Essex win County Championship: Draw at Somerset confirms 2019 title

[MenInG]

Champions Essex will begin the defence of their County Championship title against Yorkshire at Headingley.

The 2018 season starts on Friday, 13 April with three games in Division One and three in Division Two.

Middlesex, relegated in 2017 a year after being crowned champions, begin against Northants at Lord's.

Last season's two promoted teams, Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire, travel to Hampshire and Lancashire respectively.

The season starts a week later than in 2017, while the final round of fixtures starts on Monday, 24 September, a day earlier than in 2017.

Counties play 14 matches in a season. Each county in Division Two, which features 10 teams, play five sides twice and four teams once.

Following their trip to Leeds, Essex's opening home fixture is against Lancashire, starting on 20 April.

Opening round of 2018 County Championship fixtures (13-16 April)

Division One: Yorkshire v Essex, Hampshire v Worcestershire, Lancashire v NottinghamshireDivision Two: Kent v Gloucestershire, Warwickshire v Sussex, Middlesex v Northamptonshire

The One-Day Cup final will take place on Saturday, 30 June at Lord's, and T20 Finals Day is on Saturday, 15 September at Edgbaston.

Lancashire and Yorkshire meet in the first Roses match of the season at Old Trafford on Sunday, 22 July, with the reverse fixture starting on Monday, 10 September.

There will be nine day-night championship games spread throughout the summer, rather than all in late June like last season, but the limited-overs competitions follow a similar pattern to 2017.

All of the One-Day Cup group games are in May and early June - starting on 17 May - as the County Championship takes a four-week break.

The T20 Blast runs throughout July and August, beginning on 4 July, with a reduced schedule of four-day cricket in that period.

Notts won both domestic limited-overs trophies in 2017.

https://www.google.com.bh/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/cricket/42151122

 

[USofA]

Do these counties make enough money to break even or turn a profit? Or are they pretty much reliant on ECB handouts?

What would be interesting is to see how many fans show up to games, and eye balls on tv. Are these numbers published?

 

[carbon11]

The county 4 day games are not televised anymore

Only sone 50 over games are but mainly the t20s are

As for the crowds they are low , only the t20s get a decent rowdy crowd

 

[hadi123]

The county 4 day games are not televised anymore

Only sone 50 over games are but mainly the t20s are

As for the crowds they are low , only the t20s get a decent rowdy crowd

Yeah I've been to some Natwest T20 Blast games, and let me tell you one thing, majority of fans don't give a monkeys about which team wins. As most of the matches are played on Friday nights, for the majority of fans, it's just about getting drunk, hardly any focus on the cricket at all.

 

[USofA]

Yeah I've been to some Natwest T20 Blast games, and let me tell you one thing, majority of fans don't give a monkeys about which team wins. As most of the matches are played on Friday nights, for the majority of fans, it's just about getting drunk, hardly any focus on the cricket at all.

Will this attitude change with the EPL whenever that starts? Because it is important to have passionate fans supporting teams for a league to develop.

 

[hadi123]

Will this attitude change with the EPL whenever that starts? Because it is important to have passionate fans supporting teams for a league to develop.

I would hope so. TBF I think it's the older people who care about the cricket more, it's the 20,30,40 year olds who get drunk off Beer

 

[barah_admi]

The county 4 day games are not televised anymore

Only sone 50 over games are but mainly the t20s are

As for the crowds they are low , only the t20s get a decent rowdy crowd

Last season the 4 day games were televised on Sky Sports, have things changed this year? I never heard anything about that.

A lot of the Royal London cup is televised and the T20 Blast is fully televised, the problem is all of this is on Sky, which is a subscription based service, so the audience is severely restricted.

If cricket found its way back to channel 4 or 5, the audiences would be much bigger, speaking of which, there is talk to televise some T20 games on free to air tv, which could help grow the game.

