[themaclad]

Parkinson off to Kent at the end of the season and rumours that all is not well in the dressing room

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Surrey The Oval 4 days 25/6/23



https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2643743

https://www.kiaoval.com/

No news as yet however will be found here

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Keaton Jennings, George Balderson, Tom Bailey, Jack Blatherwick, George Bell, Josh Bohannon, Tom Hartley, Rob Jones, Daryl Mitchell, Jack Morley, Phil Salt, Dane Vilas, Luke Wells, Will Williams

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Surrey 70 for 4 trail Lancashire 274 (Salt 56, Clark 4-47, Abbott 4-71) by 204 runs

County champions and Division One leaders Surrey are a nervy 70 for four in reply to Lancashire’s 274 after an intriguing opening day at the Kia Oval.

Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Tom Latham all fell to the new ball after Lancashire had earlier recovered from 119 for five as Phil Salt, George Balderson and Jack Blatherwick fashioned a lower order rally on a seaming pitch.

And then Ben Foakes played on for 23 against Blatherwick in the day’s final over, after putting on 43 with Jamie Smith, who remained 24 not out but was dropped at first slip off Blatherwick’s medium pace on 23.

Four wickets apiece for Jordan Clark and Sean Abbott looked to have won first day honours for Surrey but Will Williams and Tom Bailey turned this LV= Insurance County Championship contest back towards Lancashire in the final 20 overs of the day.

Burns, on 5, edged Williams for keeper Salt to take a brilliant low one-handed catch diving to his left and Sibley departed for an 18-ball duck when he tickled an attempted leg glance at Williams through to Salt. Latham edged Bailey to second slip to go for 10.

Clark polished off Lancashire’s tail to finish with 4 for 47 but it was Abbott’s previous experience of bowling with the Kookaburra ball, in Australian domestic cricket, that was much in evidence as Lancashire’s top order earlier struggled to impose themselves against Surrey’s five-pronged seam attack.

Salt scored 56 from No 6, backing up the hundred he made against Hampshire two weeks ago at Southport in his first red-ball appearance for 12 months, but he also played and missed on numerous occasions as Lancashire’s batting line-up found run-making hard work.

And it was Abbott, taking three wickets either side of lunch, and then sending back Salt with the third ball after tea, who removed four of Lancashire’s top six to earn himself figures of 4 for 71. The Kookaburra ball is being used instead of Dukes in this round of championship matches, and the next one in early July, to give English county bowlers an opportunity to bowl with it in competitive games.

There was pace and carry from a well-grassed surface and Surrey’s decision to bowl first, on winning the toss, was soon vindicated as Luke Wells – playing back defensively – edged to first slip in Sam Curran’s third over with the new ball.
Curran, playing in his first championship game of the season and a contender for an Ashes Test call-up in the next month, was unlucky not to have more success in three spells before mid-afternoon, but Abbott was soon among the wickets when he replaced Dan Worrall at the Vauxhall End.

The 31-year-old from New South Wales, who has played 20 times in white-ball internationals for Australia, initially struck with his very first ball to trap Josh Bohannon leg-before for 10.

Then, in his fourth over, he ended Keaton Jennings’ determined 25 by winning another lbw decision despite the Lancashire opener looking less than enamoured with the verdict.

Daryl Mitchell and Dane Vilas, the fourth wicket pair, counter-attacked with Mitchell thumping Abbott away through mid off for four and Vilas, after almost playing on against Clark, then hooking him for six later in the same over.

Both players had moments of good fortune against the moving ball but Mitchell drove Curran high over mid off for six and it was not until after lunch that Surrey got back on top by removing Vilas for 39 and Mitchell for 27 in successive overs to leave Lancashire 119 for five.

Vilas, driving at Abbott, edged to second slip after the partnership had realised 73 in 14 overs and New Zealand Test batsman Mitchell was yorked off stump by a beauty from Tom Lawes, who impressed in a spell of 7-2-13-1 either side of the interval.

Salt, however, was then joined by Balderson in a sixth wicket stand of 82 in 18 overs that frustrated Surrey. Neither player ever looked set but they both fought hard and stayed positive until Balderson’s 34 was ended by an edge through to keeper Foakes.

