Durham promoted, Northamptonshire (almost) relegated and a cup for Leicestershire
A last ball thriller at Trent Bridge sends a first trophy to Grace Road since 2011
Ball One: Rhodes blocks Northamptonshire’s escape route
Northamptonshire needed the win.
It’s a sentence that might have (and probably has) appeared in many Final Overs this season, but the fat lady was gargling at Edgbaston last week. With a bit of rain about, the onus was on the captains to find a formula that would provide an opportunity for a result – cue wheeling and dealing, batters doing the bowling and a harumph or two from the purists.
Warwickshire’s Will Rhodes fancied chasing 176 in 60 overs and Luke Procter, naked in the negotiating chamber, had to accept. Ben Sanderson, a bowler who deserves anything but relegation, sparked exultant celebrations and woke that seductive and dangerous mistress, hope, with a hat-trick but the Bears only needed one good innings and, in the somewhat unlikely company of Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Michael Burgess provided it.
The cliche says that the abacuses are out and Northants are not actually down yet, but there’s more chance of finding an alien in Mexico than their avoiding the drop.
Ball Two: Leaning into the follow-on
Kent were not quite in the dire straits of Northants going into this round of matches, but they were in the nail-biting stage of anxiety re relegation fears: their opponents, Nottinghamshire were more in the looking-over-their-shoulder space. A tense match beckoned.
Zak Crawley, perhaps the most fervent disciple of Bazball, doesn’t really do anxiety and shrugged off being dropped on two to hammer 158 at better than a run a ball as Kent piled up 446 to set up the match.
One wonders how the Kent bowlers received Jack Leaning’s news that, after bowling out Notts in 99 overs, he was going to enforce the follow-on. Tactically it made sense, as the quickest route to 20 wickets is often the best one when a win is needed, but first class cricket seldom follows the script and Joe Clarke and Brett Hutton were able to flog some very tired bowlers second time round, adding 148 for the eighth wicket to leave Kent a gettable 168 in 32 overs.
At 59-5 with 20 overs still to play, Notts were favourites, but the decision to hold back Ben Compton (because he’s a bit slow for a five-an-over chase) paid off unexpectedly after the collapse, as he did what he does best, defending his wicket with Joey Evison playing against type at the other end to close out the draw.
Kent occupy a relegation slot with two matches to play, but Notts, though not entirely safe themselves, have a handy cushion with the points gleaned from a match in which they were behind for all but the last hour or so.
Ball Three: Vilas leaves his home from home
Middlesex now look like the other club in the ‘one from two’ relegation scrap with Kent after they were a touch unlucky at Old Trafford. That said, they were 120-7 in their first innings and 148 behind, three down with plenty of time left to lose the seven in hand in the second dig, so one could also make the case that they were lucky too.
The misfortune came in running into an emotional Dane Vilas, playing his valedictory match for Lancashire after seven seasons wearing the Red Rose, captaining the side for four of them. After a disappointing summer, the scene was set for a farewell century and it duly arrived to the delight of the locals and his team-mates, the South African writing his name into a fine history of overseas players who have graced Old Trafford, a worthy addition to legends like Clive Lloyd, Faroukh Engineer and Wasim Akram.
None of that sentimentality will matter to their opponents, for whom Jayant Yadav took a fivefer on debut. He, like fellow spinner, Joshua De Caires (disappointingly underbowled in this match) will have much work to do if Middlesex are to stay in eighth and preserve their top flight status for 2024.
Ball Four: Durham back in Division One – and not before time
For every yin there is a yang and there will be glasses raised well beyond the North East at the news that Durham, without playing in this round, are back in Division One after their relegation penalty in 2016.
One should always be a little wary of applying morality to tactics in sport, but, with that caveat, one can say that Durham have played cricket the right way, their positive approach (championed at Test level by their famous sons, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood) paying off with an insurmountable 62 points gap opening up to third placed Leicestershire with two matches to play.
It’s particularly gratifying that their effort has been led by two players who, not so long ago, were playing international cricket but have shown no sign of disappointment nor complacency delivering at the second level of the domestic game.
