Somerset v Essex, Middlesex v Kent, and more: county cricket day two – live | County Championship
Key events
Three batting points for Lancs, and a delayed shout out for Ollie Robinson (the Durham one) who dropped off my radar yesterday. After seven innings in which he’d not passed 22, he clocked up 76 against Hampshire, stirling support for Graham Clark. This was Clark at stumps:
“Robbo is a class act and probably hasn’t scored the runs he would have liked this year, but he has backed himself and stayed true to himself and came out firing today. He might be disappointed not to get a hundred but he played beautifully and put us in a great position.”
A nice read with your elevenses:
Jimmy Anderson will be looking longingly at the clouds plonked on top of Old Trafford, but it is Singh Dale who has the ball at the Jimmy Anderson end for the first over of the day. He delivers a snorter to Wells, that has him jumping like a fire cracker, in an excellent first over.
A view from Headingley from five-wicket Ethan Bamber:
“I loved it out there. These are the games you want to play in. I really enjoyed it.
“It’s fast moving and probably finely poised after day one. I got a fair share of luck, including one caught at third-man. But I felt alright. Hopefully we can push on with the bat tomorrow.
“There’s a good amount of grass covering (on the pitch) and maybe a few divots.
“It was a bit soft underneath at the start and hardened up. It’s nice to bowl on, for sure. As they showed - they bowled really nicely - you can build pressure and there’s a ball in there. But you do get value for shots.
“It will be interesting to see how the game progresses from here.”
Friday's round-up
Joe Root and Harry Brook pulled on their Yorkshire boots to warm up for the Zimbabwe Test.
It didn’t go entirely to plan on a 16-wicket day at Headingley. Root fenced uncharacteristically at Ed Barnard and was caught for a 17-ball one and Brook ran through a spicy repertoire before he was caught for 33. Jonny Bairstow hustled to 47 before being bowled in a blaze of exploding stumps, but he and the tail had ushered Yorkshire past 200. Ethan Bamber finished with five for 47. Warwickshire then lost six wickets in the evening session.
Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth and Joe Root see the ball fall short in the slips. Photograph: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com/Shutterstock
Gloucestershire completed their 100% losing record at the toss in 2025 and were invited to bowl at Old Trafford. The energetic and swift figure of Ajeet Singh Dale soon removed George Bell and Keaton Jennings, but Marcus Harris had arrived with his overnight bag.
Harris started with neat accumulation but rolled out his greatest hits once he’d passed his hundred – a glide through midwicket, a whip to the rope through backward square, a glorious flick off the toes for six. At stumps, he was 165 not out and the leading scorer in the country with 559 runs.
Somerset prepared an emerald pitch at Taunton but it was Jack Leach, wheeling in for 30 overs from the River End, who caused havoc, inducing a mid-innings collapse and picking up three for 35. Essex squeaked past 200 before Sam Cook, freshly called up by England, removed Archie Vaughan in the first over of the Somerset reply.
There was a return to form for Rishi Patel at Grace Road, his 105 a model of patience and skill as wickets fell about him. The South Australian Harry Conway grabbed five for 68 on his Northants debut.
Toby Roland-Jones, the Middlesex captain, (five for 33) skittled through Kent, who were dismissed for 129. Poor Zak Crawley’s early season woes continued when he was lbw for six. Graham Clark’s unbeaten 110 put Durham on top against Hampshire. And there were fifties for the Jersey international Asa Tribe, Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram as Glamorgan passed 300 for the first time this season against Derbyshire.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
Southampton: Hampshire v Durham 330-5
Taunton: Somerset 9-1 v Essex 206
Headingley: Yorkshire 205 v Warwickshire 157-6
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 336-6 v Derbyshire
Old Trafford: Lancashire 342-5 v Gloucestershire
Grace Road: Leicestershire 304 v Northamptonshire 6-0
Lord’s: Middlesex 158-4 v Kent 129
Preamble
Good morning from a chillier Manchester, clouds piling to the left, magpies mobbing to the right. Welcome to day two of this first May round of matches – plenty of wickets yesterday, can the batters strike back today? Sam Cook might fancy a few morale-boosting Somerset wickets before being measured up for his England cap.
The coffee is on the counter, do help yourself. Play starts at 11am.
