The Cricketer reflects on the latest round of the 2023 LV= Insurance County Championship season by nominating a standout XI…
Eddie Byrom (Glamorgan)
Following on against Yorkshire and beginning with a 227-run deficit, the left-hander overcame the loss of opening partner Zain-ul-Hassan for nought to safeguard Glamorgan's passage to a comfortable draw at Cardiff.
He eventually fell for 101, having shared a 178-run stand for the third wicket with Sam Northeast. That was a first Championship hundred of the season for Byrom, to go with four fifties in seven matches.
Zak Crawley (Kent)
How things have changed for the England opener this summer: having gone into the Ashes under pressure at the end of a mixed first batch of County Championship form, he returned to domestic red-ball cricket with a bang against Nottinghamshire, peeling off a run-a-ball century against Nottinghamshire as Kent looked for a crucial victory that eventually eluded them.
England's leading run-scorer in the Ashes, he also asserted himself as an excellent slip-fielder, and he reaffirmed that status with a one-handed blinder to account for Tom Moores.
Shan Masood (Yorkshire)
It has been a frustrating season for the Pakistani left-hander, who signed for Yorkshire as captain but subsequently missed significant portions of their campaign.
But he belatedly brought up his maiden first-class century for the county, finishing on 192 against Glamorgan in what was ultimately a frustrating draw for the White Rose. He is averaging 66.75 through five Championship matches.
Joe Clarke saved the game for Nottinghamshire (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Joe Clarke (Nottinghamshire)
Perhaps the innings of the round, Clarke saved Nottinghamshire and might at the end of the season have played a key role in the Division One relegation battle.
It was only his wicket that stood between Kent and a vital win but, with Brett Hutton (84) for company, Clarke guided Notts from the prospect of an innings defeat to a point where, with a 167-run lead after the third innings, Kent risked losing. Matt Walker, Kent's head coach, called Clarke's unbeaten 141 "a masterstroke innings".
Sam Northeast (Glamorgan)
It has been a mediocre campaign for the former Kent captain, but he was at his best alongside Byrom to stave off defeat for Glamorgan at Cardiff in what has now been confirmed as Matt Maynard's penultimate game in charge.
Northeast finished unbeaten on 166 – not quite his quadruple-century in 2022, but nonetheless his highest score of the summer – as Yorkshire were left frustrated.
Colin Ackermann (Leicestershire)
It was ultimately in a losing cause, but Ackermann's 136 at Hove was a heroic effort from the soon-to-be Durham allrounder as Leicestershire came within 16 runs of reeling in a fourth-innings target of 499 against Sussex, which would have pushed them into pole position for promotion from Division Two.
As it was, Ackermann and Umar Amin, who made 94, both fell to Jack Carson in a game that became angsty and ill-tempered at times, with so much on the line and Leicestershire in touching distance of achieving something remarkable.
Shan Masood made his first County Championship century for Yorkshire (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Michael Burgess (Warwickshire)
A match-winning innings from Warwickshire's wicketkeeper, just as it looked like the decision to manufacture a fourth-innings run-chase for the home side against Northamptonshire might blow up in their own face.
Reduced to 24 for 5 when Burgess first joined Ed Barnard in the middle, the pair shared a crucial 70-run partnership, before Burgess found a willing ally in Olly Hannon-Dalby to rescue Warwickshire once again from 124 for 8 with an unbroken partnership of 52 that ultimately got the home side over the line, with a final six over the legside off Jack White all but relegating the visitors.
Anuj Dal (Derbyshire)
The allrounder was excellent for the away side at Bristol, preventing Gloucestershire from making a huge first-innings score, which eventually set Derbyshire up for a lead after both sides had batted once.
He produced a beauty to clip James Bracey's off-stump and then caught centurion Ollie Price off his own bowling, before running through Gloucestershire's lower order to end with 6 for 69.
Tom Scriven (Leicestershire)
Another who performed in a losing cause, but it was Scriven – who has enjoyed a terrific month in the One-Day Cup as well – who almost dragged Leicestershire to a history-making victory at Sussex in combination with Ben Cox.
They added 120 in 30 overs to take their side to within 40 runs of glory, only to fall in the space of two overs, with Scriven making 78, opening the door for Sussex to breathe again. Scriven, who made 78, had earlier kept Sussex's second innings in check with four wickets, including that of Cheteshwar Pujara.
Michael Burgess played a match-winning hand for Warwickshire (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Jaydev Unadkat (Sussex)
For all the talk of Pujara at Hove, it was his compatriot, Unadkat, who bowled Sussex to a crucial victory over Leicestershire, picking up six second-innings wickets. That was his reward for one hell of a shift, getting through 32.4 overs despite picking up an injury against Durham in the previous round of fixtures that had made him a doubt.
"I wasn't sure if I'd even play in this game," he said afterwards, "so I wanted my spells to be short and sharp. But then nothing mattered at the end when the team needed those crucial breakthroughs." Fittingly, it was Unadkat who cleaned up Chris Wright to give Sussex their win.
Ben Sanderson (Northamptonshire)
Northamptonshire's linchpin could have done no more in an attempt to stave off a defeat at Edgbaston that essentially seals the fate of his team. Sanderson ended with figures of 5 for 42, including a hat-trick of Will Rhodes, Sam Hain and Dan Mousley that reduced Warwickshire to 19 for 4.
Four overs later, he had Rob Yates caught in the slips by Karun Nair, and when he returned to trap Danny Briggs in front, it looked as though his heroics would be rewarded. But it wasn't to be either on the day or over the course of the summer.
Honourable mentions: Sam Robson, Leus du Plooy, Ollie Price, Dane Vilas, Brett Hutton, Michael Hogan, Jayant Yadav
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