Surrey are well led, unbeaten and have bowled, batted and fielded better than any other side in the County ChampionshipBy Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket BlogAs had been clear for some weeks now, the champions’ pennant will fly over the Oval next sum…
Updates from around the county groundsEngland v India: fifth Test, day five – live!You can email Tanya here or tweet her here 11.23am BST Somerset now 20/4 – still trailing Hampshire by 22 runs on first-innings. Abbott 4/16. 11.20am BST This is Will’s …
Updates from the final day of the latest round of matchesGet in touch below the line or tweet Graham hereEngland v India: fifth Test, day one – live 10.03am BST Good morning from Trent Bridge, where it is a gloriously sunny morning for the second day r…
Updates from the final day of the latest round of matchesGet in touch below the line or tweet Graham hereEngland v India: fifth Test, day one – live 10.03am BST Good morning from Trent Bridge, where it is a gloriously sunny morning for the second day r…
Updates from the final day of the latest round of matchesGet in touch below the line or tweet Graham hereEngland v India: fifth Test, day one – live 10.03am BST Good morning from Trent Bridge, where it is a gloriously sunny morning for the second day r…
• Batsman involved in ball-tampering scandal in South Africa • ‘I am grateful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to get over’Durham have signed Cameron Bancroft, the ball-tampering opening batsman who received a nine-month domestic ban by Cricket Aus…
England cricketer acquitted after jury accepts he had acted in self-defenceThe England cricketer Ben Stokes has been cleared of affray after a fight outside a Bristol nightclub.A jury at Bristol crown court acquitted the 27-year old Durham all-rounder …
Surrey, the only undefeated team in the country, are looking imperious after five straight wins in the County ChampionshipBy Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket BlogSurrey have opened up a 34-point buffer at the top of Division One after marmalising Nott…
Newly promoted Nottinghamshire are top of the table after their third win of the season. Will they ‘do an Essex’?By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket BlogNottinghamshire’s third win of the season puts them 17 points clear at the top of Division One, as…
• Lancashire leg-spinner’s career-best fails to force win• Notts go top of First Division with win over HampshireOn a scorching day in Manchester, as the swifts arrived from the south, Somerset batted all day until the teams shook hands at te…
How is your team shaping up? Fans give their verdicts on the season aheadI thought we’d narrowly avoid relegation before last season, so found our Championship win quite astonishing. But Simon Harmer won’t be the same unknown quantity this season and J…
With the new county cricket season beginning next week, we’d like to hear your hopes for the summer aheadThe weather is looking a bit kinder than in recent weeks and soon cricket grounds around the country will be hosting domestic games. Friday 13 Apri…
• Pace man returns to payroll after England scale back to white-ball contract
• Parachute payment from ECB will ease concerns for embattled Durham
Mark Wood has been downgraded from a full England central contract to a white ball-only deal. But while this means the fast bowler will now return to the payroll at Durham, the county are phlegmatic about the impact it will have on their tight finances.
Wood, 27, returned from a third ankle operation at the start of the 2017 season and went on to have a significant impact for England’s one-day team during the first half of the summer. He bowled with pace and claimed a raft of high-profile scalps that included Hashim Amla, Kane Williamson, David Warner and Steve Smith en route to the Champions Trophy semi-finals.
• Burnham, 20, has tested positive for a recreational drug
• ‘I’ve let team-mates, members and supporters down’
Jack Burnham faces a 12-month ban after testing positive for a recreational drug. Durham announced on Wednesday that the 20-year-old batsman had failed a test after supplying a hair sample in September.
The news of an impending ban for their promising player is another blow for the club. Since they were relegated to Division Two of the County Championship a year ago as part of an ECB bailout, several players have left to further their careers elsewhere.
• Director of cricket defends ‘outstanding’ Mick Newell and Angus Fraser
• Durham chairman said selectors from counties create conflict of interest
Andrew Strauss has defended the make-up of his England selection panel and said Sir Ian Botham is “100% wrong” if he thinks the two county directors on the panel use their positions to help sign players.
