24 April 10, 2022The Sunday Times 2GSCricket
Leicestershire v Worcestershire
Leicester (third day of four): Worcestershire,
with five second-innings wickets in hand, are
369 runs ahead of Leicestershire
Worcestershire First Innings 348 (B L
D’Oliveira 118 no, J Leach 70, E Barnard 57)
Second Innings
E J Pollock c Rhodes b Mike 112
J D Libby b Mike 75
Azhar Ali lbw b Parkinson 1
J A Haynes c Ackermann b Mike 29
*B L D’Oliveira not out 7
E Barnard b Mike 0
@O B Cox not out 0
Extras (b 6, lb 2, nb 2) 10
Total (5 wkts, 42.5 overs) 234
Fall 1-163 2-166 3-216 4-233 5-233.
Bowling Wright 6-1-35-0; Hendricks 4-0-19-0;
Parkinson 17-0-97-1; Barnes 2-0-16-0;
Ackermann 9-0-32-0; Mike 4.5-1-27-4.room at Somerset with Botham and
Richards, at least until he was made
captain in 1986 and sacked Viv and
Joel Garner, prompting Botham to
walk out too. Before that, he wrote the
vivid and sad It Never Rains, a diary
about the season of 1983. It’s particu-
larly good on the quotidian reality of
ring roads, pub grub and half-hearted
nets that punctuate matches. At one
point Roebuck looks across the
dressing room and observes Richards
and Botham, completely relaxed‘Go to a ground or
turn on your live
stream, and retreat
to a place where
the names change
but the song
stays the same’‘Y
ou can always tell
it’s summer,” said
Eric Morecambe,
“when you hear
the sound of
leather on Brian
Close.” During
Close’s autumnal
years at Somerset,
the great York-
shireman mentored a youthful Viv
Richards and Ian Botham. And at the
start of the 1981 season, the one that
would transform his life, Botham
wrote these words for the annual The
Cricketers’ Who’s Who: “As I travel the
country I come across an older gener-
ation who assure me the game isn’t
what it was... There is a case for argu-
ing we play too many matches.”
The 1981 county season began on
May 6 and featured four competi-
tions. Beefy’s Somerset would win
one of them, the Benson & Hedges
Cup (these were days when sport hap-
pily inhaled tobacco cash).
Morecambe’s joke about Close
stretches even further back, to the
fiery summer of 1976, when in
Manchester, at 45 years old and not
only helmetless (no one had thought
of those; Mike Brearley would don his
skullcap a year later) but without a
thigh pad, Close opened the batting
against West Indies and faced one of
the most terrifying onslaughts seen ona cricket field. West Indies would not
lose a series to England for another 24
years. Indeed, as Botham wrote (or
more likely phoned in) his words for
the Who’s Who, England had just
played, and lost, a series in the
Caribbean, another infamous one in
which the Guyana Test was
abandoned over Robin Jackman’s
visa, Michael Holding bowled his
fastest over to Geoffrey Boycott, and
later that evening during the third
Test in Barbados, the tour manager
Ken Barrington died of a heart attack.
No sport is in love with its past like
cricket. No sport references its past
more often. Cricket’s past glows so
enticingly that it surrounds the
present, informs its future. This week,
the 43rd edition of The Cricketers’
Who’s Who dropped through the
letterbox, soon followed by the 75th
edition of the Playfair Annual. The
Wisden Almanack, the daddy,
publishes its 159th edition on April 21,
and at 1,536 pages, it’s punching its
weight again after the pandemic
seasons skinnied it down. These are
the rites of spring, acts of renewal that
feel somehow comforting and
eternal, even when editors’ state-of-
the-nation notes have plenty to
excoriate.
It’s fair to say cricket in England has
endured a bad year, a nightmare, a
grotty, depressing annus horribilis ofinstitutional racism, craven self-
interest, executive bonuses, and a
group of elite players left glassy-eyed
and monotone from endless bubble
life.
If Botham thought he played too
much, pity the 400 or so men’s
professionals listed in this year’s
Who’s Who. They will play a game
unfamiliar to Close and Botham,
championship matches a whole day
longer, a shortest form that fits two
games into an evening. Yet cricket
responds uniquely well to the urges of
time. It has never been static and
anachronism is not its problem.
Cricket’s problem concerns the
calendar. If it’s Tuesday it must be the
championship, one of two divisions,
or conferences, or whatever they’ve
got this year. Or possibly the Vitality
T20 Blast. It may be a Royal London
Cup group game, potentially even the
Hundred if you’ve got yourself a
franchise gig (“yes, Brian, I have
grown up dreaming of the day I make
my debut for the Manchester Origi-
nals”). It could even be the Bob Willis
Trophy if that’s on this year, who
knows? Anyhow, if you’re an interna-
tional you may be absent playing
against New Zealand, the Nether-
lands, India or South Africa; they’re
all on a fixture list that is approaching
Almanack length.
