Latest news with #RothesayCountyChampionshipDivisionTwo
BBC News
04-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Bell-Drummond gives Kent victory chance at Middlesex
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Lord's (day three)Kent 129 & 473: Bell-Drummond 223, Crawley 68; Roland-Jones 3-107Middlesex 238 & 81-3: Holden 38; Evison 2-32Middlesex (3 pts) require 284 more runs to beat Kent (3 pts) with seven wickets remainingMatch scorecard Daniel Bell-Drummond's second highest score in first-class cricket allowed Kent to take charge of their County Championship Division Two clash with Middlesex on day three at Lord' 31-year-old Kent skipper, took his overnight 103 not out to 223 as the visitors piled up 473 all Richards (43), Joey Evison (35) and Chris Benjamin (34) all shared half-century stands with the right-hander as the Middlesex bowlers were ground into the dirt, Toby-Roland-Jones taking 3-107 for match figures of to better a record fourth innings winning score against Kent harping back more than 100 years to the days of the legendary Patsy Hendren, Middlesex stumbled to 81-3 at stumps, two wickets for the visitors already 117 ahead, Middlesex needed early wickets and they weren't without opportunities. After edging a four to the vacant third, Bell-Drummond was rapped on the pad by Dane Paterson, moving swiftly leg-side of the wicket as the home side's pleads for lbw were not that was unlucky Middlesex's next wound was self-inflicted, Ryan Higgins failing to cling on to Evison's slash to gully before the batter had added to his overnight score. The drop proved costly as by the time Henry Brookes held a caught and bowled at the second grab, the all-rounder, helped by a towering six back over the head of spinner Zafar Gohar had added 62 with hope the new ball would bring further reward soon evaporated, a Bell-Drummond edge wide of a diving second slip the closest they came to another scare survived, Bell-Drummond, whose highest first-class score of 300 not out came two summers ago against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road, crunched a lovely on-drive to the fence at mid-on before his 21st four, a cut behind point took him past 150 on the stroke of the resumption, Bell-Drummond was becalmed, only adding a single boundary in the afternoon session. Wicketkeeper Benjamin though played positively, four boundaries helping him to 34 out of a stand of 74 before Higgins snuck one between bat and pad to trim the Richards came out on a pair and was given a life on four, Ben Geddes failing to cling on to a low catch at second with Evison earlier, Richards made Middlesex pay, a thunderous straight drive the pick of his five fours in an entertaining 43 ended when he was harshly adjudged leg before to a ball from Gohar which appeared to strike him outside leg continued on, marshalling the tail, to the point of refusing singles to protect George Garrett, even though the lead was beyond 300.A tickled single to square leg took him to 200, after which he smote three huge sixes before being last man out caught at target of 365 was exactly 50 more than Middlesex's previous best successful fourth-innings chase against Kent, a total of 315-5 made at Lord's in gargantuan task was made more difficult when Sam Robson was bowled by a beauty from Garrett with only nine on the Holden flourished briefly in a stand of 53 for the second wicket with the obdurate Stephen Eskinazi, but Evison flattened his off-stump, before having nightwatchman Brookes caught a slip by Zak Crawley to leave the hosts in the Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
BBC News
04-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Leics beat Northants to stretch lead at top
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester (day three)Leicestershire 304 & 175: Budinger 39; Sanderson 6-72Northamptonshire 191 & 156: Bartlett 37; Hull 3-13Leicestershire (21 pts) beat Northants (3 pts) by 132 runsMatch scorecard Josh Hull reminded England's selectors of his potency as Leicestershire cemented their place at the top of the County Championship Division Two with a 132-run victory over 289 at the Uptonsteel County Ground, Northamptonshire were bowled out for 156 after Hull bowled three of their top four in his first four overs. The 20-year-old ended with 3-13, the spearhead of a seam quintet all of whom took wickets in an excellent collective lower order had doggedly extended their second innings to 175 all out, Ben Sanderson finishing with 6-72 and Harry Conway 3-43, in the morning. That elevated the target to 289 in five sessions and there was no way back for the visitors after Hull's by 113 on first innings, Leicestershire, resumed on the third morning on 96-6 in their second and their lower order knuckled down diligently to bat until the brink of lunch. Ian Holland's 113 minutes' resistance for 11 ended when he nicked an outswinger from Conway but Logan van Beek (27) and Ben Green (32) also batted for more than 100 after van Beek fell lbw to Justin Broad, the last two wickets added 37 as Tom Scriven and Hull offered Green support. Scriven edged Conway to second slip before Green ladled Sanderson to deep mid-wicket to supply the big-hearted bowler's sixth quest for 289 was then reduced to 31-3 after Hull hit the stumps three times in his first 23 balls. The left-armer outlined his credentials to add to his single Test appearance so far with a superb spell of swinging, pitched up, fast bowling which emphatically vindicated the old adage, "if they miss, you hit." He clipped a leg stump left exposed by Ricardo Vasconcelos, beat a half-forward Luke Procter for pace to find off