English Domestic Season 2025

[Blenkinsop]

Good finishes at Northampton, Bristol and Blackpool as it turns out.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well I was at Lancashire v Kent on Monday and Tuesday, it was pretty poor. The bowling on show was actually worse than poor in many cases. Balderson and Evison look like they are good cricketers but not many others stood out bar Jimmy who was a class above the rest.

Lovely ground Blackpool, has a feel of a New Zealand ground and the banter was flying making it feel like we were back there.

The Aussie batted well for Lancs and Bohannon did once he got in.

 

[Blenkinsop]

Was the bowling actually worse than in most county games, or just exposed by the Kookaburra ball and short boundaries?

That Lancs team does look pretty poor bar Anderson, Jennings, Bohannon and Harris.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Bowling was pretty rubbish. Innocuous in the extreme.

 

[Third_Man]

Well I was at Lancashire v Kent on Monday and Tuesday, it was pretty poor. The bowling on show was actually worse than poor in many cases. Balderson and Evison look like they are good cricketers but not many others stood out bar Jimmy who was a class above the rest.

Lovely ground Blackpool, has a feel of a New Zealand ground and the banter was flying making it feel like we were back there.

The Aussie batted well for Lancs and Bohannon did once he got in.

Lancashire doing what Lancashire do well:

get Kent 7 down for 116 and then allow a 8th wicket partnership of 172 (and that was in less than 40 overs).

Worth noting that Anderson bowled the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th overs (took himself off at 10/1 after the 7th over). Only to return just the 71 overs later for the 78th over at 280/7 for further 6 overs. Best bowler gets 10 overs when you desperately need wickets. He needs to have a word with the captain, or was he under orders to save himself for the next game?

Must be the end of Mitchell Stanley's first class career after 13 overs for 81 today (wicketless and over 6 an over) on the back of 21 overs for 70 in the first innings. First class average of 151. Just aswell Lancashire announced his contract for 2026 a couple of weeks ago, rather than wait until this week. They like his commitment to training, according to the press release. Maybe they should run a fitness centre. Bet the captain wished he had Hartley available to bowl today instead of Stanley to compliment Bailey bowling his off spin. Hartley of course was left out of the team to accomodate a fourth seamer.

Still Thunder won their first ever professional era trophy. All's well.

 

[Hungry Llama]

So many oz playing in this round, i think there were 5 in the lancs vs Kent alone, almost like a Sheffield shield reunion. Perhaps cos the next 4? rounds are with the kball.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Lancashire doing what Lancashire do well:

get Kent 7 down for 116 and then allow a 8th wicket partnership of 172 (and that was in less than 40 overs).

Worth noting that Anderson bowled the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th overs (took himself off at 10/1 after the 7th over). Only to return just the 71 overs later for the 78th over at 280/7 for further 6 overs. Best bowler gets 10 overs when you desperately need wickets. He needs to have a word with the captain, or was he under orders to save himself for the next game?

Must be the end of Mitchell Stanley's first class career after 13 overs for 81 today (wicketless and over 6 an over) on the back of 21 overs for 70 in the first innings. First class average of 151. Just aswell Lancashire announced his contract for 2026 a couple of weeks ago, rather than wait until this week. They like his commitment to training, according to the press release. Maybe they should run a fitness centre. Bet the captain wished he had Hartley available to bowl today instead of Stanley to compliment Bailey bowling his off spin. Hartley of course was left out of the team to accomodate a fourth seamer.

Still Thunder won their first ever professional era trophy. All's well.

Captain took himself off.

Obviously didn't fancy it...

 

[Third_Man]

So many oz playing in this round, i think there were 5 in the lancs vs Kent alone, almost like a Sheffield shield reunion. Perhaps cos the next 4? rounds are with the kball.

Limited to 2 overseas players per side and Kent had Kashif Ali playing. Only Aussies playing were Green, Turner and Agar. Stewart probably dual national who plays for Italy these days. Has he ever played Sheffield Shield?

