The Last Over

Six deliveries from this week's county cricket

1. Sam Northeast produced the performance of the week, putting notions of early season batting difficulty and Middlesex’s bowlers to the sword with equal measure. He made 335* from 412 balls as Glamorgan racked up 620-3 declared. It was the highest score ever made at Lord’s, beating Graham Gooch’s famous 333 against India in 1990. Northeast finished last season with an innings of 166* which, (using some gratuitous sample-size manipulation in order to make a gaudy stat) means he averages 515 from his last 3 innings – take that Brian Lara.
   

   

   All in all it was something of a batsman’s game, Middlesex made 655 in response to Glamorgan, thanks to a maiden Ryan Higgins double century, and the match finished as a draw.
   
   

2. Kashif Ali was the first graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy, the initiative introduced to address the lack of British South Asian representation in UK cricket, and after just his ninth First Class match he is already showing why it was so long overdue. He hit centuries in both innings for Worcestershire in their draw with Warwickshire, 110 in his first innings and 133 in his second. Even more stylishly he brought up both hundreds with a six – the 26-year-old is undoubtedly one to keep an eye on.
   
   

3. 

   Dan Lawrence cited a desire to bowl more following his off-season move from boyhood club Essex to Surrey, with his new coach Gareth Batty backing him to become a “genuine all-rounder” ahead of their clash with Lancashire this week. He couldn’t have made a much better start on that front, picking up 4/91 with his idiosyncratic off-spin, in the rain-affected draw.
   
   Elsewhere Harry Brook was in fine form, smashing an unbeaten hundred against Leicestershire from just 69 balls.
   

   
   

   
   

4. Sam Cook got his season off to a flying start with this hat trick against Nottinghamshire, Essex’s first in First Class cricket since 2009.
   

   It was part of a match-winning turn from Cook who took 10 wickets in the match, a hat trick and 4/59 first time around, followed by an astonishing 6/14 as Notts were skittled for 80 in Essex’s 254-run win. A handy first game of the season with England fast bowling spots up for grabs this summer.
   
   

5. Spare a thought for bowlers this week who were having to use that most foul of Australian creations – the Kookaburra ball – which may help to explain the relatively good start for batters this week. The four-round trial, up from two last season, is meant to encourage the use of spin bowling. Alec Stewart, among others, is not a fan: “I just don’t understand it at all. I think it’s the worst decision ever.”
   
   There was more equipment-based controversy elsewhere, with Essex’s Feroze Khushi found to have been batting with a bat that was too big. Essex could lose up to 16 points – there is precedent from 2022 when Durham were docked 10 points after Nic Maddison's bat failed to fit through the measurement gauge used by umpires.
   
   

6. The real winner from Round 1 of the County Championship was the weather – two games called off without a ball bowled, six of the remaining seven finishing as draws, with rain a key factor in almost all of them. This week’s suggestion to improve county cricket: Eliminate rain. Whatever happened to this insane idea from 2017?

   

   Forget finding private equity for franchise cricket, we need it to increase funding into anti-rain hot air balloon mesh canopy technology research. It could be the game’s only hope…

Results

Div 1
Durham vs Hampshire – Match Abandoned without a ball bowled
Kent vs Somerset – Match Drawn
Lancashire vs Surrey – Match Drawn
Nottinghamshire vs Essex – Essex won by 254 runs
Warwickshire vs Worcestershire – Match Drawn

Div 2
Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire – Match Abandoned without a ball bowled
Middlesex vs Glamorgan – Match Drawn
Sussex vs Northamptonshire – Match Drawn
Yorkshire vs Leicestershire – Match Drawn