stump and rattled middle and leg through James Sales' attempted on-side Keogh perished carelessly when he chipped a leg-stump offering from Holland to mid-wicket. George Bartlett (37) applied himself well until tea but fell to the third ball after the interval. A heavy shower during tea invigorated the pitch and three wickets fell in the first ten balls after the break as Bartlett was lbw to van Beek and Saif Zaib and Broad edged away-swingers from Green to wicketkeeper Ben McManus and Calvin Harrison defied the oppressive bowling and the appalling din from an adjacent pub to add 37 in 76 balls before both fell in three balls to Scriven. Harrison edged behind and McManus fell lbw to leave last pair Sanderson and Conway with a day and 19.2 overs to survive. Sanderson, who passed 1,000 first-class runs earlier in the match, made inroads into his second thousand with a merry 32 before Rehan Ahmed bowled him to round off another resounding Leicestershire Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
BBC News
28-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Middlesex bat out day to draw with Derbyshire
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Derby (day four)Derbyshire 472: Andersson 107; Fernandes 3-53Middlesex 315 & 307-7 (f/o): Holden 94; Thomson 2-53Derbyshire (13 pts) drew with Middlesex (11 pts)Match scorecard Ryan Higgins found his form at just the right time to save Middlesex from defeat on the final day of the County Championship Division Two match against Derbyshire at scored 56, his first 50 of the season, sharing a seventh wicket stand of 75 from 155 balls with Zahar Gohar who was unbeaten on 52 off 108 balls to take Middlesex to 307-7, 150 ahead, when the teams shook hands on a Holden with 94 and Stephen Eskinazi, 61, had added 169 for the second wicket only to throw their wickets away in the last over before hopes lifted when the visitors slipped to 220-6 but Higgins and Gohar stood firm to deny them although the draw takes them to second place, 13 points behind leaders started the morning 97 runs behind needing to bat deep into the day to deny Derbyshire first objective was to deny the hosts early wickets on a pitch that was offering turn and Eskinazi and Holden started well although both had moments of good edged Blair Tickner between first and second slip to the third man boundary before Holden was given a reprieve on swept Jack Morley hard to short mid-wicket where Tickner could only parry the ball in front of his was a tough chance with Tickner doing well to get his hands up to protect himself and the rest of the session was largely uneventful until Middlesex inexplicably pressed the self-destruct button in the last over before had passed 500 runs for the season and was closing on a third century in seven innings when he went for a big slog sweep at Morley and was du Plooy, batting with a runner, then drove the ball towards the cover boundary where Harry Came's return to the bowler's end ran out Eskinazi who had raced down the pitch looking for a third two dismissals had opened the door for Derbyshire who gave it another firm go after the Plooy injured his right foot batting in the first innings and a Tickner yorker struck his left foot in line to send him hobbling back to the runs later, Ben Geddes got an inside edge off Alex Thomson onto pad and Caleb Jewell dived at leg slip to take the then produced a beauty to have Jack Davies caught behind but Gohar and Higgins got to tea with Middlesex 86 took the second new ball but the pair continued to steer their side towards safety until Higgins swept Thomson to deep square leg with the visitors 138 Gohar completed his 50 with his second six and Derbyshire called off the chase with 15 overs Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
BBC News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Chappell tightens Derbyshire's grip as Middlesex follow-on
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Derby (day three)Derbyshire 472: Andersson 107, Lloyd 93, Came 73; Fernandes 3-53Middlesex 315: Geddes 59, Chappell 4-55 & 60-1 f/oMiddlesex (3 pts) trail Derbyshire (5pts) by 97 runs following onMatch scorecard Zak Chappell tightened Derbyshire's grip on the County Championship Division Two match as Middlesex were forced to follow on at fast bowler took 4-55 with the visitors bowled out for 315, eight short of the follow-on target, despite half-centuries from Leus du Plooy, Ben Geddes and Jack then lost Nathan Fernandes to the first ball of their second innings before closing on 60-1, still 97 mood going into the third day matched the glorious weather and the outlook got even brighter for the hosts when Ryan Higgins went in the third over of the clipped Chappell firmly but in the air to mid-wicket where Alex Thomson dived full length to his left to take a stunning one-handed was mobbed by jubilant team mates and not just for the quality of the fielding because Higgins represented a big wicket in the context of the that was to be the only success for some time as nightwatchman Blake Cullen and Leus du Plooy dug in to lift the spirits of the retiring hurt with a foot injury the previous day, du Plooy was able to resume his innings with Max Holden as a runner and although restricted, the former Derbyshire man played soundly to bat through to also shaped well although he was reprieved on 16 when he edged Chappell to first slip where Caleb Jewell got a hand to it but could not hold took advantage and passed his previous highest score of 34 by clipping Luis Reece to the mid-wicket boundary but missed out on a maiden 50 when he aimed a big drive at the all-rounder and was caught Cullen