Division Two, Rounds 2 and 3

Let's get up to date with what else has been happening in our division

I don’t really like defining a set of cricket matches as a “round” but it does make for straightforward pigeon-holing. There are 16 rounds of the County Cricket Championship and each team will only play 14 games, so every side has two empty rounds. Anyway, round 4 starts tomorrow so let’s get up to date!

Round 2

Leaders Nottingham hosted Glamorgan at Trent Bridge, lost the toss and were put into bat. All looked good after their first innings with Ben Duckett scoring 122 runs out of a score of 302, although the loss of their last six wickets for under 50 runs might have sounded a warning. Glamorgan replied with 379, Sam Northeast top-scoring with 82 and, once he was out, James Weighell and Timm van der Gugten putting on 106 for the ninth wicket. Notts second innings score of 242 all out (Duckett with 95) wasn’t enough to save the match, setting Glamorgan 166 to win. They managed that for the loss of 3 wickets, Marnus Labuschagne scoring an unbeaten half century.

Derbyshire and Sussex drew, as would be expected looking at last season. What wouldn’t be expected was almost 1200 runs between the two. Derbyshire started off with a first innings total of 505 for 8 declared: the mercurial Shan Masood putting 239 runs on the scoreboard, ably assisted by Wayne Madsen with 111. Sussex fell for 174 all out in their reply and were asked to follow on. At which point they scored  513 for 3 to draw the match. Many people’s suggestion to open the England batting Tom Haines shared a 351 run partnership Cheteshwar Pujara for the third wicket, Hanes scoring 243, Pujara an unbeaten 201.

In the other game of this round, Durham drew with Leicestershire. Durham’s Sean Dickson contributed 120 to a score of 428 but was bettered by David Beddingham’s 191. In reply, Leicester were dismissed for 273 with Matthew Potts taking 6 wickets for 58 off 27 overs. Durham’s Michael Jones put on 108 as part of a second innings of 239 for 2 for Durham to declare overnight on Day 3, leaving Leicestershire a target of 395 to in on the final day. They took 80 overs to score 183 for 2 before a draw was agreed.

Round 3

In last week’s matches, an unbeaten 104 from ‘keeper John Simpson and 5 wickets from Toby Roland-Jones helped Middlesex to victory against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens. More on this game elsewhere on MTWD.

Nottinghamshire beat Durham at Chester-le-Street in three days to stay top of the table. The hosts’ first innings score of 230 was never enough and Notts scored 488 for 9 declared in response to set up the win. Opener Ben Slater carried his bat with 225 runs off 445 balls, Lyndon James scored 108. Durham needed to score 259 runs to make Notts bat again and they only managed 117 runs all out.

Sussex look to be the weakest team in Division Two again this season, losing to Worcester by over an innings. Worcester scored 491 in their first innings, captain Brett D'Oliveira scored his second century of the season: this time an unbeaten 169. Despite a century from Cheteshwar Pujara, Sussex reply was a mere 269 so they still needed 222 to make Worcs bat a second time. They could only manage 188.

In the final result of this round, Leicestershire hosted near neighbours Derbyshire, won the toss and decided to bat. Derbyshire bowled them out for 213 and then put up 531 in reply, Shan Masood scored 219 and now has a first class average of 153 from four innings. This time, his accomplice was Mattie McKiernan with 101, although Wayne Madsen was run out on 94. I bet he regrets going for that single... In their second innings, Leicester managed 250 all out and the win was Derby’s.

Table (also available here: BBC cricket)

There must be a way of getting a table formatted into this board, until I can work out how to do that, here is a text version:

1. Notts – 52 points

2. Derbys – 51 pts

3. Glamorgan – 37

4. Worcs – 37

5. The Middle – 36

6. Durham – 32

7. Leics – 26

8. Sussex - 16