County cricket: earliest ever start to a season throws up some old truths

1. Matt shines arsenic he paints municipality red

Hampshire and Essex, 2 teams hoping to tie a statement nether a lacklustre 2025, faced disconnected astatine nan Rose Bowl and tried to capitalise connected nan outpouring successful nan measurement that April ever brings. It was to beryllium a sobering 3 days for nan location side, who were dispatched by an innings and plenty. Another agelong play is now stretching retired successful beforehand of them.

Their main destroyer was Matt Critchley, nan all-rounder amazingly still nan correct broadside of 30. He arrived astatine nan crease aft his captain, Tom Westley, suffered a surgery digit and made measurement for first wounded replacement successful Championship history – Noah Thain, early pub quizzers. Critchley cruised to 173, earlier Simon Harmer and Shane Snater’s nosy was curtailed by nan declaration coming pinch 500 successful sight. Hampshire’s first innings started pinch 7 wickets wrong 26 overs and, pursuing on, their 2nd innings vanished pinch 7 successful 22, 5 of which fell to Critchley’s leg-breaks. You can’t triumph matches for illustration that.

A post-Ashes April is ever a clip to estimate connected England call-ups. Critchley is 7 years younger than Liam Dawson, who he comprehensively outplayed successful this match, and nan brace person very akin first-class records. He is simply a agelong measurement backmost conscionable now, but is successful nan “we could do a batch worse” category.

2. Red-faced Leicestershire near cheesed off

Leicestershire returned to Division One aft much than 2 decades away, pinch situation nine Sussex seemingly perfect opponents for a morale-boosting location triumph astatine Grace Road. That said, cricket seldom sticks to an easy communicative and acquisition won out.

Ian Holland, stepping into nan unexpectedly vacant captain’s domiciled aft Peter Handscomb’s family commitments kept him successful Australia for nan season, followed suit pinch each his chap captains (except Lancashire’s James Anderson) and decided to bowl. With Sussex batting each nan measurement to his other number, Ollie Robinson, astatine 10, that looked a very ballsy telephone and, 1 down and 346 down astatine nan extremity of time one, truthful it proved.

Robinson is arsenic wily an usability arsenic you will find connected nan region circuit and it won’t conscionable beryllium Sussex fans wondering if activity tin fortify nan intelligence and fittingness sides of his game, excessively often anemic links astatine world level. He and his chap seamer Henry Crocombe took 5 wickets each successful nan first innings, pinch Crocombe adding 4 much successful nan 2nd excavation for a good individual match.

Leicestershire were much than 100 runs short successful some innings – a reminder of nan spread betwixt nan divisions – and look a daunting travel to nan Oval next.

Henry Crocombe excelled for Sussex arsenic Leicestershire were good beaten astatine Grace Road. Photograph: John Mallett/ProSports/Shutterstock

3. Overton’s declaration overkill

It’s a recurring gripe of this file that captains are excessively cautious successful their declarations and excessively wary of conclusion to prehend nan chance of victory. If there’s 1 region you would expect to return that disapproval to heart, it’s Somerset, who person been runners-up successful nan Championship six times successful this period alone. They welcomed Nottinghamshire to Taunton connected nan opening weekend.

As time 4 dawned, nan location broadside were successful full power against nan reigning champions, starring by 223 runs pinch 9 wickets successful hand. Nottinghamshire were staring astatine a deflating commencement to their title defence and a important points spread to a existent rival earlier nan Easter vacation was done.

The Somerset stand-in captain, Craig Overton, batted for different 34 overs to group a wholly unachievable 417 successful 60 overs, inviting Haseeb Hameed to bat – which he and his teammates did. Of course, nan transportation was benign. The Somerset centurions (Tom Abell, Tom Kohler-Cadmore and James Rew) could attest to that and, pinch his ain 26 overs producing only 1 dismissal, Overton knew wringing wickets from nan aboveground wasn’t easy.

Faint bosom ne'er won adjacent lady; Somerset drew a lucifer they could person won.

4. Carlson falls short of checkmating Yorkshire

Not acold north, astatine Sophia Gardens successful Cardiff, Kiran Carlson had different ideas. Perhaps reasoning that Glamorgan would beryllium forced into location draws by nan upwind later successful nan season, he knew he had to return each opportunity to drawback a triumph if his recently promoted broadside were to past successful nan apical flight.

Colin Ingram’s century, supported by immoderate good precocious middle-order batting, had been backed up by Mason Crane’s five-fer to output a useful 76-run lead connected first innings. Perhaps sensing humor fixed that his other number, Jonny Bairstow, was retired injured, Carlson declared earlier luncheon connected time four, asking Yorkshire to make 295 from 68 overs. That’s much for illustration it.

Adam Lyth, 11 years Carlson’s elder, mightiness person fixed nan cocky skipper a look arsenic he took defender successful pursuit of specified a gettable target and, astatine 125 for 1 pinch 170 to get successful 33 overs, he mightiness person ventured a connection too. But nan leg-spinner Crane, who must person been revelling successful nan belief his skipper had shown successful him, dismissed nan knowledgeable No 3 Sam Whiteman and past James Wharton, and soon nan visitors were hanging on, 7 down, astatine nan close.

As immoderate Australian will show you, location is nary specified point arsenic a civilized victory, but Glamorgan tin return nan positives retired of this draw.

5. Du Plooy plundering runs again

It was a acold Good Friday that greeted nan long-suffering religious astatine Lord’s, backmost for different twelvemonth of parlously financed Middlesex cricket. The landlords were building again, nan Allen Stand being upgraded, leaving a spread wherever my preferred large surface erstwhile sat. I stopped counting really galore times I looked for nan people successful that void astatine half a dozen.

However, 1 man was seeing precisely what he wanted to see, Leus du Plooy backing up past season’s valedictory 263 not retired against Gloucestershire pinch 182 six months later, getting splendid support from a engaged Joe Cracknell, their sixth-wicket guidelines of 181 establishing an ascendency that was ne'er really challenged. Toby Roland-Jones picked up a fivefer and location were much encouraging signs from teenage pacer, Sebastian Morgan, pinch 4 second-innings wickets to unafraid an innings victory.

Before play, location was a poignant minute’s soundlessness for nan precocious Mick Hunt, nan long-serving groundsman and “Mr Lord’s” for galore of america who for illustration to get early astatine HQ. His beloved turf looked beautiful aft its wintertime relaying, but it was desperately slow and nan truth that 16 of 29 dismissals were bowled aliases LBW tells you each you request to cognize astir a slow, debased platform connected nan square.

It’s almost arsenic if nan first week of April mightiness beryllium a spot early for The Summer Game.  

6. Anderson thwarted by Sanderson

It would beryllium unfair to condense 4 days of combat connected first-class cricket’s immense canvas into a azygous Georges Seurat-esque constituent – and much unfair to blasted 1 man for nan result.

Lancashire’s Michael Jones dropped a straightforward drawback astatine 3rd gaffe offered by Northamptonshire’s No 11, Ben Sanderson. There were still 4 overs of long-shadowed struggle to go, but nan Lancashire fans’ fatalism was successful afloat bloom and Sir James’s men could not thrust to nan rescue.

It is fairer to praise nan Northamptonshire tail, who took nan first innings from 103 for 6 to 258 each retired and nan 2nd from 50-6 to 213-9, George Bartlett’s 95 not retired starring nan hour-long 10th-wicket guidelines astatine nan death. Runs aft nan autumn of nan sixth wicket are truthful captious successful two-innings matches.