County Championship Division One roundup: Ben Duckett and Colin Ackermann hit crucial hundreds

The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day one of round four of the Vitality County Championship in 2024

ECB Reporters Network | 26/04/2024 at 18:40

Chester-le-Street (day one of four): Durham 358, Essex 5-0 - Essex trail by 353 runs with 10 wickets remaining

Colin Ackermann made his first century for Durham as the home side shared the spoils with Essex on the first day of their Vitality County Championship match at the Seat Unique Riverside.

The former Leicestershire skipper showed exemplary patience in making 112, a 294-minute innings that formed the bedrock of his side's 358 all out. The Essex openers safely negotiated the last two overs of the day to finish on five without loss.

The visiting bowlers stuck to their task well on a pitch that encouraged fast scoring. Sam Cook took three for 60 and Jamie Porter, 3 for 57, but the visitors would probably have enjoyed a much better day had they not dropped Ollie Robinson on 26 and Ackermann on 90, when the Yorkshire loanee Harry Duke put down a sharp chance off Matt Critchley.

As it was, both David Bedingham and Robinson made fifties with the latter's 90 being his fifth consecutive first-class half century this season.

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^{Colin Ackermann made his first Durham hundred (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

The Oval (day one of four): Hampshire 151, Surrey 123-5 - Surrey trail by 28 runs with five wickets remaining

A dramatic opening day at the Kia Oval, dominated by swing and seam, ended with Ryan Patel and Rory Burns guiding Surrey to 123 for 5 after they had earlier dismissed Hampshire for 151.

Patel, coming in to join Burns with Surrey stuttering at 44 for 4, unfurled some regal strokes in his 41 from 94 balls while opener Burns dropped anchor in nuggety fashion against the moving ball to reach an unbeaten 39 in almost three and a half hours' batting. Together they put on 75 in 25 overs before Patel was bowled by one from Mohammad Abbas that kept wickedly low.

After being put in, Hampshire would no doubt have been thinking of the three heavy defeats they have suffered previously at the Oval in April in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

But they fought back strongly with the ball despite their first innings demise against the Surrey quicks, with Dan Worrall, Jordan Clark and Gus Atkinson finishing with 3 for 44, 3 for 29 and 3 for 40 respectively.

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^{Jason Holder in action at Kidderminster for Worcestershire (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)}

Edgbaston (day one of four): Nottinghamshire 367-8, Warwickshire

A mature and composed century from Ben Duckett held Nottinghamshire's batting together on the opening day of their Vitality Championship Division One match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

England batter Duckett constructed a superb unbeaten 197 from 230 balls as his side made erratic but highly entertaining progress to 367 for 8.

It was a patchy display from Nottinghamshire as three batters – Duckett, Ben Slater (65) and Jack Haynes (74) – passed 60 but nobody else reached double figures against an attack led by the redoubtable Olly Hannon-Dalby.

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^{Dan Worrall was superb for Surrey (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)}

Kidderminster (day one of four): Somerset 309-9, Worcestershire 14-0 - Worcestershire trail by 295 runs with 10 wickets remaining

Tom Banton continued his upturn in form to hold the Somerset innings together after West Indies allrounder Jason Holder had threatened to put Worcestershire in a position of strength on day one of the Vitality County Championship encounter at Kidderminster.

Holder, available for the first five Championship matches, produced another devastating spell with the ball as he found the ideal length and backed up the excellent bowling throughout the day of Joe Leach and Matthew Waite.

Holder repeated that success by sending back Andrew Umeed, James Rew and Lewis Gregory in the space of 12 deliveries immediately before tea to reduce Somerset to 181 for 6.

But Banton ensured there was no complete collapse by the visitors and produced a series of glorious strokes and brutal hitting in making 92 from 140 balls.

His knock, plus some late order big hitting by Migael Pretorious, enabled Somerset to recover and claim two batting points before declaring late in the day.

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