 

[kevinw]

Both Kent and Lancashire are where they deserve to be. It's been a steep learning curve in D2. Both pretty limp with the bat despite some decent "on paper" batting. Ben Compton is the division's top scorer, and Grant Stewart has two hundreds in the late order, but the rest of the performances with the bat have been woeful. Muyeye has been OK, the skipper poor, and Finch and Leaning have just been dreadful. Chris Benjamin, to his credit, looked decent before his injury. Whoever's in charge of recruitment needs to find some decent batters next season, preferably one overseas banker.

 

[chris.hinton]

County Championship

Division 1

1. Nottinghamshire 127
2. Surrey 125
3. Sussex 109
4. Somerset 106
5. Warwickshire 104
6. Durham 97
7. Hampshire 96
8. Essex 85
==================
9. Yorkshire 71
10. Worcestershire 57

Division 2

1. Leicestershire 155
2. Derbyshire 122
===================
3. Glamorgan 110
4. Gloucestershire 99
5. Northamptonshire 94
6. Lancashire 80
7. Middlesex 77
8. Kent 76

 

[wpdavid]

My old uni friends and I had our annual meet-up at The Oval today. Very hot indeed of course, but one section of the ground was in the shade, so that's where we sat. Seeing Surrey batting, I assumed that Burns must have won the toss, but apparently not. I suppose Lees must have had his reasons for opting to bowl first, even if they escaped me. The oddest thing at the start was the need for sawdust in the run-ups, as there hasn't been any rain for days. But they eventually sorted that out. Burns got off to a flyer and reached 50 in an hour and a bit. Strangely, he then got bogged down and edged behind trying something funky against Neesham. Patel's first contribution was to injure Potts, who chased his straight drive down the ground all the way to the boundary rope and then slide into the boards preventing the four. That led to Potts being flat out for a while, with the ball by now a metre or so inside the rope. Sportingly, Patel and Sibley stopped running once it was clear that Potts needed attention, or they could have run about ten. Patel did his usual thing of starting well before edging behind trying something way too extravagent against Raine. That must have been almost the last contribution from the bowler, as we noticed soon after wards that Raine had stopped playing, and we didn't see him again for the rest of the day,

Enter SCurran, who promptly made batting look ridiculously easy. His second FC hundred was never really in doubt and, given his muted celebration this time, we all thought he was determined to make it a daddy. Instead, he decided that he wanted to try and launch the offspinner Drissell out of the stadium. His first attempt went miles in the air but fell between two fielders. His next attempt wasn't so lucky, as he unerringly picked out Neesham on the boundary. All very odd, as he could have kept playing the way he had and been unbeaten on 150 at the close. Anyway, Lawrence came in and helped himself to the easiest unbeaten 50 he's ever make against a frankly knackered attack on what looks like a complete road. Meanwhile, Sibley reached his own chanceless hundred in far more sedate style than Curran. And then he decided to enjoy himself, unleashing a series of reverse sweeps, guides through the slips (especially against Potts) and even a ramp. Who was this person? And what had he done with Dominic Sibley? Anyway, he was still there at close of play, which was quite something in the heat. 407 for 3 makes it Surrey's day, but I don't think the home side's bowlers will find it easy either when Durham get to bat.

 

[Midwinter]

Good day for Worcester

Hose made 266 at better than a run a ball and put on 395 for the 3rd wicket with Libby.

456 runs in the day

 

[wpdavid]

Good day for Worcester
Hose made 266 at better than a run a ball and put on 395 for the 3rd wicket with Libby.
456 runs in the day

That's the sort of scorecard which reminds me of a Spitting Image sketch back in 1985, after England had finished Day 3 in Madras (as was) at the preposterous score of 611 for 5. This remember, was England's fairly hopeless side in the mid-1980s. Spitting Image's response was a latex version of the famously resurrection-denying Bishop of Durham who patiently explained that this total should not in any way be taken as a literal score, merely a figurative demonstration of England's cricketers actually having a good day.

But apparently Worcestershire's scorecard yesterday is genuine. @chris.hinton it's OK to check the scorecard today mate, it wasn't all a dream.