Peter Roebuck shared a dressingAuthor Jon Hotten says while cricket is a cruel sport, the
championship is a refuge from an even crueller world
Even in chilly April,
county game offers
escape we all crave
SCOREBOARDS
LV= Insurance County
Championship
First division: Essex v Kent
Chelmsford (third day of four): Kent,with five
first-innings wickets in hand, are 109 runs
behind Essex
Essex First Innings 514 (M J J Critchley 132,
N L J Browne 107, A N Cook 100)
Kent First Innings (overnight 122-1)
B G Compton b S J Cook 129
T Muyeye lbw b Critchley 58
J M Cox not out 100
*@O G Robinson lbw b Critchley 12
D I Stevens c A N Cook b Lawrence 51
M E Milnes not out 2
Extras (b 7, lb 4, w 1, nb 30) 42
Total (5 wkts, 129 overs) 405
To bat J L Denly, N N Gilchrist, J M Bird, M R
Quinn.
Fall 1-36, 2-157, 3-280, 4-318, 5-400.
Bowling Porter 20-4-75-0; S J Cook 28-8-56-2;
Seketee 25-3-96-0; Snater 20-6-61-0;
Critchley 28-6-69-2; Lawrence 8-0-37-1.
Hampshire v Somerset
Ageas Bowl (third day of four): Hampshire
(23pts) beat Somerset (1) by an innings and
113 runs
Somerset First Innings 180 (J C Hildreth 87)
Second Innings (overnight) 15-0
B G F Green b Fuller 20
T A Lammonby c B C Brown b Fuller 32
*T B Abell lbw b Fuller 4
J C Hildreth b Abbott 14
L P Goldsworthy c Vince b Barker 19
@S M Davies c Dawson b Abbas 3R E van der Merwe b Abbas 0
K L Aldridge not out 25
P M Siddle c Dawson b Abbas 2
E O Leonard c Barker b Dawson 8
M de Lange b Abbas 8
Total (50.2 overs) 135
Fall 1-50, 2-54, 3-57, 4-83, 5-88, 6-92, 7-92,
8-95, 9-111,
Bowling: Abbott 12-4-41-1; Barker 12-4-29-1;
Abbas 10.2-4-22-4; Fuller 7-1-23-3; Dawson
7-4-12-1; Organ 2-0-8-0.
Hampshire First Innings 428 (J J Weatherley
168, I G Holland 81, J M Vince 56)
Northamptonshire v
Gloucestershire
Northampton (third day of four):
Gloucestershire, with four second-innings
wickets in hand, are 261 runs ahead of
Northamptonshire
Gloucestershire First Innings 223 (J R Bracey
117; B W Sanderson 4-66)
Second Innings (overnght 5-1)
C D J Dent lbw b Sanderson 54
@J R Bracey c Curran b Berg 8
*G L van Buuren lbw b Berg 5
M A H Hammond c Curran b Sanderson 1
R F Higgins not out 134
T C Lace c and b Gay 73
Zafar Gohar not out 36
Extras (b 4, lb 9, nb 2) 15
Total (6 wkts, 96 overs) 326
Fall 1-0, 2-11, 3-17, 4-21, 5-98, 6-263.
Bowling Sanderson 19-3-58-2; Berg 16-3-52-3;
Taylor 20-1-70-0; Buck 18-1-65-0; Keogh 13-1-30-
0; Zaib 2-0-11-0; Gay 4-0-12-1; Cobb 4-0-15-0.
Northamptonshire First Innings 288 (R I
Keogh 113, G K Berg 66; R F Higgins 4-68)
Warwickshire v Surrey
Edgbaston (third day of four): Warwickshire,
with three first-innings wickets in hand, are
135 runs behind SurreySurrey First Innings 428-8 dec (B T Foakes 132
no, R Patel 75, O J D Pope 58, J Clark 50; O J
Hannon-Dalby 4-78)
Warwickshire First Innings (overnight 16-2)
R M Yates lbw b Roach 32
D R Briggs c Foakes b Roach 0
S R Hain b Clark 78
M Lamb c Jacks b Topley 106
D R Mousley c Pope b Clark 43
@M G K Burgess not out 12
C N Miles not out 11
Extras (lb 3, nb 2) 5
Total (7 wkts, 104 overs) 293
To bat H J H Brookes, O J Hannon-Dalby.
Fall 1-0, 2-16, 3-16, 4-41, 5-198, 6-263, 7-280.
Bowling Roach 26-8-82-3; Topley 26-7-81-2;
Jacks 14-3-34-0; Clark 20-5-54-2; Taylor 16-4-
38-0; Burns 2-1-1-0.
