County Championship team of the week: Who joins Colin Ackermann?

Each week The Cricketer picks a team of the round from the LV= Insurance County Championship

Keaton Jennings (Lancashire)

Keaton Jennings certainly enjoyed his week out at the seaside with Lancashire, scoring a career-best 318 against Somerset in Southport. The former England opener faced 426 balls, striking 28 fours and four sixes, shared 100-plus run partnerships with Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon and Rob Jones, and batted for just shy of 10 hours (582 runs) to help Lancashire declare on 624 for 9. His knock – the highest across both divisions this season - is the fourth-highest score in Lancashire’s first-class history and he is one of only six players to hit a triple-hundred for the club.

Adam Lyth (Yorkshire)

Another player who thrived by the coast, Adam Lyth top-scored for Yorkshire as they posted 521 runs from their first innings in Scarborough. The 34-year-old struck 183 runs from 306 balls, anchoring his side as a flurry of quick wickets fell (Will Luxton was the only other member of the top-six to pass 20) before sharing a 305-run partnership with fellow centurion Jonathan Tattersall. Together, they rescued Yorkshire from 125 for 5 to 430 for 6 – although it was in vain as Yorkshire went on to lose the match.

Ed Pollock (Worcestershire)

Worcestershire made light work of their second-innings chase against Middlesex at Northwood, powering to 238 off just 46.4 overs. And central to their victory over their promotion rivals was Ed Pollock, who dispatched 113 runs off just 77 balls (11 fours, seven sixes) at the top of the order. His first 50 runs took 40 balls, his second 27 – a welcome return to his free-scoring best for a player who endured a torrid six weeks in the Blast.

^{Leus du Plooy [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]}

Colin Ackermann (Leicestershire)

Records tumbled at Hove during Leicestershire’s clash with Sussex, with the club declaring on a record 756 for 4. 277 of those runs came from the bat of Colin Ackermann, whose unbeaten knock came off 375 balls, yielded 42 boundaries, and lasted 454 minutes. It is the third-highest individual first-class score in Leicestershire’s history. His 477-run partnership with Wiaan Mulder is the highest for Leicestershire at any position and the highest fifth-wicket partnership in County Championship history. And unlike several of the other big knocks this week, it didn’t come at an outground.

Leus du Plooy (Derbyshire)

Shan Masood has been the star of the show for Derbyshire this season but in his absence Leus du Plooy took centre stage. In the first innings against Durham, he struck an unbeaten 122 off 234 balls  - Anuj Dal (90) and Brooke Guest (26) were the only other Derbyshire players to pass 10; in the second, he added a further 134 runs off 206 balls. He now needs just 86 runs to pass his previous season’s best in England.

Wiaan Mulder (Leicestershire)

The other Leicestershire history boy. Wiaan Mulder more than played his part in his side’s record-breaking innings, posting a career best 235 not out from just 279 balls. He batted for 328 minutes after coming in with the score 279 for 4. Prior to his mammoth knock at Hove, the 24-year-old had scored just 239 runs in his previous six matches, with a high score of 58 against Middlesex.

^{Keaton Jennings [Lancashire CCC]}

Jonathan Tattersall (Yorkshire)

Jonathan Tattersall hadn’t made a single Championship appearance for Yorkshire in 2022 before this week, with Harry Duke preferred with the gloves. However, he certainly made an impression on his return to the XI, scoring just the second century of his first-class career – and his career-high score – against Surrey. The 27-year-old scored 180 runs from 334 balls, including 23 fours, and also chipped in with six dismissals with the gloves.

Rob Keogh (Northamptonshire)

Lower down the order than usual for Rob Keogh but it was with the ball, not the bat, that he excelled for Northamptonshire against Kent. In the second innings, with Kent chasing 365, the spinner picked up 5 for 31 from 21.5 overs, including four of the last five to fall, to help Northants record their first Division One win in 18 years with 10 minutes to spare. Fellow spinner Simon Kerrigan also collected a five-for but Keogh gets the nod for holding his nerve against resilient No.11 Matt Quinn, who saw off 36 balls before falling. Economical in the first innings, too, he conceded just 35 runs from 14 overs.

Jamie Overton (Surrey)

Jamie Overton didn’t produce the greatest of performances in the first innings against Yorkshire, leaking 4.16 runs per over. However, he more than made up for it in the second, taking 6 for 61 – including both openers and the tail – to help restrict the home side to 220. His 24-ball 28 (in addition to his equally nifty knock of 32 in the first innings) also contributed to Surrey’s successful second-innings chase.  

^{Chris Rushworth [Ashley Allen/Getty Images]}

Simon Harmer (Essex)

Simon Harmer is unstoppable with the red ball at present, picking up 28 wickets in his past four innings to catapult himself to the top of the Division One wicket-taking charts. Against Gloucestershire, he picked up 5 for 44 in the first innings to help dismiss the visitors for 136 before taking 8 for 112 in the second to limit Essex’s chase to just 79 runs. Graeme van Buuren was the only Gloucestershire player not to be dismissed by the South African.

Chris Rushworth (Durham)

As mentioned earlier, in Derbyshire’s first innings, only three players scored more than 10 runs and that was largely thanks to Durham’s opening bowler Chris Rushworth. The club’s all-time leading first-class wicket-taker accounted for both openers inside 10 overs before removing Guest, Hilton Cartwright, Dal, Alex Thomson and Ben Aitchinson to finish with figures of 7 for 44. In the second innings, he once again picked up two wickets in the first 10 overs, going on to take 4 for 62.