Each week The Cricketer picks a team of the round from the LV= Insurance County Championship
The Cricketer selects a standout XI from the fifth round of the LV= Insurance County Championship, and a number of honourable mentions.
Alastair Cook (Essex)
The former England captain, at 37, broke new ground at Chelmsford by recording centuries in both innings of a first-class match for the first time.
Cook played a resilient knock of 107 from 268 deliveries in an innings lasting more than five-and-a-half hours. He put on 174 with fellow centurion Paul Walter (141) for the third wicket after Essex were reduced to 56 for 2 on the first morning.
Though day four was largely inconsequential, as Essex snuffed out any chance of a late Yorkshire win, Cook cashed in with a second ton bringing up three figures with the final boundary of the match off Joe Root.
Sam Robson (Middlesex)
Set 370 in 77 overs to beat Sussex, Middlesex needed a fast start to maintain their impressive start to their Division Two campaign.
A first-innings duck had extended a troubling run of form for Robson, which stretches back to last September now read: 20, 22, 13, 19, 21, 16, 22*, 0.
His first hundred since hitting a double against Sussex laid the foundations for a thrilling chase. He put on 209 with captain Peter Handscomb in 48.3 overs and another 61 with Max Holden to finish on 149 from 181 balls.
By the time he was dismissed by Ollie Robinson the equation was down to 99 in 17 overs - knocked off with 19 balls to spare - and his job was very much done.
Sean Dickson (Durham)
Make that three centuries in as many innings and four for the season from the Durham opener, who found himself firmly upstaged by England's Test captain despite his hundreds in both innings at New Road.
His day one 104 was one of three for Durham, with Ben Stokes' fireworks and David Bedingham's second hundred of the campaign to follow.
But there was no disputing his headline status when Durham came around to batting again to set an unreachable total, as Dickham hit five fours and eight sixes as he brought up a second century in 69 balls.
Indeed, it would have been the quickest in Durham's history, had it not been for Stokes's 64-ball onslaught earlier in the same game.
Ben Stokes hit a brutal century at New Road (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Ben Stokes (Durham)
You may have heard about this one.
England's new Test captain returned to action and it was like he had never been away. Stokes hit a stunning 161, with 17 sixes being dispatched to all parts of Worcester and beyond.
Teenage-spinner Josh Baker became the primary victim, as Stokes reached his century with 34 from the 20th over delivered by the left-armer - Durham's fastest in red-ball cricket.
Stokes checked in with the Worcestershire youngster after the innings, a classy act in the wake of criticism of his bowling by Kevin Pietersen who viewed the display as a justification for the franchising of county cricket.
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
The 23-year-old is yet to miss this season, reeling off a third century and sixth consecutive score of fifty or more to help secure a draw with Essex.
Just 20 wickets falling in four days and the fourth innings of the match not being required might reflect badly on the surface, but these runs did at least have a degree of jeopardy behind them.
Brook arrived at the crease with Yorkshire 215 for 5 and 188 behind Essex's first-innings 403. By the time he left it, 123 runs from 152 balls later, they were 55 ahead.
He made 211 with Dawid Malan and Brook upstaged both he and the returning Root, who had earlier made 75, and now averages 158.75 this term.
Chris Cooke (Glamorgan)
The wicketkeeper in the XI is filled by the Glamorgan's gloveman, who contributed across the game to lead Matthew Maynard's side to a second win of the season.
Cooke made a third fifty of the campaign, a resilient 52 built across more than three hours either side of the day two close.
It helped give Glamorgan a healthy 117-run lead after both sides had batted once. Four of the South African's half a dozen match dismissals then came in the second-innings as Sam Evans, Rishi Patel and Wiaan Mulder all went in single figures, and Ben Mike departed to end a troubling partnership worth 88. Cooke has more than anyone in county cricket in 2022.
He then returned to the crease with an unbeaten 11, hitting the winning runs off Scott Steel.
Ollie Robinson returned to action with a five-for (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Martin Andersson (Middlesex)
The Berkshire-born allrounder made contributions on all four days to help grind down Sussex.
Middlesex would have been left with a substantial first-innings deficit had it not been for Andersson's 3 for 88 with the ball and 55 with the bat, part of a seventh-wicket stand worth 99 with Luke Hollman.
He picked up first-innings centurion Tom Alsop the second time around, before hitting a punchy 44 not out from 39 balls alongside Max Holden (80*) in the successful Middlesex chase on the fourth evening.
Ollie Robinson (Sussex)
On a dry round for bowlers across the country, the returning England seamer produced an illuminating performance in a losing cause for Sussex.
Robinson secured one of just three hauls of five wickets or better in the entire round with figures of 5 for 66 in the first Middlesex innings.
And there was plenty to be encouraged about with the manner of the dismissals, bowling Robson, Handscomb and John Simpson before Alsop took catches at slip to see off Andersson and Blake Cullen.
Amid questions about his fitness and endurance, it is worth noting Robinson's wickets came in his first, third, fourth and fifth spells spread across 102.2 overs.
Mohammad Abbas (Hampshire)
Nine wickets in the match for the Pakistan seamer, who ran through Gloucestershire on day two to set up victory at The Ageas Bowl.
Abbas claimed the best individual figures of the round, taking 6 for 45 which included snaring four of the top five. The 32-year-old produced a vintage opening spell of 12-6-23-4.
And in the second innings as Gloucestershire were charged with saving the game he claimed three more - including Dominic Goodman for a second time - as Hants stormed to victory.
While we're here, let's bask in the glory of Abbas extending his streak to six innings without scoring after finishing 0* without facing a delivery and then being dismissed first ball by countryman Mohammad Amir.
Matt Parkinson's encouraging start to the season continued (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Matthew Potts (Durham)
Steve Harmison's player to watch this season picked his third six-wicket haul of the season - dismissing six of Worcestershire's top seven to go clear as Division Two's top wicket-taker.
A degree quicker and able to find movement in the air in conditions that produced five centuries, Potts' display was one of the most impressive of the round but was cast into the shadows at Worcester amid the hitting of Stokes and Dickson.
Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)
A second appearance in the team of the week for the Lancs leggie. These were Parkinson's fourth and fifth hauls of three wickets or more in six innings and we're only in early May.
This week's viral delivery came with the dismissal of Will Rhodes, a ball that pitched a foot outside off-stump, spun and broke through the Warwickshire captain's defences.
Though unable to ultimately bowl Lancashire into a position to win the game in the third innings he added another three wickets, including that of first-innings centurion Dom Sibley and the in-form Michael Burgess.
With 17 wickets, 180 overs (only Dom Bess has delivered more in Division One in one more game) and an economy rate which compares favourably to last season (2.20 in 2022, 2.30 in 2021) it has been a fruitful start for the 25-year-old.
Honourable mentions: Dominic Sibley, Keaton Jennings, Sam Northeast, Felix Organ, Rory Burns, Tom Alsop, Paul Walter, Cheteshwar Pujara, David Bedingham, Jack Haynes, Gus Atkinson, Ben Mike, Colin de Grandhomme
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