NICK FRIEND AND TEDDIE CASTERTON: On the back of the second round of Bob Willis Trophy action, The Cricketer considers puts forward those who performed best - a tough call after some memorable performances
Worcestershire signed Jake Libby from Nottinghamshire with a specific purpose in mind – the same reason for which Gareth Roderick will join from Gloucestershire at the end of this condensed season. For all the club’s limited-over success, they have been short of red-ball runs and experience.
In his first two games for the club, the 27-year-old has done all that was asked of him: on debut against Gloucestershire, he made scores of 77 and 25 in an impressive win against a Division One outfit, before following up with a maiden hundred for his new county, striking 184 against Glamorgan in a stand worth 318 with Brett D’Oliveira, who made 174 himself and only narrowly misses out on this composite side.
Well, where to begin for the undisputed player of the round. Only 19 years of age and playing just his fifth first-class match, Kent wicketkeeper-batsman Cox more than doubled his previous first-class run tally in an extraordinary second-wicket partnership with Jack Leaning. The pair put on an unbroken stand of 423 in 95 overs, with Cox surpassing the career highs of teammates Sam Billings (171), Daniel Bell-Drummond (206*) and Darren Stevens (237) in the process, as he finished unbeaten on 238.
In so doing, he struck Kent’s highest individual score against Sussex and the highest maiden century by a Kent player, also becoming the first player born in the 21st century to make a first-class century in England. Kent’s 530 for 1 was the fourth-highest single-wicket score in the global history of the first-class game.
Cox’s partner in crime, Leaning followed an unbeaten double hundred of his own with an outrageous diving catch above his head at second slip as Sussex’s reply got off to a troubled start. He could do no wrong. The former Yorkshire batsman, who – like Libby – has endured a long wait through a turbulent summer to finally get underway at his new club, started his Kent career inauspiciously with scores of 0 and 6 against Essex last week.
And then, against a depleted Sussex attack in sweltering conditions, Leaning made hay. His 220 required just 308 deliveries and featured 29 boundaries. Alongside his junior teammate, he is now the holder of Kent’s all-time highest partnership.
Jake Libby and Brett D'Oliveira put on 318 for the fourth wicket
For guts alone, the Hampshire batsman edges out Worcestershire batsman Brett D’Oliveira in this team. D’Oliveira’s efforts should not go unnoticed. Worcestershire came into this season having spent a great deal of their winter focusing on improving their red-ball form. That preparation – although somewhat thwarted by the ongoing pandemic – looks to have paid off. D’Oliveira’s 174, made in cahoots with new signing Libby, eclipsed the highest first-class score made by any Worcestershire player in 2019.
However, Weatherley’s contribution to a remarkable Hampshire win was enormous. Effectively playing with nine players due to injuries to England allrounder Liam Dawson and bowler Ryan Stevenson, 23-year-old Weatherley made scores of 98 and 64 – the second half century an unbeaten bat-carrying knock that saw his side to a gusty victory. At one point, Hampshire were 108 for 7 – with only a limping Stevenson to come; yet, alongside Keith Barker, Weatherley marshalled his team home.
The South African’s 31st first-class hundred helped Derbyshire to 408 in their first innings, in reply to Leicestershire’s 199 all out. His 103 came off of 174 balls with 17 boundaries, going a long way to batting their hosts out of the game. Colin Ackermann’s side could only reply with 220, leaving Derbyshire needing only 12 runs in their final innings to win the game. Madsen has now hit five tons against Leicestershire. Derbyshire, little fancied perhaps a fortnight ago, are sitting pretty at the top of their northern group.
When Tom Moores spoke to The Cricketer ahead of the start of this season, he stressed his desire to improve his red-ball form. “So far in my two years of having two full seasons of red-ball cricket, I’ve had one good year and one bad,” he said. “I’m hoping to bring my red-ball game up to where my white-ball stats are.” He averaged 29.33 in his first County Championship season, before suffering a significant dip to 13.88 – a fall in line with his team – as Nottinghamshire were relegated at the end of a poor 2019 campaign.