 

[mackembhoy]

My old uni friends and I had our annual meet-up at The Oval today. Very hot indeed of course, but one section of the ground was in the shade, so that's where we sat. Seeing Surrey batting, I assumed that Burns must have won the toss, but apparently not. I suppose Lees must have had his reasons for opting to bowl first, even if they escaped me. The oddest thing at the start was the need for sawdust in the run-ups, as there hasn't been any rain for days. But they eventually sorted that out. Burns got off to a flyer and reached 50 in an hour and a bit. Strangely, he then got bogged down and edged behind trying something funky against Neesham. Patel's first contribution was to injure Potts, who chased his straight drive down the ground all the way to the boundary rope and then slide into the boards preventing the four. That led to Potts being flat out for a while, with the ball by now a metre or so inside the rope. Sportingly, Patel and Sibley stopped running once it was clear that Potts needed attention, or they could have run about ten. Patel did his usual thing of starting well before edging behind trying something way too extravagent against Raine. That must have been almost the last contribution from the bowler, as we noticed soon after wards that Raine had stopped playing, and we didn't see him again for the rest of the day,

Enter SCurran, who promptly made batting look ridiculously easy. His second FC hundred was never really in doubt and, given his muted celebration this time, we all thought he was determined to make it a daddy. Instead, he decided that he wanted to try and launch the offspinner Drissell out of the stadium. His first attempt went miles in the air but fell between two fielders. His next attempt wasn't so lucky, as he unerringly picked out Neesham on the boundary. All very odd, as he could have kept playing the way he had and been unbeaten on 150 at the close. Anyway, Lawrence came in and helped himself to the easiest unbeaten 50 he's ever make against a frankly knackered attack on what looks like a complete road. Meanwhile, Sibley reached his own chanceless hundred in far more sedate style than Curran. And then he decided to enjoy himself, unleashing a series of reverse sweeps, guides through the slips (especially against Potts) and even a ramp. Who was this person? And what had he done with Dominic Sibley? Anyway, he was still there at close of play, which was quite something in the heat. 407 for 3 makes it Surrey's day, but I don't think the home side's bowlers will find it easy either when Durham get to bat.

Looks like we fell for a green pitch. A mental decision from us.

You'll put up 700 and we'll wilt in the 34 degrees heat tomorrow.

 

[mackembhoy]

See Adam Hose had some fun with the Kookaburra yesterday for your boys @chris.hinton .

266 from 253 yesterday with previously only 1 FC century from 49 games.

This Kookaburra crap needs scrapped, 2 more games of this is very much

 

[wpdavid]

Looks like we fell for a green pitch. A mental decision from us.

There wasn't even any movement in the first hour. An edge from Sibley fell short of Robinson, but that was it. Burns scored really freely in the first hour, and even Sibley was going along well enough too. Potts and Raine found nothing in the pitch to help them, Hogg was sending down a four-ball or two each over, and Durham only contained the run-scoring when Neesham and Rhodes came on.


The commentary team are talking about a declaration before lunch today, but I don't agree with them. Before or at tea seems more likely to me.

 

[chris.hinton]

Brilliant from Worcestershire and from Adam Hose.

Impressed with made some runs for a change. Our Batting this season in the County Championship has been a massive joke, Perhaps this is the start of the change

 

[chris.hinton]

See Adam Hose had some fun with the Kookaburra yesterday for your boys @chris.hinton .

266 from 253 yesterday with previously only 1 FC century from 49 games.

This Kookaburra crap needs scrapped, 2 more games of this is very much

Watched some of it on the stream. Some of the shots Hose was playing was classy. Impressive but he's the type of player to get nothing in the next 5-6 innings

I agree with the Kookaburra experiment

 

[RightArmMystery]

Wild scorecard at The Oval. Sibley's brought up his 300. Surrey now well over 700

 

[wpdavid]

Wild scorecard at The Oval. Sibley's brought up his 300. Surrey now well over 700

Now gone for 305, and may well be heading for the nearest ice bath after batting in these condtions for a day and a half. He must have sweated several kilos during this innings. 785 for 6 now, with Jacks on 91. Maybe Burns is allowing Jacks to reach three figures before declaring.