Alex Lees is the leading run scorer in the country, his 1281 runs coming at an average of 75 and a remarkable strike rate of 74. At the top of the order, the ex-Yorkshire batter has stayed true to the Bazball philosophy of playing always to win, daring those who follow him to the crease to adopt the same mindset. Matthew Potts, seemingly sliding down the England pecking order, has 51 victims alongside Ben Raine, the pacers delivering the wickets that have led to six wins in a division in which there are too many draws.
Worcestershire, Leicestershire and Sussex will fight for the other promotion place, with New Road the most likely to host Division One cricket in 2024. But there’s much can happen in two rounds of championship matches in late September, so the Worcestershire yoyo cliche cannot be deployed just yet.
Ball Five: The Gillette Cup – the best a fan could get
To Trent Bridge for the Metro Bank One Day Cup Final.
If it wasn’t quite the high days of the early 70s when the Gillette Cup Final had a legitimate claim to be the FA Cup Final of the national summer sport, there are plenty of reminders of traditions living on, albeit somewhat poignantly in a ground never close to half full for a showpiece occasion.
To my right, Crosses of St George hang on the railings, four emblazoned with “Leicester City” and one with “Hampshire CCC”, those supporters inevitably outnumbered by fans from just a few miles away. As much in relief as in celebration, a chant of “Leicestershire la, la la” greeted the first boundary of the day from that raucous group.
Later, old school applause rose from the crowd on the boundary as the successful bowler, Keith Barker, retreated to fine leg, acknowledged with an old school touch, but not raise, of the cap – the experienced pro knew that there was still work to be done.
As Leicestershire’s seventh wicket first wrested the initiative back from the bowling side and then pushed on, a chant of “Harry Swindells – he’s one of our own” could be heard, underlining county cricket’s roots in local communities.
The crowd were more male and older than a T20 crowd, but not too beery, both sides receiving plenty of support. I just wish there were more of them – can you really create ‘event sport’ with so many seats empty? As it turned out, you can.
Ball Six: Hull steadies the ship and shows plenty of backbone
Is it acceptable to serve up a used pitch for a final? It’s mid-September and television’s requirements limit the options for the groundstaff, but the date has been in the calendar for a while – I’m not sure that’s good enough.
Lewis Hill decided that it would only get lower and slower and, surprisingly to me at least, took first use of it, but Leicestershire did not bat well against the morning’s moving ball. As is often the case, risk was not balanced against reward, bats swishing and swiping, feet too often static, the ball played (or, just as often, missed) outside the eyeline. Taking such liberties against Barker was foolish and he simply accepted the wickets his line and length brought. Ian Holland and Scott Currie just kept it there or thereabouts and the soft dismissals kept coming for Hampshire.
At 89-6, I was pondering the options for a free afternoon in Nottingham, but Sam Evans and Harry Swindells had other ideas. Both made personal best scores in white ball cricket, Evans pragmatically, Swindells increasingly flamboyantly. A partnership of 151 runs in 26 overs, knowing that their team’s hopes rested entirely on neither getting out, was a magnificent effort. It did throw their supposed betters’ earlier approach into sharp relief though.
Hampshire batted with more circumspection, indeed their shot selection and Leicestershire’s bowling lines had more in common with red ball cricket than white ball, but both sides were in the game at the chase’s halfway mark, Hants just two runs up on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par with Tom Prest going well on 43.
As seemed destined throughout the increasingly tense finale, it came down to the last over. At one end was a bowler who had turned 19 less than a month ago – Josh Hull was playing just his ninth List A match – at the other, bat in hand, was Liam Dawson, 33 and playing his 166th. The kid had taken a fine catch to boost his confidence just a few minutes earlier – Dawson had accumulated 56 cool-headed runs. Six balls / eight runs – whose nerve would hold?
The lad stuck to his plans, bowled neither a no ball nor a wide, and the man blinked, caught scooping to fine leg. The bowler still had work to do, but Barker, whose bowling early on had made Hampshire huge favourites, could not hit the required boundary off the last ball and Leicestershire had the Cup and a new teenage hero.
It was a very fine game of cricket indeed – if the ECB possesses any heart, this competition should not wither away.
99.94 
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