And despite beginning the Bob Willis Trophy with low scores against Derbyshire in a thrilling defeat, he stayed true to his promise as he struck a counterattacking hundred against Yorkshire. Coming to the crease at 163 for 5, he was last man out for a career-best 106, having dragged his side to 355, albeit in a losing cause.
Joe Weatherley batted superbly in both innings for Hampshire
One of the county cricketers of 2019, Ryan Higgins has carried on from where he left off last year, winning games for Gloucestershire with both bat and ball. Ahead of this shortened season, he spoke to The Cricketer, wondering what might constitute a successful campaign. “I’ve just been racking my brains about this,” he said. “Obviously, it’s competitive cricket but it’s a completely different look to competitive cricket as well within what we’ve ever done before. I have thought about it. Is 20 wickets a good year?” Either way, he’s well on the way, you’d think, to nailing that particular milestone.
Having taken four first innings wickets at Bristol to ensure Warwickshire’s lead didn’t become insurmountable, he added 51 in Gloucestershire’s second innings batting at No.5, steering his side away from danger at 30 for 3. And then, on the final afternoon as the visitors mounted a victory charge, the allrounder stopped them in their tracks. A triple-wicket maiden in the third over of the innings left Will Rhodes’ team 4 for 3, with Rob Yates, Sam Hain and Ian Bell all accounted for. He returned with the old ball to add four further scalps, including the match-sealing wicket of Hannon-Dalby. Career-best figures for an innings and a match, but very much par for the course these days for one of the circuit’s outstanding players.
Derbyshire leg-spinner Matt Critchley ended with second innings figures of 6 for 73, playing a key role in causing an ultimately match-defining collapse at the Fischer County Ground, spinning his team to a nine-wicket win on day three against Leicestershire.
Three wickets came in just five deliveries, causing panic stations as the hosts fell from 104 for 2 to 140 for 8 on a surface that aided spin. Critchley took the key wicket of captain Colin Ackermann for 22, before adding Dieter Klein and Ben Mike, both without scoring.
The soon-to-be-Surrey seamer starred with both bat and ball in the second round of the Bob Willis Trophy. In a low-scoring game, Overton aided his side with the bat, top scoring in the second innings with 68 off just 43 balls, taking his side’s total up to 222, leaving Northants needing 321 in the fourth innings, something of a stretch after a first innings disaster that saw the home team skittled out for 67.
Overton made any possibility of an improbable chase even slimmer, taking four wickets in eight overs – Charlie Thurston and Luke Procter among them, both of whom starred in last week’s rearguard draw with Warwickshire.
Ryan Higgins put in a remarkable match-winning display on the final afternoon at Bristol
We shouldn’t be surprised, really. A taker of 83 County Championship wickets last year and a further 57 in 2018, no one should be in the least bit dumfounded that Essex’s off-spinner is at it again, especially in these conditions.
Surrey were his latest victims this week. Six wickets on the second day were followed by another haul on the fourth, as Surrey attempted an improbable final innings chase and Harmer sought out his prey. For a long while, he was on for all ten as he tore through Vikram Solanki’s makeshift side in the manner that we have so come to expect. He might have missed out on that particular milestone, but match figures of 14 for 131 are proof - if nothing else - that the South African remains a class apart.
Given the nationwide heat and sweltering conditions, Olly Hannon-Dalby’s match figures of 46.3-16-110-12 might well represent the performance of the round. With Olly Stone absent due to injury, Hannon-Dalby took on the responsibility of tormentor-in-chief.
In Gloucestershire’s first innings, he was as stingy as he was threatening; there were 11 maidens in his 23.3 overs, which cost only 33 runs – along with the first of two six-wicket hauls. Second time around, he repeated the trick; alongside young fast bowler Henry Brookes, he was the principal reason for a batting collapse from 140 for 3 to a final total of 275, even if he did ultimately end up on the wrong end of the result.
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