 

[Kroll]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Incredible match here at Old Trafford in the Royal London One-Day Cup:<br>Yorkshire 379/7 in 50 overs<br>Lancashire 363 all out in 49 overs<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/SfO4prgBYk">pic.twitter.com/SfO4prgBYk</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1004055876792143873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Kroll]

 

[Sidilicious]

Pujara hasnt done too badly during their LA tournament.

 

[BreadPakoda]

Top performance by David Willey. England would have a pretty long tail if he is going to bat in the lower order.

 

[introvert]

Willey yet to do justice to his batting talent in international cricket.
Only decent innings I remember from him was in wt20 against Afghanistan other than that he always batted like hack.

 

[MenInG]

England County Season 2018 Thread

Worcestershire Rapids and Hampshire are one win away from the Royal London One-Day Cup final at Lord’s, leaving Essex Eagles, Yorkshire Vikings, Kent Spitfires and the holders Notts Outlaws to square up in next Thursday’s Play-Offs for the right to meet them in the semi finals.

The Outlaws will have home advantage against Kent after a crushing victory over Derbyshire Falcons in the last round of group matches today lifted them to second place in the North Group.

Yorkshire, who finished level on points with Notts after winning their last game at home to Northamptonshire but were placed third because of an inferior net run rate, must travel to Chelmsford to face the Eagles – who finished second in the South Group.

That game will be shown live on Sky Sports (2pm start), with the winners earning a trip to Hampshire, the South Group winners, in the second semi final on June 18 – another day-night game with a 2pm start.

The winners of the Notts-Kent play-off, which will start at 11am, will travel to Worcester on Sunday June 17.

Worcestershire earned top spot in the North Group for the second consecutive season with a dramatic victory against local rivals Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Royal London One-Day Cup, knockout phase

Play-Offs

Thursday June 14: Notts Outlaws (2nd North Group) v Kent Spitfires (3rd South Group) – Trent Bridge, 11am; Essex Eagles (2nd South Group) v Yorkshire Vikings (3rd North Group) – CloudFM County Ground, Chelmsford, 2pm *live on Sky Sports.

Semi Finals

Sunday June 17: Worcestershire Rapids (1st North Group) v Notts or Kent – Blackfinch New Road, 11am *live on Sky Sports

Monday June 18: Hampshire (1st South Group) v Essex or Yorkshire – Ageas Bowl, 2pm *live on Sky Sports

nb both semi finals have a reserve day

Final: Lord’s, Saturday June 30

 

[hadi123]

So it's the final tomorrow of the Royal London One Day Cup between Hampshire and Kent!

 

[hadi123]

Kent win the toss and are bowling first!

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Hampshire are 157-1 at the halfway stage of their innings.A very good launchpad.Rilee Rossouw is currently on 70*.

 

[hadi123]

Congratulations to Hampshire for winning the Royal London One Day Cup!

 

[hadi123]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If you are going to take a hat-trick it doesn't get much better than this. Jordan Clark for Lancashire against Yorkshire:<br>Joe Root<br>Kane Williamson<br>Jonny Bairstow<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1021043529307557888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[hadi123]

Double blow for Glamorgan as Khawaja and Burns return to Australia

Usman Khawaja will return to Australia after Glamorgan's Vitality Blast match on Friday after being called back by Cricket Australia for a training camp before Australia A's tour of India.

Although it was initially believed he may only miss one Vitality Blast match, the left-hander will now miss Glamorgan's final six group games.

Khawaja had originally signed as the Welsh county's second overseas player for the Vitality Blast, but linked up with the squad early following an injury to compatriot Shaun Marsh.

The 31-year-old has been a firm favourite amongst supporters after becoming the first Glamorgan batsman to score three hundreds in his first three first-class matches for the club and has added experience at the top of the order during Glamorgan's Vitality Blast campaign.

Meanwhile, compatriot Joe Burns will also travel home to Australia to recover from a back injury.

