County Champ R5 - Day 4 and Tables, and Pro40

Today saw the real start of one-day cricket with six matches being played across England and Scotland. Before that, however, there was drama in London where what looked like being a dead day turned into one of excitement.


County Championship
Day 4

Middlesex v Worcestershire - Middlesex win by 132 runs.
Mid - 327-7 & forfeit
Wor - 45-2d & 150

A thrilling game was spun out of nothing at Lords, where the captains came to an agreement to try and find a result. It was decided that Worcestershire would declare on their overnight score and Middlesex would forfeit their innings leaving the visitors a target of 283 to win in the day.
     Mitchell and Klinger put on 21 for the first wicket put then things went badly wrong for them as they lost four wickets for just fourteen runs. This put Middlesex firmly in the driving seat and the game was always there for them to win. Jones and Kapil made 54 for the ninth wicket but by then the game was over bar the shouting and Middlesex romped to victory. The result was a disaster for Worcestershire, who are yet to win in the Championship, but also because they didn't pick up any batting points, due to their declaration.
     Middlesex take 19 points while Worcesterhire get 2.



Pro40

Gloucestershire v Netherlands - Netherlands win by 1 run.
Gloucestershire won the toss and decided to field.
Net - 239-6
Glo - 238-8

Myburgh (77) helped give the Netherlands a strong start but the other batsmen failed to really kick on. However they did score 51 off the last five overs to set a required run rate of exactly 6 per over.
Gloucestershire made a slow start despite only losing one wicket in the first 20 overs. In fact it wasn't until a flurry of wickets went down that the home side started to hit out. With the required run rate at 9.35, Howell (72* from 51 balls), Marshall and Cockbain began to find the boundary regularly.
     The game gained tempo and became a race for the finish and with three overs left (Gloucestershire on 215-5) it was still anyone's to win. But in the penultimate over Seelar (4 for 42) took two wickets to put the Netherlands ahead. Gloucestershire still managed to hit eleven of the final over but fell two runs short, giving the visitors the victory.

Star Player: Seelar, for excellent bowling at the top of the order and at the death.


Lancashire v Leicestershire - Lancashire win by 5 runs.
Lancashire won the toss and decided to bat.
Lan - 296-3
Lei - 291-7

It was another close game in Manchester on a pitch where wickets were hard to come by. Lancashire made a flying start scoring 135 for the first wicket, 71 for the second and 78 for the third. Moore (74), Prince (79) and Croft (82) helped lift the home side to a strong total. Leicestershire, however, only lost wickets occasionally, after making an excellent start themselves. The run rate soon started to rise though, despite the best efforts of Cobb (137). He held the innings together and was helped by Boyce (64). Sadly they were both out well before the end and could only watch as their side fell just six runs short of victory in an intense last over

Star Player: Cobb, despite being on the losing side his innings of 137 from 99 balls and including eight 4s and six 6s, lit up the match.

Warwickshire v Northamptonshire - Warwickshire win by 6 wickets.
Northamptonshire won the toss and decided to bat.
Nor - 209-7
War - 212-4

Northamptonshire made a quick start to their innings, scoring 68 off the first 12 overs, but then slowed down in the middle overs as they lost wickets. Hall was on hand to boost the run rate again in the final overs, finishing 52* off 56 balls. Warwickshire only needed five bowlers to keep the visitors to a managable total.
     The visitors took regular wickets for the first 25 overs to keep Warwickshire to 111-4, but a fantastic fifth wicket stand between Bell (82*) and Clarke (54*) helped the home side claim the win with fifteen balls to spare.

Star Player: Bell, lead the way in the second innings with 82 not out.


Yorkshire v Kent - Kent win by 4 wickets.

Yorkshire won the toss and decided to bat.
Yor - 175-9
Ken - 176-6

With the exception of Gale (44) Yorkshire's top order was wiped away by some excellent opening bowling from Davies and Coles. The home side were reduced to 22-4, before recovering through Root (49). Wickets kept falling though and the home side could only manage a half decent socre. The bowling plaudits go to Coles who came back to take more wickets at the end, finishing with figures of 6 for 32.
     Kent played steadily and nearly left things too late as Yorkshire pushed them to the final over. Key (40) and Stevens (59) helped to push the scoring along, but the others failed to get past 26, leaving it to Jones and Tredwell to hit the winnings runs.

Star Player: Coles, his excellent bowling was easily the stand out performance of the match.


Scotland v Surrey - Surrey win by 18 runs, (Duck/Lewis method)
Scotland won the toss and decided to field.
Sur - 187-7
Sco - 118-6

Surrey's second match of the competiton also ended in victory to give them an excellent start. However only Rudolf (69) made it past 22 as Scotland's seven bowlers combined to restrict the Londoners. Surrey's superior bowling line up soon swung into action, though, taking two wickets, after a short break due to rain. More rain came later to reduce the overs and the wickets began to tumble. The home side never managed to score big off an over meaning the required run rate slowly slipped higher. 43 not out from Berrington wasn't enough either as Surrey completed the win.

Star Player: Rudolf, with his innings Scotland might have pulled off a surprise victory.

Unicorns v Derbyshire - Derbyshire win by 129 runs.
Unicorns won the toss and decided to field.
Der - 281-3
Uni - 158-9

Guptill (125) and Durston (120*) combined in an huge second wicket partnership of 222 to put Derbyshire in a very strong position at the break. Both of them scored at more than a run-a-ball, as the Unicorn's bowlers struggled to make any impact.
     The Unicorns only lost two wickets in first 21 overs, although by then the required run rate had climbed above 11.5, and in their attempt to improve that the home side collapsed. Hughes took 5 for 29, to help Derbyshire take 4 wickets in 5 overs. None of the Unicorn batsmen could cope with that and ended limply on 158.

Star Player: Guptill, although hard to choose between him and Durston, as they both help set a target clearly beyond the Unicorn's reach.



County Championship Tables

Division 1

	Team	Played	Points
1	Warwickshire	4	71
2	Nottinghamshire	5	67
3	Middlesex	4	49
4	Somerset	4	42
5	Surrey	4	33
6	Sussex	3	30
7	Lancashire	4	20
8	Worcestershire	4	17
9	Durham	4	16

Division 2

	Team	Played	Points
1	Derbyshire	4	55
2	Kent	4	49
3	Yorkshire	4	46
4	Gloucestershire	5	43
5	Essex	4	40
6	Hampshire	4	32
7	Northamptonshire	4	32
8	Leicestershire	4	30
9	Glamorgan	5	17