At a glance
- Lancashire and Gloucestershire on bye weeks
- Middlesex host Durham at Lords
- Northamptonshire v Worcestershire in third v fourth
There are three matches in this week’s County Championship Division Two. Leaders Lancashire and Gloucestershire both have a bye, leaving the spotlight on a crucial clash as fourth place host third in what could prove a pivotal game in the promotion race. You can see the full table here.
Northamptonshire v Worcestershire
Fourth-placed Northamptonshire have drawn all three of their matches so far. After last week’s bye, they will be eager to secure their first win of the season. In their most recent outing against Middlesex, James Sales top-scored with 164, while Nathan McSweeney added 107 in their only innings.
Northamptonshire Squad: Procter (c), Bartlett, Broad, Conway, Harrison, Kimber, McManus, McSweeney, Sales, Sanderson, Scrimshaw, Vasconcelos, Weatherall, Zaib.
Third place Worcestershire thrashed bottom side Kent by an innings and two runs last week. Brett D’Oliveira top scored in their only innings with 90. Tom Taylor took 5-56 in Kent’s second innings to get the victory. First innings wickets went to Olly Hannon-Dalby and Beyers Swanepoel, who took three apiece.
Worcestershire Squad: libby, Waite, Singh, Swanepoel, Roderick, Taylor, D’Oliveira (c), Hannon-Dalby, Lategan, Ali, Hose, Finch,, Brookes, Jones.
Middlesex v Durham
Middlesex had their bye week last round, and announced a new signing – South African bowler Eathan Bosch. In their last game, a 140 run partnership between Joe Cracknell (79) and Zafar Gohar (83) got Middlesex out of a bit of trouble, helping them get to 341 from 164-6.
In the second innings, Sam Robson scored 162 to secure the draw. Toby Roland-Jones and Naavya Sharma got three wickets apiece in Northamptonshire’s only innings of the game. Middlesex sit in fifth spot.
Middlesex Squad: du Plooy (c), Bosch, Cracknell, De Caires, Falconer, Geddes, Gohar, Higgins, Holden, Hollman, Morgan, Robson, Roland-Jones, Sharma.
Durham beat Lancashire last week, with current ReadCricket player of the week Emilio Gay’s match winning 159, in a partnership of 290 with David Bedingham for the third wicket.
Ben Raine also had match figures of 7-127 against the league leaders. Durham are second at the moment, and with Lancashire not playing, they will have the chance to take back top spot.
Durham Squad: Ackermann, Aldridge, Bedingham, Clark, Gay, Lees (c), McKinney, Minto, Parkinson, Potts, Raine, Roach, L. Robinson, O. Robinson.
Kent v Derbyshire
Bottom side Kent were heavily beaten by Worcestershire last week, though they had drawn their opening two matches against Durham and Northamptonshire.
In that defeat, Matt Milnes took 4-81 in Worcestershire’s only innings, while Chris Benjamin was Kent’s top scorer across both innings with 77 in the second. They will need improvement with both bat and ball if they are to compete.
Kent Squad: Bell-Drummond (c), Benjamin, Crawley, Dawkins, Denly, Dudgeon, Evison, Milnes, Muyeye, Northeast, Parkinson, E. Singh, J Singh.
Derbyshire gave Gloucestershire their first win of the season last week, losing by 10 wickets. Captain Wayne Madsen top scored in the first innings with 65 and Matthew Montgomery scored 74 in the second innings. Derbyshire are another side that will want to see improvements with both bat and ball.
Derbyshire Squad: Came(c), Aitchison, Andersson, Chappell, Dal, Guest, Jewell, Madsen, Abbas, Montgomery, Reece, Bashir.
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