Each week The Cricketer picks a team of the round from the LV= Insurance County Championship
In a summer full of runs, one of the knocks of the season so far: Lancashire were offered a tough final-day chase against the LV= Insurance County Championship holders, and Wells took the bull by the horns, finishing unbeaten on 175 in exactly 400 minutes. It was the left-hander's first hundred of the season, boosting his 2022 average above 57 in the process.
"Playing a big innings and seeing your team over the line to victory is what you always dream about," he told the ECB Reporters Network afterwards. "It is something you always say: 'Be there, not out, having won the game', and it happens so rarely, so for it to happen today in a high run-chase, that is what it's all about."
"He is the best and most consistent opener in the country for me," said Gareth Batty of Burns following Surrey's win over Somerset at Taunton. In a keenly fought game in which Surrey appeared to be well ahead until the hosts' fightback, it was Burns' first-innings hundred that ultimately proved to be the difference.
England might be two games up in their Test series against New Zealand, but – though Alex Lees has looked increasingly confident with each passing innings – Zak Crawley's position seems less certain, with the likes of Burns knocking on the door.
One game, 263 runs – some effort for a man who was seeing friends in Dublin when the call came from Durham. The third-highest score for a County Championship debutant in the competition's history.
Ravindra, the New Zealander who was effectively replacing Keegan Petersen, had never hit a double hundred before, and it was only the fourth century of his first-class career. His was the first of five centuries in a match dominated by the bat to the extent that only 17 wickets fell in four days.
Rory Burns set Surrey on their way to another win (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
A win for Glamorgan that was set up by hundreds for a pair of left-handers, Ingram and Eddie Byrom shared a stand worth 328 runs in exactly 90 overs. For Ingram, far more of a white-ball cricketer these days, this was a first red-ball century since 2017 and 12 runs away from a career-best.
Typically, he followed up with a four-ball duck in his second innings, by which point Glamorgan were well on their way to a fine win. This was only Ingram's second Championship match of the summer, with Michael Neser and Marnus Labuschagne filling the overseas spots in Matthew Maynard's side until Labuschagne departed for Sri Lanka.
The Kent youngster is having some summer: this was his second County Championship ton of the season, to go with three half centuries, having posted the highest T20 score of his career in a win over Somerset a matter of days earlier.
After Gloucestershire secured maximum batting points in their innings, Cox's knock set Kent on their way to a first red-ball win of the campaign that pulled them away from the bottom three. He shared a 254-run partnership with Jack Leaning, with whom he has feasted before: in 2020, they put on 423 unbroken runs against Sussex.
The wicketkeeper-batter, 20, had the game of his life for Sussex, albeit in defeat. Having only reached fifty once in his first 15 innings in first-class cricket, he has done so three times consecutively since, culminating in a first-innings 185 against Glamorgan, followed by 83 in the second innings, but without a great deal of support on either occasion.
Invited to bat first, only Tom Clark passed fifty alongside Carter, with Delray Rawlins' half century the only other major contribution in the third innings of the match that opened the door for Glamorgan's successful chase on the fourth afternoon.
Colin Ingram made his first red-ball hundred since 2017 (Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)
The Surrey allrounder has improved sufficiently as an off-spinner over the last 12 months to keep both Amar Virdi and Dan Moriarty out of the first-team picture, but it was mainly with the bat that Jacks impressed in the three-wicket win over Somerset.
He came to the crease in Surrey's first innings following the fall of Jamie Smith, with Hashim Amla having earlier retired through illness, and soon afterwards watched Burns depart. But he ensured Surrey retained their momentum, striking 10 boundaries in his 88, before adding 62 in a nervy run-chase. In between, he held up an end as Somerset fought back in their second innings.
The Durham allrounder edges out his teammate, Paul Coughlin, in this team: both men recorded their maiden first-class hundreds, but Raine – on a pitch that sucked the spirit out of the bowlers on both sides – toiled away for 38 overs and came out the other side with four wickets for his efforts.
Raine has long been considered an excellent ball-striker, and he came to the crease midway through a curious collapse from 405 for 3 to 429 for 7. With the ball, he enticed Jake Libby to edge to slip, forced Azhar Ali to chop on and then dismissed nightwatchman Charlie Morris, before ending Brett D'Oliveira's marathon.
The scorecard doesn't make it look that way, but it would have taken something special for Worcestershire to avoid defeat had it not been for Barnard's heroics from No.7, which all but prevented the follow-on. Recently linked with a move away from New Road, the allrounder is one of the best cricketers on the domestic circuit.
Only 18 players have scored more County Championship runs this summer, with Barnard's 533 coming in just nine innings alongside an average north of 66. Having never scored a ton until last summer, he now has four in his last 20 matches, dragging his batting average above his bowling equivalent in the process.
Ed Barnard's hundred took Worcestershire out of trouble (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
The leading spinner in the country so far this summer, Patterson-White seems to sneak under the radar at times for Nottinghamshire, given the firepower and international class of their seam attack. But he has 28 wickets at 19.92 apiece and picked up seven wickets in the match as Notts overpowered Leicestershire who, like Gloucestershire in their defeat by Kent, managed runs on the board in their first innings before being overwhelmed when they batted again.
He ran through Leicestershire's middle order on the third day, ensuring a three-day finish, having earlier dismissed Colin Ackermann for 116 as Leicestershire made 440. He added 34 with the bat from No.8, and his batting could well play in his favour in the years to come.
An inspired overseas signing by Kent, whose problems in the seam department meant calling on Duffy for a couple of red-ball games ahead of Matt Henry's arrival in the near future. And that decision was vindicated on the third evening at Canterbury, with Gloucestershire facing a tricky session and a significant first-innings deficit.
He promptly took 4 for 8 in two overs as the visitors sent out nightwatchman after nightwatchman, only for Duffy to send them back. It meant Gloucestershire beginning the fourth day five wickets down, from which they could never fully recover.
Liam Dawson, Will Williams, George Hill, Brad Wheal, Ben Duckett, Shan Masood, Glenn Phillips, Alex Davies, Jack Leaning, Tom Price, Lewis Gregory, Sam Hain, Paul Coughlin, Ed Byrom
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