By The Guardian (Sports) | Created at 2024-09-27 09:56:26 | Updated at 2024-09-30 05:23:08
2 days ago
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“Salutations Tanya!” Good morning Tim Maitland.
”Kamindu Mendis is at it again in the second test against the Kiwis at Galle: his fifth test century in his eighth match!
”By my calculations, if he reaches 178 he’ll equal Don Bradman’s record of reaching four figures in 13 innings.
”Bradman needed seven tests.
”It’s a shame Kamindu played that single test against the Aussies in July 2022 (He scored 61 in his one inning), otherwise he’d have had a chance to break Herbert Sutcliffe’s record of reaching 1,000 in 244 days. Then again, as my American wife would say, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we’d all have a merry Christmas.
”Except now she’s denying any knowledge of it. Welcome to my world.”
I’ve arrived at Headingley. The sun is out, the wind is fresh, the leaves are damp and russet and underfoot. The prospects of play are … middling.. some still shimmering puddles left of the wicket will need some work from the elements.
A damp outlook
Two games called off for the day, delayed starts everywhere else:
DIVISION ONE
TAUNTON: Somerset 136 v Hampshire 62-5 inspection at 11am
CHESTER LE STREET: Durham v Kent no play Thursday or Friday
TRENT BRIDGE: Nottinghamshire 33-2 v Warwickshire inspection at noon
NEW ROAD Worcestershire 119-7 v Lancashire inspection after lunch
CHELMSFORD: Essex 116-1 v Surrey start delayed
DIVISION TWO
HEADINGLEY: Yorkshire v Northamptonshire inspection at lunch
SOPHIA GARDENS Glamorgan v Gloucestershire delayed start
HOVE Sussex v Middlesex inspection at noon
GRACE ROAD Leicestershire v Derbyshire no play Thursday or Friday
Play abandoned for the day at Chester le Street
Wet, wet, wet.
Play abandoned for the day at Grace Road
And the first one bites the dust. The umpires have deemed the surface so waterlogged that play is never going to happen whatever the mopping and sopping efforts. Reports from the ground suggest that the temperature will struggle to hit double digits so don’t expect any rapid drying either.
Thursday's round-up
Day one was a washout at five grounds, as the County Championship pulled on its bedsocks and rolled into the final week of the season. With the champions already crowned, Sussex up, and Kent down, just one promotion and one relegation spot remain to be played for.
At New Road, Lancashire threw themselves into the relegation dog fight with abandon, reducing Worcestershire to 22 for five under dirty slate skies. Matthew Waite and Logan van Beek then bashed 63 for the eighth wicket, hauling Worcestershire beyond three figures, before the rain returned. Tom Bailey, accurate as a filled in full stop, finished with three for nine, and there were three wickets for Anderson Phillip.
Theoretically, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire are both in danger of the drop, but rain washed out all but 15.2 overs at Trent Bridge – Notts finishing 33 for two.
A shell-shocked Somerset were winkled out for 136 at Taunton, before fighting back, on a day when seven batters fell for nought. Tom Kohler-Cadmore was the only Somerset man to pass 29, with 63, an innings that started with carefree abandon but retreated into desperate accumulation as the wickets fell about him, four of them to the unstoppable Liam Dawson, four to Kyle Abbott – who bowled Shoaib Bashir only for the ball to be deemed dead when a towel fell out of his pocket in his delivery stride. Hampshire then wobbled as Jack Leach took three wickets, he and Bashir bowling in tandem for the first time in a Championship match.
There was no play at Hove, much to the frustration of Middlesex, who need to make up a 15-point deficit to have a hope of promotion. A wet outfield prevented any play at Headingley, too, where Yorkshire need a maximum of 10 points to breathe easy.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
TAUNTON: Somerset 136 v Hampshire 62-5
CHESTER LE STREET: Durham v Kent no play Thursday.
TRENT BRIDGE: Nottinghamshire 33-2 v Warwickshire
NEW ROAD Worcestershire 119-7 v Lancashire
CHELMSFORD: Essex 116-1 v Surrey
DIVISION TWO
HEADINGLEY: Yorkshire v Northamptonshire no play Thursday
SOPHIA GARDENS Glamorgan v Gloucestershire no play Thursday
HOVE Sussex v Middlesex no play Thursday
GRACE ROAD Leicestershire v Derbyshire no play Thursday
Preamble
Good morning! After yesterday’s soggy events, and various amber weather warnings, I’ve plumped for Headingley as the place most likely to see men in whites running around. The sky isn’t too encouraging from this Trans Pennine Express, and the passing foilage is definitely damp, but let’s hope for more action wherever you are on day two of this final match of the season.
Play (possibly) starts at 10.30am.