Botham, the Durham chairman, questioned whether there was a conflict of interest after the all-rounder Paul Coughlin joined Nottinghamshire through a £20,000 buyout clause in his contract – a move that means he will play under Mick Newell, who both heads cricket operations at Trent Bridge and sits on the England panel.
• Former England captain questions ‘conflict of interests’ over Notts move
• Keaton Jennings could be the next to leave embattled North East club
Sir Ian Botham, the chairman of Durham, has angrily questioned conflicts of interest within the England selection panel and called for the introduction of a transfer system in cricket after seeing Paul Coughlin, a talented all-rounder, opt to leave the embattled club for Nottinghamshire.
In a pointed statement issued on Tuesday announcing Coughlin’s decision to leave for a three-year deal at Trent Bridge, Botham expressed his frustration at losing a home-grown player and, while not naming him directly, highlighted the fact that one of the draws of Nottinghamshire is that their director cricket, Mick Newell, is also on the national selection panel.
• Durham county council confirms inquiry into cause of accident
• Three injured and woman left with broken leg at Chester-le-Street
Durham County Council has confirmed it will investigate the cause of the partial collapse of a stand which left a female spectator with a broken leg at Chester-le-Street.
Related: Jonny Bairstow to open for England in first ODI match with West Indies
• Sussex 268 & 211/9; Glamorgan 294 & 182
• Sussex won by one wicket
A staggering win for Sussex, a day of rain at Kent and positions of strength for Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire: the race for Division Two’s two promotion spots is bubbling beautifully, and this was a seismic day of action.
Sussex’s was an extraordinary win, against Glamorgan – who picked a green team as their big names rested up for T20 Finals Day. Chris Jordan docked the tail to finish with five for 46 as Glamorgan made 182 at their Colwyn Bay ground. Sussex’s pursuit of 209 got off to the worst possible start as Lukas Carey had Luke Wells caught behind first ball and soon enough they were 10 for two. Stiaan van Zyl and Chris Nash rebuilt, before Andrew Salter dismissed Van Zyl (lbw) and Luke Wright (stumped) with successive deliveries to leave Sussex 100 for four.
• England prospect scores unbeaten 215 to build massive lead
• Essex bowlers bring leaders back into the game against Somerset
The sense that Liam Livingstone is a rare talent who will end up playing all three formats for England was emphatically strengthened by his brilliant maiden double-century for Lancashire against Warwickshire at Old Trafford.
Livingstone’s unbeaten 215 (from 318 balls with 25 fours and three sixes, one of which – a pull off Olly Stone – brought up his century) leaves Lancashire 284 runs ahead with four first-innings wickets in hand at the game’s halfway stage. A golden opportunity awaits to close the gap on the Division One leaders Essex before their visit to Old Trafford next week. Lancashire will go into that game second, and look the team best placed to haul Essex down.
• England bowler takes two early wickets for Middlesex at The Oval
• Essex recover after being bowled out for 159 against Somerset
Had you presented this rather patchwork Surrey XI to Alec Stewart, the director of cricket, back in April, he might just have choked on his tea. Zafar Ansari, Dom Sibley and Mark Footitt are off the staff, Kumar Sangakkara and Mark Stoneman are otherwise engaged, and Tom Curran leads the list of the injured. Thus Ollie Pope and Ryan Patel are debuting as two of four 19-year-olds. And is that really Rikki Clarke?
Having been asked to bowl first Surrey’s thrown-together side did very well indeed to bowl Middlesex out for 247. But then their openers ran into Toby Roland-Jones, returning from and emboldened by his England experience. His four overs before stumps saw Patel (whose medium pace had been better than tidy) hurried into turning to leg gully, then Rory Burns – suddenly the senior batsman – caught behind by a beauty that left him.
