The Cricketer reflects on the latest round of the 2023 LV Insurance County Championship season by nominating a standout XI…
After the 13th round of County Championship matches, The Cricketer selects a team of the week...
Alastair Cook (Essex)
In a troubling round for opening batters, it should come as little surprise that the ex-England captain was untroubled. For just the second time this season, he reeled off fifties in both innings, his first coming as part of a century opening stand with Nick Browne (the pair's first of the campaign). A second Championship century evaded him in the second innings as he was dismissed by a former opening partner Sam Robson.
Alex Lees (Durham)
The County Championship's highest run-scorer delivered a fifth hundred of the campaign to help edge Durham a step closer to a promotion which is now inevitable. Helped build a platform for the hosts to take a healthy first-innings lead with 103, sharing a second-wicket stand worth 146 with captain Scott Borthwick, before Graham Clark and Bas de Leede helped themselves to centuries later in the innings.
Josh Bohannon (Lancashire)
Lancs were threatening to scupper their chance to build a lead in reply to Northamptonshire's first-innings 232 after being reduced to 97 for 4. But Bohannon put on 92 with Dane Vilas and 150 alongside fellow centurion George Balderson, to help set up a handsome innings win. Hundred No.3 for the campaign for Bohannon puts him fractionally behind James Rew in the run-scoring charts in Division One.
Josh Bohannon struck 175 in Lancashire's win over Northamptonshire (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Nick Gubbins (Hampshire)
The Richmond-born left-hander warmed up for the One-Day Cup final with a third red-ball hundred of the campaign, putting Hants in an almost unassailable position against Somerset. The hosts' lead was 251 when Gubbins reached the crease on day three and he played the situation, hitting 139 off 192 deliveries, putting on 162 for the third wicket with captain James Vince as Somerset were made to pay.
Ben Foakes (Surrey)
Credit must go to Foakes for ignoring the noise around his England place and concentrating fully on his Surrey form. This was century No.4 across formats this season for Foakes, who put on 152 in 42 overs for the fifth wicket with Cameron Steel with a classy innings as the defending champions dominated Warwickshire at the Kia Oval. Four dismissals later, as the visitors were twice bowled out for fewer than 162, helped deliver an eighth victory of the campaign.
Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
The England spinner produced a vintage display with bat and ball to down Somerset. In front of England's chief selector Luke Wright, Dawson hit a 13th first-class century on day one. Then he came alive with the ball, removing Division One's leading runs-scorer Rew in both innings, before wrapping up victory by dismissing Shoaib Bashir.
Surrey took another step towards the title (Steve Bardens/Getty Images for Surrey CCC)
Dan Worrall (Surrey)
Cracked five fours as Surrey's tail, as it tends to do, wagged on day one against Warwickshire. The 32-year-old then produced eight wickets with the ball, including a second-innings five-for - getting rid of Will Rhodes twice - to go level with teammate Jordan Clark on 46 for the season.
Logan van Beek (Worcestershire)
Came to the crease with the Pears 110 for 6, registering his first fifty of the season as part of a stand worth 101 with Adam Hose. The Kiwi was vital as Glamorgan were twice skittled for fewer than 180, taking four wickets in each innings, removing Colin Ingram both times and dismissing captain Kiran Carlson for a six-ball duck in the chase.
Josh de Caires (Middlesex)
The best individual bowling figures of the season for the son of Michael Atherton, who took 8 for 106 to keep Essex honest at Chelmsford. Just his second first-class five-for was followed by a maiden 10-for, after two wickets in the hosts' reply, almost doubling his entire red-ball tally in one fell swoop.
Matt Parkinson returned to Durham for another loan stint to face Sussex (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Jamie Porter (Essex)
The leading wicket-taker in Division One helped Essex keep the pressure on Surrey in the title race with a fourth five-for of the season. Having broken through a brittle Middlesex top-order, as he and Sam Cook did in the reverse fixture at Lord's, he tore through the middle order to give Tom Westley's side the upper hand. Goes above Brett Hutton with 53 scalps for the campaign.
Matt Parkinson (Durham)
Back at Chester-Le-Street for another loan stint ahead of his permanent move from Lancashire to Kent, the legspinner had an immediate impact with eight wickets in victory over Sussex. The England international took the wicket of Tom Clark with his first delivery of the match and never looked back, adding Cheteshwar Pujara and James Coles during a spell of 5-1-13-3. He accounted for the Indian batter in the second innings and wrapped up the Sussex reply by removing Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Honourable mentions: Graham Clark, Bas de Leede, Wayne Madsen, George Balderson, Luke Wells, Ed Barnard, Jack Brooks, Simon Harmer, Tom Scriven, Anuj Dal, Alex Thomson, Jamie McIlroy
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