Bailey (10) then mishit Clark to mid on and Salt’s dismissal, caught by a tumbling Foakes after edging a drive at Abbott, left Lancashire 238 for eight.

That they got to 274 was mainly due to Blatherwick’s aggression, especially against Will Jacks – whose three overs of off spin cost 25 – and he had reached 35, with a six and five fours, before Clark returned to have him caught at point.

Clark then softened up last man Jack Morley with a couple of well-directed chin-high bumpers from around the wicket, prior to having him caught by Foakes for two.

[themaclad]

Lancashire 274 and 113 for 4 lead Surrey 360 (Abbott 87*, Jacks 64, Curran 52, Worrall 51) by 27 runs

An unexpected last-wicket stand of 130 between Sean Abbott and Dan Worrall and some aggressive bowling by their seamers helped to put first division leaders Surrey in a good position against Lancashire at the Kia Oval.
Abbott and no.11 Worrall both made half-centuries as Surrey scored 360 to establish a first-innings lead of 86.

Abbott and Worrall then struck in successive overs as Lancashire lost three wickets clearing their arrears. They reached stumps on 113 for four, a lead of 26.

The day and perhaps the outcome of the match may have been shaped in the 75 minutes or so after lunch when Abbott and Worrall came together with Surrey 230 for nine and proceeded to score at a run a ball for the next 21 overs and demoralise Lancashire.

Worrall put Surrey in front during an over in which they took 24 off the set. The fifty partnership took just 35 balls before Abbott reached his half-century.



Lancashire had their chances though. Abbott was dropped at backward point off a reverse sweep on 55 and added another ten before Keaton Jennings shelled a more difficult chance in the covers.

Abbott hit the ball cleanly and at times a long way, clearing the ropes five times in his 87 from 69 before the stand ended rather tamely with Worrall run out by Josh Bohannon after a mix-up for a career-best 51.

Surrey had started the second day 70 for four and lost their fifth wicket on 108 when Jamie Smith was superbly caught diving forward by Jack Morley running in from the mid-wicket boundary.

He wasn’t the only batter guilty of a loose shot. Will Jacks and Sam Curran seemed to have seized the initiative in an entertaining stand of 103 off 97 balls for the sixth wicket when Surrey lost two in two in identical fashion as first Jacks (64) and then Jordan Clark tamely clipped deliveries from Mitchell to mid-wicket.

The morning session produced 145 runs with Curran scoring 52 off 51 until he departed in the second over after lunch to a mis-timed pull when Tom Bailey dropped short but well outside off stump. When Tom Lawes padded up to Will Williams, Lancashire had picked up four for 20 in 4.5 overs and appeared to be taking control, but not for the first time in the LV= County Championship this season Surrey wrestled back the initiative.



Curran got the Kookaburra ball to swing nicely, making the breakthrough when he shaped one away to take Jennings’ edge and Tom Latham held on at second slip.

Luke Wells and Bohannon added 59 for the second wicket but, just when it appeared Lancashire were in calmer waters, they were rocked by the loss of both in six balls.

Worrall returned to the attack and Bohannon mis-timed a hook, with Ben Foakes sprinting forward to take the catch after a full-length dive. Wells then cut hard at Abbott in the next over and Latham clung on instinctively in front of his face at gully and just before the close Dane Vilas was pinned in front by Clark.

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Surrey 360 and 57 for 5 (Bailey 4-34) need a further 151 to beat Lancashire 274 and 293 (Williams 61, Salt 54, Worrall 3-69)

Tom Bailey took four wickets in 16 balls in an 11-over opening spell of four for 34 to reduce Surrey to 57 for five in an extraordinary final hour at the Kia Oval and give Lancashire the chance of inflicting a first defeat of the season on the Division One leaders.

The county champions had earlier been frustrated by Will Williams, Bailey’s new ball partner, who as nightwatchman batted four and a quarter hours for a defiant career-best 61 to leave Surrey needing 208 to clinch a sixth victory in eight matches this season.

