1. A load of (Kookaburra) balls
What do the following have in common? Seven for 162; five for 59; four for 85; six for 63; four for 39; four for 41; six for 51; four for 81; seven for 93; four for 103; four for 82; six for 116; five for 99? Reward yourself with a slice of Battenberg if you shouted: “Bowling figures by spinners in last week’s County Championship matches!”
It was the third of four rounds this season using the Kookaburra ball, the trial intended to produce pacers who have the tools to make the most of the flat-seamed, fast-softening ball used in many overseas series (including That One). Well, it’s certainly bringing spinners into the game, while the seamers can work on their fielding.
The irony is that England’s first-choice spinner barely plays county cricket.
2. Taunting Taunton? Not me guv
While leaders Surrey played out a 571 v 537 draw with Yorkshire and second-placed Notts did pretty much the same against Hampshire (with 578 offset by 454), things were, as they often are, different at Taunton.
Somerset secured a win over Durham in two days to go third in Division One, Jack Leach bagging seven wickets and Archie Vaughan four, with Callum Parkinson and George Drissell picking up 11 for the visitors.
For opinions on the pitch, you can pick your 1980sSomerset and England all-rounder according to taste. Vic Marks was happy with it; Sir Ian Botham (with Durham connections to be fair) was not.
Somerset go third, 17 points behind Surrey, with Yorkshire and Hampshire to visit the County Ground in September. Any rumours of increased sales of Pantone charts in Leeds and Southampton are, as yet, unfounded.
3. Pears ripe for the drop
Warwickshire have nestled in just a point behind Somerset after defeating bottom dwellers Worcestershire in a match that took an unpredictable route to a predictable result.
Ethan Brookes, enjoying a fine streak of form, logged 140 and 87, which – allied to Pakistan Test seamer Khurram Shahzad’s first-innings six for 42 – left the home side chasing 393 for an unlikely win. At 12 for two, that looked a long way off, but Dan Mousley got things going with 69, and Zen Malik (142) and Beau Webster (100) broke the back of it, Pears dispatched by Bears with five wickets in hand.
Warwickshire are looking up; Worcestershire are looking down. Probably a long way down.
4. The only way is up for Essex
Essex and Sussex have endured/enjoyed contrasting seasons. John Simpson’s newly promoted side simply carried their form and optimism from 2024 into 2025 and have surpassed expectations, showing prominently in Division One.
Essex, for so long a byword for consistency, just never got going, their only victory coming in mid-April against lowly Worcestershire. So, a home win at Hove on your coupon? It turned out to be Essex by an innings because, well, it’s a funny old game.
There was more to it than the capricious nature of cricket, since the game can often be kind as well as cruel. Jamie Porter and Sam Cook were back in, the latter having played fewer than half the Championship matches to date – and that’s key for Essex. Buoyed by his own century and one from Jordan Cox, Matt Critchley had a long bowl, four wickets his reward. Nothing makes a spinner look better than runs on the board.
5. Botham, Ahmed, Stokes …
Leicestershire’s annus mirabilis continued with a win over Derbyshire that banished any memory of the surprise walloping by Middlesex last time out. Their lead at the top of Division Two has now stretched to 34 points.
The match was a personal triumph for Rehan Ahmed, who delivered the best all-round performance by an Englishman in a first-class match since Ian Botham in Kolkata 1980. Ahmed made 115, to lead a recovery from none for two, then picked up six for 51 and seven for 93.
The leg-spinning all-rounder (oh my Adil of long ago) is still only 20! That’s easy to forget because he’s played five Tests on the subcontinent and has actually slipped down the spin options ladder despite developing his game significantly this summer.
Young players, especially young leg-spinners, can go in and out of form almost from session to session, so it’s important that selectors do not write him off or put him in a box only to be opened in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. He can hardly be doing more to advance his case.
6. Botham, Ahmed, Hartley, Stokes …
It’s been a good week for all-rounders, with Tom Hartley the star as Lancashire continued to improve on their early season form.
First a word for Australian journeyman Chris Green, who came to the crease at 209 for six and made 160. He has averaged more than 100 in his three matches wearing the Red Rose and nipped in with a couple of wickets in each of Gloucestershire’s innings while going at less than 2.3 an over. Money well spent on that contract.
Hartley, in at No 10, cruised in Green’s slipstream to register a debut first-class ton, last man out for 130. It wasn’t long before Jimmy Anderson asked him to bowl and his six for 116 was crucial in allowing the follow-on to be enforced. Hartley’s second-innings five for 99 was instrumental in ensuring that there was time, just, for Keaton Jennings and Josh Bohannon to knock off the 110 runs for the win.
Green and Hartley’s numbers have grabbed the headlines, of course, but it’s worth noting that they batted for around eight hours between them and bowled 34 overs each to give their captain the option. I’m sure Anderson will have asked them about the follow-on and I’m sure they said they were raring to go, but it’s quite the feat of physical and mental resilience to bowl 27 and 28 overs, respectively, second time round.