The right-hander jarred his back during Glamorgan's match against Sussex Sharks whilst fielding and exacerbated the injury during Glamorgan's defeat to Gloucestershire at Cheltenham. He was then unavailable for the Welsh county's washed out game against Kent in Cardiff and for the dramatic win over Surrey at the Kia Oval.

Chief Executive, Hugh Morris, said: 'It's disappointing Usman and Joe will have to finish their stints at Glamorgan early.

'Both players have been fantastic for the dressing room, and Usman in particular has shown himself to be a world-class batsman with his performances.

'I would like to thank both players for coming to Glamorgan at such notice and bringing their vast experience to the side.

‘Their absence will however offer more opportunities for our young players who showed their talent and potential against a strong Surrey team on Tuesday.’

 

[MenInG]

Surrey have won the County Championship for the first time since 2002 after beating Worcestershire by three wickets.

Led by 66 from captain Rory Burns, the top run-scorer in domestic first-class cricket, Surrey chased 272 to seal the title with two games still to play.

The England hopeful shared 111 with Mark Stoneman (59) for the first wicket to put them in command at New Road.

Worcestershire, bottom of Division One, fought back with three wickets before lunch but Ollie Pope's 49 helped the visitors home.

Morne Morkel hit the winning runs, after Pope was bowled by Dillon Pennington with 32 still required, to end their 16-year wait for a Championship crown.

"What took them so long?" South Africa great Morkel joked on BBC Radio 5 live. "It's a special feeling. To clinch the trophy with two games to go is unbelievable.

"There's a lot of emotion in the dressing room - it's been a lot of hard work. It's been competitive, there's been quality cricket played, but I've been blown away by this season."

Alec Stewart's side have won 10 and drawn two of their 12 Division One matches so far and remain on course to finish the season unbeaten.

But, while the Surrey players and staff celebrated, Worcestershire were left to rue their own predicament, with the Pears now 20 points from safety with only two games left to play.

They had held a 68-run first-innings advantage over their visitors and, with Surrey at 157-3 and then 260-7 in their second innings, were still in with a slight chance of causing an upset.

However, veteran Rikki Clarke struck a composed unbeaten 18 before Morkel guided a short Pennington delivery to fine leg for four to complete the chase.

Burns & Morkel are Surrey's stars

It was fitting that Burns, who now appears destined for a place on England's tour of Sri Lanka following Alastair Cook's retirement, was to play a significant role in their decisive victory.

The 28-year-old has passed 1,000 runs for the fifth successive season and his half-century, which followed a fourth Championship ton of 2018 in the first innings, laid the platform for the win that confirmed Surrey as champions.

"I did think we had a squad good enough to win the title, but I didn't think it would happen in the manner we've done it," said Burns.

"The journey this club's been on, there's been a lot of building to this point and it's great to get over the line.

"The blend in the squad and the team - there's been a lot of experienced heads to allow the slightly younger heads to express themselves. It's great to see."

In addition to his last-day heroics with the bat, Morkel has also been a key man with the ball and it was his 5-24 - his fourth five-wicket haul of the season - that kept the visitors' target down on the third day.

The 33-year-old has been ably supported by all-rounder Clarke and brothers Tom and Sam Curran, both of whom have earned call-ups by England in the past 12 months as reward for their domestic form.

Pope looks likely to be Surrey's next home-grown product to make a mark on the international stage, already appearing in two Tests this summer and known to be highly-rated by chief national selector Ed Smith.

Surrey's season in numbers

10 - Surrey have matched last year's champions Essex for number of wins with two games to spare. Another victory would see them equal Yorkshire's 2015 record of 11 (from 16 games) since the Championship split into two divisions.
5 - half of Surrey's victories have been by an innings.

592 - Surrey's second-innings total against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge is the highest team score in the County Championship this season.

199 - Burns and Ben Foakes put on Surrey's highest partnership of the season, for the fourth wicket against Hampshire.