But by stumps on day three it was a Lancashire win that looked more likely as Bailey wrecked Surrey’s top order after the home side had eventually bowled out Lancashire for 293 in their second innings, held up by Williams’ stubborn resistance and also by a powerful 54 from Phil Salt, his second fifty of the game.

Bailey’s magnificent opening burst brought him the wickets of Dom Sibley for one and Tom Latham next ball for a duck in his fifth over and then, in his sixth and seventh overs, the scalps of Jamie Smith for four and Ben Foakes for five.

Sibley and Latham were both well held at second slip by substitute fielder Rob Jones, Smith was leg-before shouldering arms to an off-cutter and Foakes caught behind, pushing out defensively.


And the drama continued when Surrey skipper Rory Burns fell for 20, caught at first slip from Jack Blatherwick’s fourth ball, in the 20th of the 24 overs Lancashire bowled in a memorable mini-session. Will Jacks remains 19 not out.

Williams, a 30-year-old New Zealander with a UK passport, began the day on one not out in Lancashire’s overnight 113 for 4, representing an overall lead of just 27, but he withstood Surrey’s five-pronged pace attack – spearheaded by Dan Worrall’s 3 for 69 – almost until tea to make his maiden first-class half-century.

Christchurch-born Williams’ previous top score in 54 first-class matches was just 38, made for Canterbury against Wellington in February 2020. This was his 75th first-class innings, with his 698 previous runs coming at the lowly average of 13, but Williams, playing straight and defending competently, helped Salt to add 95 in 37 overs for the sixth wicket.

LV= Insurance County Championship title favourites Surrey resorted to a short ball barrage against him after lunch, with the second new ball, and although Williams’ run-scoring then slowed to a trickle – he made just ten in almost 30 overs in the afternoon session – he still resisted courageously and, in all, faced 220 balls.

Surrey had only enjoyed one success in a tense morning session, with Burns leaping high at mid off to pull off a superb one-handed catch from Daryl Mitchell’s lofted drive at Worrall.

New Zealand Test batsman Mitchell, on 17 overnight, looked in good touch as he moved to 30 but in the 12th over of the day was left stunned by Burns’ athleticism as he somehow clawed down a ball that seemed to be clearing him.

Then, on 150 for five, with only five more runs added, Salt was dropped by Smith at extra cover off Tom Lawes, this time the fielder failing to hang on to a chance above his head.

Williams, on 23, edged Sam Curran at catchable height between slip and gully but otherwise batted with relative comfort against the Surrey seamers. And when Jacks was called up for a few overs before lunch, Williams drove the off spinner straight for six to bring up Lancashire’s 200 and to take his own score to 49.



The 30-year-old’s maiden half-century arrived soon afterwards, from 124 balls, and Surrey’s frustration grew when shortly after lunch Salt was put down off Curran on 30 by Latham, diving to his right at second slip, in the first over with the second new ball.

Another 32 runs were scored before Surrey could celebrate their sixth wicket of the innings, Salt being bowled behind his legs by Jordan Clark, the ball flicking his back pad on its way into leg stump as Lancashire’s keeper-batsman aimed towards square leg.

Balderson narrowly avoided being dismissed by his first ball, a vicious lifter which clipped an elbow on the way through to keeper Foakes, and the left-hander had made only 10 when he edged a drive at Abbott to first slip.

Williams needed some on-field treatment after taking one nasty blow on the bicep on 57, ducking into an Abbott bouncer, and his brave resistance finally ended four overs before tea when he gloved a short ball from Lawes into Smith’s hands at short leg.

Bailey’s useful 25, including some robust offside strokes, was cut short by a top-edged pull at Curran that was well-held on the deep square leg ropes by Worrall and Lancashire’s dogged second innings effort was finally over when No 11 Jack Morley fended a Worrall lifter to short leg.

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Lancashire 274 (Salt 56, Clark 4-47) and 293 (Williams 61, Salt 54, Worrall 3-69) beat Surrey 360 (Abott 87, Jacks 64, S Curran 52, Worrall 51) and 84 (Bailey 5-48, Williams 4-23) by 123 runs

espn

Lancashire's Tom Bailey and Will Williams took just 45 minutes to complete their team's 123-run triumph against Surrey on day four at the Kia Oval - the county champions' first defeat at their home ground in first-class cricket in 19 matches, going back to August 2020.


