill like Solanki

I guess he's off to another county - Gloucestershire maybe?

He's retired apparently mate, very much out of the blue by the looks of it as well just by the reactions of the Worcs players on Twitter.

I saw them heading off into town after the game today, presumbaly to drown their sorrows!

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Do we know why Scott is leaving? Surely they would have wanted to keep him, as he's a good gloveman and hasn't done too badly with the bat this year. Also probably not a huge strain on the wage bill like Solanki

I guess he's off to another county - Gloucestershire maybe?

Batty reigns supreme at Gloucs having fought off the competition from any number of other possible keepers!

[Shelsey93]

Batty reigns supreme at Gloucs having fought off the competition from any number of other possible keepers!

I think Batty's departure has sadly been confirmed

[liverbnz]

Interesting that Tredwell has been released to play for Kent! Bairstow and Bresnan have been twiddling their thumbs (bar one outing for the former) for the last 2 weeks and the sum of Bopara's work has been walking to the crease and walking back shortly after

[Shelsey93]

The difference will be that Tredders isn't in the T20 squad.

A bit controversial though. In the past the full replacement rule has only been applied to players released from Test squads on the morning of matches, and those unexpectedly called up to England squads whilst playing in a Championship match.

But this week there have been two slightly questionable ones - Hales was allowed to play the first two days v Surrey before joining the England T20 squad and being replaced by Edwards, and Tredwell was allowed to join Kent despite the only reason he became available was the series ending.

[liverbnz]

It seems that Tredwell was released to play for Kent due to the ODi finishing 15 overs early - or I suspect this is the 'exceptional cricumstance' that allowed any England player selected for the final ODi to be released. Totally bizarre if you ask me.

Plus Bresnan was presumabley dropped for poor form. He won't regain it sitting in the pavillion.

[JDizzle]

Buttler isn't playing for Somerset in their match either, as he was called up as cover then was never picked. It does seem a tad ridiculous at times.

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