0 - knockout games played by Surrey in limited-overs cricket this season after they were eliminated from the group stage of both the One-Day Cup and T20 Blast.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/45503906

 

[Big Mac]

Looks like Warwickshire are going to win the Div 2 title and little old Hampshire are so terrified that they've poached Keith Barker for next season
[MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

 

[MenInG]

Spinner Simon Harmer bowled Essex back to the top of the Division One table by taking 7-58 as they beat Surrey by an innings and 40 runs at Chelmsford.

The win means Essex will go into next week's title-deciding away game against Somerset with a 12-point advantage.

Skipper Ryan ten Doeschate made 103 and Harmer contributed an unbeaten 50 to Essex's first-innings total of 395.

Surrey were then reduced to 80-5 by Harmer, and were eventually all out for 181 when he dismissed Morne Morkel.

Essex are still in with a chance of a double this season and will now go to Edgbaston for Saturday's T20 Blast Finals Day.

They added 93 to their overnight 302-6, with Ten Doeschate reaching his century off 120 balls with a square cut off Amar Virdi before edging the spinner to slip.

Virdi claimed 3-116 and finished off the innings when Aaron Beard was caught at mid-on at the start of the 110th over, with Essex five runs short of maximum batting points.

Mark Stoneman helped himself to three early boundaries as Surrey began their innings, but Harmer then had him lbw to start the away side's collapse.

Ollie Pope was caught at mid-wicket for 30, hammering his bat into his pad in annoyance at the stroke, and having caught Rikki Clarke at slip off Jamie Porter Harmer returned to the attack to have Ben Foakes leg-before for 15.

Jordan Clark and Morkel held Essex up with ninth-wicket stand of 43 before the former was superbly caught behind for 33 by Adam Wheater, standing up to the stumps for the bowling of Ravi Bopara.

And it was Harmer who then ended the game as Morkel (21) attempted a lofted hit down the ground but was bowled.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/49742457

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Somerset letting the title slip out their hands.

 

[The Viper]

County Championship: Kyle Abbott stars as Hampshire beat Somerset

Kyle Abbott finished with match figures of 17-86 as Hampshire dealt a huge blow to Somerset's County Championship title hopes with victory at the Ageas Bowl.

The ex-South Africa paceman followed his first-innings 9-40 with 8-46 as Somerset were 144 all out, chasing 281.

His match figures, which helped his team to a 136-run win, are the best by any Hampshire bowler ever and the fourth best in Championship history.

Hampshire captain James Vince had earlier made 142 in their 226 all out.

The result has left Somerset needing to beat nearest rivals Essex in their final match, which gets under way on Monday, 23 September.

Having started this round of fixtures with an eight-point advantage at the top of the Division One table, the West Country side find themselves 12 points adrift in second after Essex beat Surrey by an innings and 40 runs.

The title will now be decided at the County Ground in Taunton in what promises to be a thrilling finale to the season.

Somerset subside as Abbott causes chaos

Somerset's chase at the Ageas Bowl looked a tough one even before Vince added 40 to his overnight 102 to extend Hampshire's advantage to 280.

The England batsman, ably supported by Abbott (25), struck 22 fours before eventually being caught behind off Craig Overton (3-74).

Somerset openers Steven Davies (51) and Murali Vijay (29) then looked relatively untroubled in seeing them to 86-0, briefly raising their hopes of pulling off what had looked an unlikely victory.

But the departure of India batsman Vijay sparked another top-order collapse, as seven wickets fell for just 14 runs to completely turn the contest on its head.

Having bowled too short before lunch, Abbott pitched the ball up and wreaked havoc during the afternoon session, with Tom Banton and George Bartlett both trapped in front playing across the line and Davies (51) edging to the slips to give him three wickets in four balls.

Before Liam Dawson took the penultimate wicket, of Roelof van der Merwe, Abbott was in with a chance of returning the second-best first-class figures of all time - second only to Jim Laker's 19-90 for England against Australia in 1956.