Williams picked up 4 for 13 in just 4.3 overs on the final morning as Surrey were routed for 84, giving him overall figures of 4 for 23 while Bailey finished with 5 for 48.

The two quicks took only 9.3 overs to snatch Surrey's last five second-innings wickets to end a run of 18 first-class games at the Oval in which the current LV= Insurance County Championship Division One leaders have won 12 and drawn the other six.

Bailey, whose heroic 11-over new-ball spell of 4 for 34 on the third evening had helped to reduce Surrey to 57 for 5 overnight - still 151 runs away from their 208 fourth-innings target - made the initial breakthrough in his second over of the morning, having nightwatcher Tom Lawes caught behind for 10.

And then Williams got into the act, bowling Will Jacks for 20 in the next over as the Surrey all-rounder shouldered arms to one that jagged back into him off the seam.

Batting was not straightforward against a ball still fewer than 30 overs old and in overcast conditions, with the Oval floodlights on, and later in the same over Williams grabbed the wicket Lancashire wanted above all others on the final morning as Sam Curran was bowled off stump for 12 by another superb ball angled across him by the New Zealander and then nipping back.

Williams, however, was still not finished. In his third over of the day the 30-year-old - who made 61 in a four-hour stint as nightwatcher, a maiden first-class half-century, in Lancashire's second-innings 293 - had Sean Abbott taken by keeper Phil Salt for a duck.

Abbott had hit an unbeaten 87 in Surrey's first innings of 360, adding a remarkable 130 for the tenth wicket with Dan Worrall, but now the Australian was gone to his third ball and at 75 for 9, having lost four wickets in 20 balls, Surrey could only hope for another final wicket miracle.

It did not come this time, with Worrall finishing six not out as Jordan Clark, aiming a big hit, skied Williams to mid off to go for four and spark Lancashire celebrations. This was Lancashire's second win of the championship season, and they remain unbeaten; for title favourites Surrey, however, it is a sobering setback.

[themaclad]

Essex 4 days Blackpool 10/7/2023 to 13/7/2023



https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/fy6

Take a brolly

After a lengthy warm period nothing like a four day game at Blackpool to bring back weather conditions Noah would have enjoyed

Lancashire's County Championship record at Blackppol

https://cricketarchive.com/Lancashire/Gr...326_f.html

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Essex 12 for 1 vs Lancashire

The first day of Lancashire's match with second-placed Essex in the LV= Insurance County Championship match at Blackpool was badly affected by the weather with just 28 balls possible in which time Essex made 12 for one.

Both teams came into the fixture with enforced changes, Essex opener Feroze Khushi having sustained a sore hand last week in the Vitality Blast while Lancashire rested Daryl Mitchell to help the overseas all-rounder manage a groin issue.

The day was split into two short tranches of play that book-ended this unusual day.

After a misleadingly sunny morning, Essex won the toss and elected to bat under increasingly gloomy skies, a mood probably shared by Nick Browne after he edged the fourth delivery of the day from Tom Bailey to Colin de Grandhomme at third slip without a run on the board.

In the 25 balls bowled in the morning there was time for Alastair Cook to punch a four off the back foot from Will Williams and Essex skipper Tom Westley to glance Bailey to fine leg for four off the first ball of the fifth over.

At that point the rain arrived to take the players from the field for more than six hours, and it was a testament to the Blackpool club that their outfield, re-laid three years ago, coped admirably with the deluge that fell during the day.

That allowed umpires Peter Hartley and Steve O'Shaughnessy to restart play at 5.30pm following several inspections, but only three balls had been bowled in Bailey's interrupted over before bad light halted play once again, with more rain minutes later ending a very frustrating day.

Cook (4 not out) and Westley (8 not out) will resume the Essex first innings tomorrow.

