And we're back! The soggy group stages of the Twenty20 are completed and now we return to the County Championship. There's just the one game beginning today, with four more starting tomorrow, as well as two Pro40 matches. Here we go then!
County Championship
Day 1
Worcestershire v Durham
Worcestershire won the toss and decided to field
Dur - 127-4
Rain interrupted much of the day but the play was even by the close with Durham on 127-4. All the out batsmen have made starts, but none have pushed on as Worcestershire took regular wickets, reducing the visitors from 89-1 to 125-4.
Twenty20 Group stage review
Well as we all know the rain has been falling like crazy in June and July causing more abandonments and no results than possibly ever before in this competition. Ironically twenty games in total were forced to finish without a result, many of them didn't even see a ball bowled. Given that there were only 90 games this year that is a huge percentage, and certainly doesn't help the revenue for the clubs, most of whom rely heavily on the T20 to provide the money for the rest of the season.
But away from all that there was some excellent cricket and a few surprises. Of course Twenty20 is one of those games where almost any team can win if it is there day, but over the years we have come to expect certain teams to do well and others to fail. More of who has gone through in a moment.
The top three team totals were as follows:
213 - Worcestershire v Gloucestershire (Ali 82 from 44 balls)
212 - Sussex v Kent (Goodwin 68* from 31 balls)
210 - Nottinghamshire v Durham (Hales 88 from 51 balls)
However it is also worth noting that Sussex had scored 203-5 from 17.5 overs when their match with Hampshire was rained off. (Prior 81 from 37 balls)
The highest individual score was 107* by James Hildreth for Somerset v Glamorgan, as the hosts came back from 24-3 to chase 178 with a ball to spare. Hildreth is, so far, the only player to score a century this year.
Meanwhile the player with the most runs, so far, is Worcestershire's Hughes, with 322 from just 7 innings.
The biggest 6 hitter is Foster, of Essex, who has sent the ball over the rope fully 15 times in his 9 innings!
In the bowling department Starc, of Yorkshire, is the leading wicket taker, with 18, and Chapple, of Lancashire, is the most economic, giving away just 4.95 runs per over. (This is of people who have bowled more than 10 overs).
And for the fielders, Lancashire's Croft has the most catches, with 9.
Now to the Quarter Finals, which, weather permitting will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday the 24th and 25th of July.
First up is Somerset v Essex. Somerset were of course last years runners-up and they are easily one of the best T20 teams, although their squad is weaker than in previous years and they only finished top of their group due to some unexpected results on the final day of the group stages. Essex have a good reputation at quarter finals, having made four and won all but one. However they have never progressed beyond the semis before.
The second match is between the 2009 winners, Sussex, and Gloucestershire. This is Sussex's fifth Quarter final, although they have only won two of the previous four. While for Gloucestershire this is their fourth time in the quarters, their best finish being runners-up.
The third match is between two teams with the worst records of any of the quarter finalists, Yorkshire and Worcestershire. Both sides have only made the quarters twice, and lost on both occasions. Yorkshire however, have been the best side in the competition so far, racking up 16 points in the North group, and look good for finals day. Worcestershire, on the other hand, will be considered one of the weakest teams should they make it through.
Finally Nottinghamshire will face Hampshire, for both of them their fifth quarter final. This will be Nottinghamshire's third home quarter final in as many years, their best result however is only runners-up, while Hampshire, of course, won in 2010 on their home ground, the last time Notts made it to finals day.
All this means that some of the big names miss out. Leicestershire, last year's champions and the only team to have won more than once (in fact they've won 3 times) finished bottom of their group. While Surrey, Kent and Middlesex, all previous winners, fell well short in the South group. Lancashire and Warwickshire have both reached the quarter final stages on 7 occasions, but neither have made it this year, despite Warwickshire looking all but there with a game to go.
Reports on those games will be posted on here, but in the mean time enjoy the Championship and Pro40 cometitions and pray for dry weather!
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