But he did at least bowl last man Josh Davey to give him 17 wickets, the best Championship haul since 1925 - and he now has 68 this season at a cost of only 15.70 each.

Best match figures in Championship

17-48 C Blythe, Kent v Northamptonshire 1907
17-56 C Parker, Gloucestershire v Essex 1925
17-67 A Freeman, Kent v Sussex 1922
17-86 K Abbott, Hampshire v Somerset 2019
17-89 WG Grace, Gloucestershire v Nottinghamshire 1877
17-89 F Matthews, Nottinghamshire v Northamptonshire 1923
Hampshire fast bowler Kyle Abbott:

"It hasn't quite sunk in. It is pretty incredible. Yesterday I didn't think I'd take nine and I didn't think I'd take eight today. I reckon that is the best I can bowl.

"Everything I wanted to do worked. It just happened to be one of those days - it was incredible. When it started to reverse it got quite fun. We knew we had to get into their middle order and put pressure on them as 280 was a long way off.

"At 86-0 we were just thinking if we get one of the openers and the captain that was the goal. They were under huge pressure, they are young guys searching for their first championship; we had nothing to lose.

"Would I prefer to finish third or spoil Somerset's party? I wanted to spoil the party by a long way. They celebrated against us at the One-Day Cup final so we wanted to give them some hard work for next week against Essex."

Somerset captain Tom Abell:

"They had three international cricketers who took control of the game for them. We were second best in all facets. We felt we were in with a chance at the beginning of the day but we went through a spell where we lost seven wickets for not many runs.

"Hats off to Kyle Abbott. He was unbelievable throughout the game. He got the ball tailing and we needed to adapt better as batters. He targeted the stumps and there were too many lbws and bowleds.

"There is a huge amount of excitement around Somerset cricket at the moment and we are desperate to deliver the Championship.

"This week hasn't gone our way but we have a good opportunity next week. We will dust ourselves down before the Essex game."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/49742463

 

[Abdullah719]

Essex win County Championship: Draw at Somerset confirms 2019 title

Essex were crowned county champions, while Somerset missed out again, as their title decider concluded in a dramatic draw at Taunton.

Somerset had to win, but rain on all four days left them needing to take 20 Essex wickets on the final day to clinch their first Championship title.

Jack Leach's 5-32 helped dismiss Essex for 141 in their first innings and the hosts forfeited their second innings.

That left 63 to win for Essex, who managed to see out the last hour.

As Essex's first innings did not finish until 16:15 BST, Somerset were left with little choice but to bowl again with no time to set a bigger target.

Somerset have now finished second in Division One in three of the past four seasons, while Essex have won the title in two of the past three years.

With more than 200 overs lost to the inclement conditions over the first three days, Essex knew at stumps on Wednesday that, barring a calamitous collapse, the title was theirs.

Despite Somerset director of cricket Andy Hurry insisting his side "would not wave the white flag", another 90-minute delay on the fourth morning seemed to have wiped out any remote chance of forcing a victory.

When play eventually got under way at 12:00, Somerset bowled their three spinners from the off, with most fielders surrounding the bat.

Essex were content to block, aided by a couple more rain showers, with Alastair Cook nudging his way to 53 off 148 balls.

The former England captain's dismissal by Leach sparked a flurry of quick wickets as Essex went from 102-1 to 141 all out either side of tea.

However, with just over an hour left to pick up another 10 Essex wickets, openers Cook and Nick Browne snuffed out most of the spin threat second time around.

With the game drifting to a draw, Somerset legend Marcus Trescothick came on as a substitute fielder for one final time before his retirement, but the 43-year-old could only watch Essex bat out the game.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/49841072

 

[Markhor]

The final day of the County season...on 26th September.

Mad scheduling.

 

[Hasan123]

Well done to Essex.