Key events
Friday’s round-up
With the floodlights on, stewards in gloves, spectators crisply hunched and an unkind wind blowing past the East Stand, Yorkshire crept closer towards the First Division.
Yorkshire need a maximum of 10 points to be guaranteed top-flight cricket next year, and secured two of them as Northamptonshire crumbled, though with their nearest rivals Middlesex marooned at Hove, the magic number is likely to be smaller. The morning sun had shone brightly in Leeds, but troublesome damp patches caused a five-hour delay as a succession of men, including Yorkshire chair Colin Graves in a pea coat, examined them.
Once underway, Ben Coad struck in his second over, then Krish Patel had a terrific start to his Championship career with a flurry of boundaries, before being caught at second slip for 26. There were two wickets for George Hill, who was presented with his county cap on Thursday by Jonny Bairstow. Coad then added Saif Zaib to his tally, his 300th first-class wicket (each one coming in at an average under 20), to a warm ovation from the crowd and his teammates.
At Trent Bridge, 19-year-old Freddie McCann’s second Championship century, a gorgeous, plucky innings against Warwickshire, took Nottinghamshire nearer to safety. With two batting points in the bag, they need only to avoid defeat to remain in Division One. Hampshire’s Kyle Abbott ripped through the Somerset second innings at Taunton, to leave them four down and scores level. Elsewhere, the day two curtains were drawn on five games without a ball bowled.
Scores on the doors
DIVISION ONE
TAUNTON: Somerset 136 and 60-4 v Hampshire 196
CHESTER LE STREET: Durham v Kent no play Thursday or Friday
TRENT BRIDGE: Nottinghamshire 324-6 v Warwickshire
NEW ROAD Worcestershire 119-7 v Lancashire no play on Thursday or Friday
CHELMSFORD: Essex 116-1 v Surrey no play on Friday
DIVISION TWO
HEADINGLEY: Yorkshire v Northamptonshire 117-6
SOPHIA GARDENS Glamorgan 283-4 Gloucestershire
HOVE Sussex v Middlesex no play Thursday or Friday
GRACE ROAD Leicestershire v Derbyshire no play Thursday or Friday
Preamble
Hello! Welcome to the penultimate day of the 2024 season, a suitably chilly one – 3 degrees when I got up – a breath of frost on the fields, the railway workers in gloves and hats.
I’m on my way to New Road, where Lancashire will probably be relegated at some point over the next two days. Hopefully the banks of the Severn will hold so that we can watch some cricket.
A slight issue this morning in that my computer is refusing to connect to the internet and doing this on my phone is making my eyes go peculiar – so there might be a slight delay while I seek advice from someone technical. BTL is open though, and the coffee is strong.
