- Round Two starts Friday 10th April
- Leaders Middlesex face Worcestershire
- Bottom side Gloucestershire take on Durham
The Rothesay County Championship resumes tomorrow (Friday 10th) and Middlesex will be looking to open up a bit of a gap at the top of the table with a second win in a row.
Gloucestershire v Durham
Gloucestershire were the only side to lose their first game, and it was a massive innings and 14 runs defeat to Middlesex. Miles Hammond top scored with 77 over the two innings, so Gloucestershire will need others to come up with some runs. The bowling wasn’t much better, with the pick of the bowlers being Oliver Price, with 2-40. Hammond took 2-2 in his one over.
Gloucestershire Squad
Bancroft (c), Bell, Bracey, Charlesworth, Hammond, Miles, Phillips, Price, Taylor, van Buuren, Williams
Durham secured the draw with Kent in the first game, with Kent needing another 122 runs and Durham needing five wickets. Emilio Gay scored 128 in the first innings, so other players will need to help out. Kemar Roach and Matthew Potts both took three wickets in the first innings, and Potts took another couple in the second, so Durham will want their international stars to shine again.
Durham Squad:
Lees (c), Ackermann, Aldridge, Bedingham, Clark, Gay, McKinney, Potts, Raine, Roach, Robinson
Kent v Northamptonshire
Both sides drew their first match, and the home side will want to impress in front of the home fans. Sam Northeast scored 94 in the first innings against Durham, but no one helped out with a score over 25. This will be something that Kent will need to address. Keith Dudgeon had match figures of 7-117 and others chipped in, so that will need to continue.
Kent Squad
Bell-Drummond, Benjamin, Compton, Crawley, Dudgeon, Evison, Milnes, Muyeye, Northeast, Stewart, Stuurman
Northamptonshire held on for a draw, as Lancashire failed to get the final wicket, with Northants still needing 108 runs. They relied on a 75 from wicketkeeper Lewis McManus to help them get over 250 in the first innings. It then took a 95 from George Bartlett from 197 balls to secure the draw. More runs will be needed from the top order. Harry Conway and Ben Sanderson both took 6 wickets in the match and they will need to be on top form again.
Northamptonshire Squad
Procter (c), Bartlett, Conway, Harrison, Kimber, McManus, McSweeney, Sales, Sanderson, Vasconcelos, Zaib
Lancashire v Derbyshire
Lancashire will feel a little disappointed as they had to settle for a draw against Northamptonshire last week. First innings scores for Luke Wells (87), Josh Bohannon (90) and Michael Jones (71) gave Lancashire a big lead on first innings, but failed in the second innings so they will hope that doesn’t happen again. Jimmy Anderson rolled back the years with 8-111 in the match, helped by six wickets for Tom Bailey, nearly secured the win.
Lancashire Squad
Anderson (c), Bailey, Balderson, Bell, Bohannon, Singh Dale, Singh, Hartley, Hurst, Jones, Wells
Derbyshire only batted once and nearly won their game against Worcestershire. A massive 273 run fifth wicket partnership between Luis Reece (114) and Martin Andersson (228) helped Derbyshire score 625-8dec. They will want more of that. Bowling wise, no one particularly stood out with everyone taking wickets and it’s sharing of the workload that will help Derbyshire
Derbyshire Squad
Came (c), Aitchison, Andersson, Chappell, Dal, Guest, Jewell, Mohammad Abbas, Montgomery, Reece, Bashir
Middlesex were the only side to win their opening game of the season, with their impressive innings and 14 run win over Gloucestershire. In the runs was skipper Leus du Plooy, who scored 182 and Joe Cracknell scored 97 in their only innings of 445-9dec. Toby Roland-Jones had match figures of 6-83, and Sebastian Morgan chipped in with 4-48 in the second innings to secure the win.
Middlesex Squad
du Plooy (c), Cracknell, De Caires, Geddes, Higgins, Holden, Morgan, Robson, Roland-Jones, Sharma, Gohar
Worcestershire, on the other hand, needed to bat out for a draw, as they faced possibly losing by an innings against Derbyshire. Daniel Lategan top scored in the first innings with 89, and Brett D’Oliveira scored 50. But they were forced to follow on and only an innings of 66 off 141 balls from Matthew Waite, and a 52 off 131 from Adam Hose helped secure the draw in the end. Worcestershire will need to improve with bat and ball to trouble Middlesex this week.
Worcestshire Squad:
D’Oliveira, Brookes, Finch, Hannon-Dalby, Hose, Ali, Lategan, Libby, Roderick, Taylor, Waite
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