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Tom Bailey’s six-wicket haul led a good Lancashire fightback after Tom Westley’s century and his record-breaking century partnership with Paul Walter rescued Essex from a poor start on the second day of this LV= Insurance County Championship encounter at Blackpool.
Skipper Westley made 135 to put Essex in a strong position at tea but Tom Bailey, with six for 59, helped bowl the visitors out for 282 with Lancashire 37 for one and behind by 245 runs at the close.

A day played mainly in glorious sunshine, in sharp contrast to the wet conditions twenty-fours earlier, began with Lancashire enjoying the better of the opening hour as Essex, resuming on 12 for one, lost three wickets for 35 runs.

Two fine opening spells from Bailey and Will Williams had the visitors in early trouble, starting when Alastair Cook was caught for 11 edging Williams to Keaton Jennings at first slip.



Bailey then had Dan Lawrence dropped at slip, but caught for one from the following delivery in bizarre circumstances. The Essex batter’s fierce drive flew straight back at the bowler who inadvertently deflected the ball to Bohannon at mid-off.

Having made 13, Matt Critchley became the third wicket of the day to fall, when he edged a beautiful seaming delivery from Williams to wicketkeeper Phil Salt to put the hosts firmly on top.



Westley and Walter slowly but surely turned the innings around either side of lunch with Walter hammering two sixes off left arm spinner Hartley in the last over before the interval.

The pair dominated the afternoon, Westley reaching his fifty with a sweetly timed on drive for four just after the resumption, and he produced some stylish shots across the session to reach his third century of the season from 166 balls, with his 15th four also breaking the Essex fifth wicket record partnership of 147 against Lancashire – set coincidentally at Blackpool – by Sonny Avery and Tom Pearce in 1948.

The only blemish of a fine innings came when Westley was on 78, with Hartley unable to cling to a sharp chance at midwicket off Colin de Grandhomme.



Walter went to his 80-ball half century in style, pulling Jack Blatherwick over midwicket for his third six. His crisp striking of the ball was a feature of his controlled, slightly more aggressive approach that had brought the left-hander 76 runs before he was spectacularly caught one-handed by Blatherwick at midwicket off de Grandhomme just before tea with Essex 210 for five.

Essex continued to prosper after the break as Simon Harmer (24) lent good support to Westley with 65 runs added for the sixth wicket before Lancashire hit back with the second new ball, taking the last five wickets for seven runs inside seven overs.

Westley’s excellent innings came to an end after five and a half hours at the crease when he edged Williams to Rob Jones at second slip and Bailey then ran through the tail with a superb spell, taking the remaining four wickets in 20 balls after bowling Harmer, having Doug Bracewell caught at midwicket by Dane Vilas and trapping both Will Buttleman and Sam Cook lbw.



Lancashire lost Luke Wells for a duck, playing on against Jamie Porter but Jennings (13 not out) and Josh Bohannon (20 not out) survived to reach stumps safely.

“We struggled in that middle session but after playing at the Oval last week we knew the Kookaburra balls get quite soft and it becomes quite tough to take wickets,” said Tom Bailey.

“But we knew if we kept in it, and kept the ball dry, then when the new ball came around we’d have a chance.

“And we got our rewards in the end.

“They were looking at potentially getting a decent total, 350, 400, or so. We stuck at it and managed to get the last five wickets for seven runs. That was a bonus.”

There was a real contrast in the weather conditions with a sunny day following yesterday’s rain and Bailey added:

“Yesterday I felt like it could have been 150 all out in those conditions.

“The pitch had flattened out this morning and soon as that ball gets soft, it’s so difficult to take wickets. It wasn’t the best session from us in that middle period but the boys came back out fighting in the final session.



And Bailey was keen to share the plaudits with Will Williams.

“Will keeps me going,” he said.

“It’s quite easy to get frustrated sometimes but he’s relentless. He’s been great to bowl with. We are always chatting at mid-on and mid-off, trying to keep each other going. It seems to be working.

“All me and Will are talking about is getting that Dukes ball back in our hands!”

With so much time lost yesterday, the prospects of a result have lessened but Bailey added:

“After twenty to thirty overs (with these balls), it’s a different game so if Keats and Bosh can get to that point tomorrow hopefully we can kick on and get a really good total on the board.”