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Ball one: oh, Mr Porter!
In a round short on thrills, there was a sensational fourth morning at Chelmsford, where Worcestershire’s Ethan Brookes and Essex’s Jamie Porter were both cast in the role of a hero who wasn’t quite – for different reasons.
It started innocuously enough with the assumption that Paul Walter’s century, supplemented by a resilient late middle order, had set the visitors too many in 295, especially with six wickets frittered away the previous evening. When Matthew Waite was bowled by Porter without adding to his overnight score, viewers switched elsewhere, the match seemingly done. However, when news filtered through that Brookes, Worcestershire’s No 8, was hitting boundaries with an injured hand, we all flooded back for the dramatic denouement.
The facts state that, with tension rising, the all-rounder was out caught and bowled for 89, 29 runs short of the win, Porter bagging his sixth wicket to get Essex over the line. However, there was a bit more to it than that.
Everyone will have their own interpretation of the dismissal but perhaps only Brookes himself had a good enough sighting of ball, hands and ground to be sure of what happened in the tiny fraction of a second that mattered.
Confusion reigned. Porter got close (but not too close) to Brookes, who was standing his ground for a full and frank exchange of views. Fielders were charging in, but celebrations seemed to be on hold. Porter, having moved away from the stationary Brookes to implore the square leg umpire to uphold the appeal (though his colleague had already removed a bail, indicating that the match was over), then barged past Jordan Cox to get in the entirely blameless batter’s face.
Porter went in much closer than in the earlier stand-off – and a step too far in my view. If that secondary action, a very vigorous send-off indeed delivered after the decision was made, goes unsanctioned, a less self-controlled batter will be tempted to push a bowler away (or worse) in the future. Emotions running high or not, it’s best to signal that such provocation will not be tolerated by imposing a meaningful penalty.
Ball two: Hannon-Dalby is no Easter bunny
That win takes Essex to third in the table, below Sussex and Nottinghamshire. Haseeb Hameed’s men will be disappointed not to be the first club in the top flight to register a second win of the season.
Having elected to bowl, Fergus Neill and Brett Hutton shared 10 wickets as Warwickshire failed to reach three figures. Hameed did not, carrying his bat for 138, and, one week on from an epic second-innings chase at Durham, the home side faced another stretch under scoreboard pressure, 274 behind. But the Edgbaston weather favoured them, only 21 overs possible on the fourth day, though Nottinghamshire may reflect on allowing No 11 Oliver Hannon-Dalby to bat for almost an hour and a half, the Bears much the happier to settle for the draw.
Ball three: tide turning on Surrey at the sea?
The reigning champions of Division One set off down the A23 for Hove to face the reigning champions of Division Two, with the counties in contrasting frames of mind.
Sussex were riding high after having the better of a draw in their opening fixture and despatching Somerset last time out. Surrey’s season had barely got going, South London’s ruthless winning machine misfiring in pursuit of a fourth consecutive pennant.
Sensing a wounded beast, John Simpson took first use of the facilities and slept on an overnight 228-2 at better than four an over. Tom Haines anchored the innings with 174, but Rory Burns will have felt some relief that Sussex were restricted to 435. His all-Test top five needed to bat well to get anything out of the match, and they did, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence making centuries, supported by good knocks from Dom Sibley and Ben Foakes.
What will concern him more is the fact that it was the 118th over of the Sussex innings before either Dan Worrall or Jordan Clark took a wicket. In 2024, Worrall took 52 wickets at 16 and Clark 38 at 26; in 2023, it was 48 at 24 and 48 at 21, respectively. For all their resources, Surrey need their two ageing spearheads at their sharpest – and soon – if another title is to be secured.
Ball four: Lord’s a-leapin’ as Middlesex win
Glamorgan played a curious match at Lord’s, showing a sharp contrast in approach from day one to day four.
There was swing on the first morning, but the pitch looked full of runs (as it always does at Lord’s) so it was baffling to witness the visitors’ reluctance to play shots. After dawdling to 108-1 after 35 overs, captain Sam Northeast, at the scene of his 335 last year, was dismissed, prompting a collapse to 199 all out. Middlesex put that into perspective in piling up 470-9 declared, Max Holden notching another ton.
There was more resistance second time round, the old head Chris Cooke shepherding late middle order resistance, compiling 69 in a 51-overs stay. But, with rain around and no hope of setting a target, the last three wickets went in no time in a blaze of attacking strokes.
Understanding the rhythm of a match, and balancing attack and defence within it, is rather more straightforward from the rope than it is in the middle, but Glamorgan didn’t get it right at either end of the match. They are at the foot of Division Two; Middlesex go fourth with a platform to build.
Ball five: the new Steve Smith?
Rehan Ahmed is not yet 21 but might already be into his second career as a red-ball cricketer. Having become the youngest man to play for England in 2022, an occasion he marked with a five-wicket haul, he is morphing into a full-time opener and part-time bowler – in April at least. He’s 13,432 first class runs short of the Australian, but he’s on the same path.
He backed up 77 last time out with a round 100 against a lacklustre Lancashire attack, an innings full of authentic strokes played with a sunny smile on his face – leg-spinners learn early to value the good times. His captain, Peter Handscomb, cruised to 142 in his new opener’s wake, as Leicestershire gobbled up enough bonus points to keep them at the top of the division. The home team had Manchester rain, Josh Bohannon and Marcus Harris to thank for the draw – in that order.
Ball six: county cricket’s welcome chaos
Championship cricket is hard to predict, especially in April when nearly 30% of the competition’s matches are played. Players pick up twinges in the cold and damp, form can be hard to find after playing franchise cricket since September, and overseas players are increasingly often held up by admin issues. The need for time in the middle is exacerbated by the lack of time in the middle, leading to a spiral that can be hard to break for batters and turns bowling into a grinding search for rhythm.
That said, this season seems unusually unpredictable, as an examination of this paper’s preview reveals. Joint leaders, Nottinghamshire and Sussex, were tipped for seventh and ninth. And those tipped for first and second, Surrey and Somerset, are yet to register a win between them, condemning them to seventh and eighth spots. Lancashire, forecast to top Division Two, have not won yet, nor looked much like it, conceding over 400 runs in an innings in each of their matches so far.
This is not a bad thing at all. Sport needs jeopardy and teams (and fans) need to swallow the occasional bitter pill of defeat to stave off the enervating impact of complacency. There’s a long way to go yet, and the usual suspects may well fight it out for the prizes in the autumn, but, for the underdogs, hope springs eternal in the spring.
This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog
