County Cricket Report.

Just wondered if anybody follows county cricket. If they do, I wondered if anyone would be interested in writing short match reports for each game a county plays, with key stats from the game and other appropriate comments, such as England potentials etc.

You could do it either for the county you follow or just adopt any old county. This could be done for T20, FP Trophy and the County Championship.

May as well get everyone to express an interest first, before we get this underway or it would be a bit pointless. I get the impression we are all spread around the country a bit (for those of us in it) and so we might get an interesting array.

My county would be Kent primarily but while I am at uni I am close to Notts and Leics so I follow them as well. Wouldnt mind doing one or both.

Any others? Im especially thinking Huzup and maybe Tick as well.

I really dont follow county cricket at all these days - but will give it a go for a couple of matches after the football season has finished.

Not sure how I am going to get my info on games lol - but maybe I could copy a report from one of my old wisdons n tend its from today lol

Can find scorecards easily on bbc sport or on the county websites. All is necessary is to give the scores and the players that have performed well, easy to spot from the scorecards. Also to give a mention to any England potentials who may have performed well in the games. No need to be a big thing.

I'll do some - defintely Gloucestershire (I'll do my own teams too, Glos. A.I.W. - first league game tomorrow - cannot wait)

A win today for Gloucs vs Northants.

Next round of LV county championship games start on the 6th May, but Friends Provident Trophy starts on Sunday, with the next round of games on Monday.
I'll do Middlesex as well - keep an eye on that Aussie North who seems to be hitting runs for fun


Sunday, 03 May 2009
Friends Provident Trophy
Durham v Surrey, Riverside, 12:00
Essex v Glamorgan, Chelmsford, 10:45
Hampshire v Leicestershire, The Rose Bowl, 10:45
Lancashire v Derbyshire, Old Trafford, 12:00
Middlesex v Kent, Southgate, 12:00
Nottinghamshire v Ireland, Trent Bridge, 10:45
Warwickshire v Scotland, Edgbaston, 12:00
Yorkshire v Gloucestershire, Headingley Carnegie, 10:45

Monday, 04 May 2009
Friends Provident Trophy
Derbyshire v Essex, Derby, 10:45
Durham v Sussex, Riverside, 12:00
Kent v Scotland, Canterbury, 10:45
Leicestershire v Ireland, Grace Road, 10:45
Northamptonshire v Glamorgan, Northampton, 10:45
Somerset v Middlesex, Bath, 10:45
Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire, New Road, 10:45
Yorkshire v Surrey, Headingley Carnegie, 10:45

I would suggest my reports will be mostly of the depressing nature, with Kent having a very mediocre start to the season.

Kent beat Essex by 192 runs
Kent 205 & 512-9dec
Essex 370 & 155

A truely remarkable comeback from Kent has earnt them their first win the County Championship Div 2 season, seeing them move up to 4th in the table, 2 points behind Essex, having played a game less than those around them.

1st innings-Essex--Having been put into bat, Essex started well, scoring 4 batting points with their 370. Walker and England hopeful Foster both fell agonisingly short of centuries, making 98 and 99 respectively. The only other innings of note was a fine 41 from 43 balls from Test opener Alistair Cook, and also an impressive half century from the extras columns as no less than 30 no balls helped to contribute to the Essex total. Having been 309-4, Essex may have felt agrieved not to take maximum batting points and really establishing a huge first innings total, in fact losing their last 6 wickets for 61 runs.

1st innings-Kent--Kent made a terrible start in reply and for us fans, well it looked as though we were staring down the barrel. With skipper Key absent with the England Lions, Kent were reduced to 96-6, but recovered in sorts to post 205, with the most useful contribution coming from Parnell, the new overseas player. His 69 came from 80 balls, with 9 fours and 2 sixes. 205 was, unfortunately, not enough to avoid the follow on.

2nd innings-Kent--The recovery begins. Kent amassed a massive 512-9 in their follow on 2nd innings, with a key 6th wicket partnership of 166 between Stevens (136 n.o) and Hockley (72). Other key contributors were van Jaarsveld (102) and Tredwell (79). Former England keeper Geraint Jones also weighed in with a healthy 45, to contiunue his decent start to the season. Kents huge total perhaps made a mockery of the decision to enforce the follow on, in clearly good batting conditions.

2nd innings--Essex--A final day collapse from Essex handed Kent victory. After collapsing to 79-7, they rallied somewhat with an 8th wicket partnership of 72, which might have seen them to safety late in the evening session, but then the final 3 wickets fell for just 4 runs, leaving them 192 runs short of the victory target. The top scorer was Ryan ten Doeschate, with a slow 36, but even he was outscored by the extras column (37), an area which Kent clearly need to focus on. Robert Joseph was Kents hero, with figures of 6-55, and overall match figures of 8-159.

Next for Kent, are the two FP Trophy matches against Middlesex and Scotland, hoping to bounce back from embarassment in their first outing in the competition.

Well seeing as we are the inform county team at the moment I'll give the report for todays Friends Provident Trophy win over Yorkshire.

Gloucestershire have sealed their place in the final 8 of the FP Trophy after their fifth straight win in the competition.

Half centuries from the w/k Adshead and James Franklin maintain Gloucs. 100% record in the competition.

Yorkshire did well to make 217 after recovering from 49-5 due to a devestating spell of bowling from the opening pair Lewis and New Zealand allround Franklin. Anthony McGrath and Richard Pyrah then steadied the ship with a 100+ partnership, both going on to make 67 and eventually leading Yorkishire to post a reasnable target of 217.

Gloucester got off to a good start but lost a couple of early wickets, Will Porterfield making 34 and Craig Spearman 29, but then they collapsed. Sitting comfortably at 102-3, Gloucs. had a middle order collapse and fell to 107-6.
Franklin and Adshead then steered Gloucs. to victory with a 106 run partnership, Franklin hitting an unbeaten 51 and Adshead eventually falling for 56 with Gloucs. only needing 5 runs to win.

Gloucs. good form continues as they sit comfortably on top of their group as well as sitting top of the table of County Div 2.

Kent 242 Lost to Middlesex 322-5 by 80 runs
Middlesex brought Kents run of wins to an unceremonious end with an 80 run win in Canterbury, avenging their defeat a week earlier. Having chosen to bat first, Middlesex got off to a slow start, losing early wickets including in form Aussie Hughes and England hopeful Shah as they were reduced to 32-2.

Cue the arrival of Morgan to accompany opener Compton who both hit one day bests (161 and 131 respectively), helping Middlesex post a huge total with a county record 3rd wicket stand of 277.

Kent never got out of the blocks, losing early wickets to make the chance of a remarkable run chase unlikely. Kemp (69) and Jones (57) helped Kent build a platform and ultimately a respectable response, but wickets fell throughout the innings and the Spitfires were always without a strong partnership to challenge the Middlesex total.

The result leaves Kent 2nd in the group still having played a game more than Middlesex and runaway leaders Somerset, who amassed a remarkable 403-3 in the process of spanking Scotland. Group B is well in the balance and any of the English teams can still qualify.