Second division
Glamorgan v Durham
Sophia Gardens (third day of four): Durham,
with seven first-innings wickets in hand, are
114 runs ahead of Glamorgan
Glamorgan First Innings 234 (C A Ingram 87,
C B Cooke 59)
Durham First Innings (overnight 5-0)
A Z Lees not out 163
M A Jones b Van der Gugten 4
S R Dickson c Cooke b Van der Gugten 23
*S G Borthwick c Northeast b Salter 64
D G Bedingham not out 74
Extras (b 3, lb 6, nb 6) 15
Total (3 wkts, 105 over) 348
To bat E J Eckersley, P Coughlin, B A Raine, L
Trevaskis, M J Potts, C Rushworth.
Fall 1-37, 2-95, 3-242.
Bowling Hogan 20-5-63-0; Harris 22-4-40-0;
Van der Gugten 21-2-76-2; Weighell 17-3-52-0;
Lloyd 10-0-44-0; Taylor 8-0-42-0; Salter 7-2-22-1.Leicestershire First Innings (overnight 42-3)
*C N Ackermann lbw b Leach 12
L J Hill b Pennington 93
@H Swindells b Barnard 16
B W M Mike c Ali b Barnard 4
E Barnes lbw b Leach 23
C F Parkinson lbw b Morris 7
C J C Wright c Morris b Baker 32
B E Hendricks not out 16
Extras (nb 4) 4
Total (70 overs) 213
Fall 1-5, 2-6, 3-6, 4-51, 5-106, 6-120, 7-142, 8-
161, 9-165.
Bowling Leach 17-5-37-4; Morris 17-5-52-2;
Pennington 15-2-37-1; Barnard 14-2-54-2;
Baker 7-0-33-1.
Middlesex v Derbyshire
Lord’s (third day of four): Middlesex, with
seven second-innings wickets in hand, are
298 runs ahead of Derbyshire
Middlesex First Innings 401 (S S Eskinazi 118, J M
de Caires 80, R G White 65; A T Thomson 4-103)
Second Innings
J M de Caires b Conners 0
M D Stoneman c Conners b Thomson 34
S S Eskinazi lbw b Dal 15
R G White not out 79
M D E Holden not out 68
Extras (lb 1, nb 4) 5
Total (3 wkts, 44 overs) 201
Fall 1-0, 2-50, 3-60.
Bowling Conners 9-1-37-1; Lakmal 13-1-62-0;
Thomson 12-0-53-1; Dal 6-1-20-1; Madsen 3-0-
17-0; Du Plooy 1-0-11-0.
Derbyshire First Innings (overnight 177-4)
J L du Plooy c White b Murtagh 28
L M Reece lbw b Bamber 20
Anuj Dal lbw b Helm 52
A T Thomson c Simpson b Roland-Jones 45
S Conners lbw b Helm 0R A S Lakmal not out 0
R N Sidebottom c Davies b Roland-Jones 0
Extras (lb 3, nb 6) 9
Total (116.4 overs) 304
Fall 1-65, 2-93, 3-141, 4-162, 5-200, 6-218, 7-
304, 8-304, 9-304.
Bowling Murtagh 26-5-48-2; Bamber 24-5-63-
2; Helm 25-6-52-3; Roland-Jones 24.4-6-81-2;
De Caires 16-0-49-1; Stoneman 1-0-8-0.
Sussex v Nottinghamshire
Hove (third day of four): Sussex, with nine
second-innings wickets in hand, are 130 runs
behind Nottinghamshire
Sussex First Innings 375 (T G R Clark 100, A G H
Orr 68, T J Haines 59; L A Patterson-White 5-84)
Second Innings
A G H Orr not out 14
*T J Haines c Patterson-White b James 14
J Atkins not out 1
Total (1 wkt, 15 overs) 29
Fall 1-19
Bowling Fletcher 1-0-4-0; Hutton 5-1-11-0;
James 6-3-13-1; Patterson-White 3-2-1-0.
Nottinghamshire First Innings (overnight 214-5)
*S J Mullaney c Crocombe b Atkins 192
@T J Moores c Alsop b Rawlins 43
L A Patterson-White lbw b Clark 44
J D M Evison not out 109
B A Hutton c Lenham b Rawlins 18
L J Fletcher not out 3
Extras (b 4, lb 12, w 3) 19
Total (9 wkts dec, 143 overs) 534
Fall 1-1, 2-19, 3-39, 4-52, 5-160, 6-256, 7-325,
8-469, 9-528.
Bowling Finn 28-0-84-3; Crocombe 26-4-102-
1; Haines 14-1-42-0; Atkins 24-3-109-2; Rawlins
30-0-113-2; Lenham 6-0-33-0; Clark 15-4-35-1.
Second Test match: Gqeberha (second day
of five): South Africa First Innings 453 (KA
Maharaj 84, D Elgar 70, T Bavuma 67, K D
Petersen 64; Taijul Islam 6-135); Bangladesh
First Innings 139-5.Ben Compton grafted for
289 balls for his 129 for KentThe weather may
have been cold but
the familiar scenes
at Sophia Gardens
and elsewhere offer
a warm embrace
after a difficult
winter for English
cricketDAN MULLAN