had done a good job for his team, batting 95 minutes in the morning and sharing a stand of 60 from 118 balls with du Plooy who was put down at short leg on 35 off Jack Plooy completed his 50 from 133 balls but then edged Chappell to second slip with Middlesex still 117 runs short of avoiding the follow and Davies played sensibly to reduce that by 55 but the spinners were finding some turn and Thomson broke the stand with a ball that spun had launched the off-spinner over long on for six but when he reached out to drive the next ball, he was bowled through the returned to have Zafar Gohar and Toby Roland-Jones caught behind but Davies pulled and drove him for two sixes to reach eight needed to avoid the follow-on, Davies tried to launch Thomson for another maximum but failed to clear long off and Derbyshire immediately sent Middlesex back were rewarded with the first ball as Nathan Fernandes sliced a drive at Reece into the hands of in his next over, Reece pulled up with a problem in his right leg and had to leave the field, although he was back on before the Eskinazi and Holden batted through to stumps in relative comfort but Middlesex have a lot of work to do to avoid Reporters Network, supported by Rothesay
BBC News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Foxes hold their nerve to edge tense win at Gloucestershire
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol (day three)Gloucestershire 252 & 151: Holland 4-32Leicestershire 262 & 146-8: Cox 47, Goodman 4-33Leicestershire (20pts) beat Gloucestershire (4 pts) by two wicketsMatch scorecard A nigh-on perfect morning's bowling from Leicestershire's in-form seamers saw the visitors record an ultimately nerve-shredding win at Bristol and strengthen their position at the top of County Championship Division Two as they stumbled over the line amid high tension in their chase of 143.A ruinous period of play for Gloucestershire, starting on Saturday evening with the wicket of Ollie Price and continuing into Sunday morning, saw them lose seven wickets for just 31 runs, the home side's fall starting at 87-1 and ending with them in dire straits at 118-8 after little more than an hour of day three. A mini-recovery then took them to 152 all out, leaving Leicestershire 143 to lost nightwatch Dom Goodman for a duck in the first over of the day, bowled by the impressive Ian Holland. The former Hampshire man thus extended his lead at the top of the division two wicket-takers' charts with his 19th scalp of the season, later wrapping up the innings to take his tally to a round that early dismissal, there were a couple of close calls against Cam Bancroft before he fell lbw to the persevering van Beek for a joint innings-high 43, and the very next ball Miles Hammond was caught at second slip by Louis Kimber off Ben more key wickets came and went in the blink of an eye, first innings star James Bracey chipping van Beek to Holland at mid-on and then Cam Green beautifully caught off an inside edge by fellow countryman Pete Handscomb diving away to his left behind the first hour had seen outstanding bowling by three of the Foxes' seamers, who did not concede a boundary until 70 minutes into the day, at which point Graeme van Buuren dispatched a Josh Hull full toss for four in the beanpole seamer's first over of the day. Two balls later however, the former captain was caught by Ben Green at first slip at the second agricultural hitting from Zaman Akhter saw Gloucestershire stage a recovery of sorts, but Hull yorked him to limit the damage and Holland returned to wrap things up, leaving the Foxes' batters to face one over before was enough time for Dom Goodman to trap Rishi Patel in front off the third ball of the innings, the opener having returned to action after recovering from a thumb injury sustained when fielding in just the third over of the first match of the season. Patel did not much enjoy his return on an untypically lively Gloucester pitch, scoring just one run across his two innings and his dismissal meant nine wickets had fallen for 64 runs before was no easier for the batters after lunch, when Dom Goodman, fresh from five in the first innings, rattled through the Foxes' top order, including reducing them to 0 for 2 after the first over as Rehan Ahmed was caught at cover by Cam Green after a three-ball innings that comprised a play-and-miss, a near run out and a Hill and Sol Budinger nudged the score up to 26 before, Bracey snaffled Hill's feathered edge. And it was 35-4 when Price held onto a cracker low down in the slips to see the back of Budinger. Ian Holland, seven wickets and a fifty in the match, could not hang around long, falling in Josh Shaw's first over to leave the innings in tatters at 42-5 and 101 still Handscomb and keeper Ben Cox, who had been hit in the chest and taken to hospital for a scan on Saturday, steadied the ship as the sun appeared and the pitch eased. Ball by ball, run by run, they advanced, although not without their fair share of scares. They had reached 100 when Singh Dale breached Handscomb's defences to revive the home side's fortunes and van Beek hung around with Ben Cox to add another 18 before he went the same was taken with 22 runs needed and three wickets in hand, Cox holding things together on 41. The two Bens showed real composure on the resumption, steadily ticking off the runs until, with eight needed, Cox was caught behind, also off Singh maidens ratcheted up the tension but Green rounded off a good personal game by hitting the winning runs to complete a hard-fought victory, meaning Gloucestershire have still not won at Bristol since September 2022, a run that now stretches to 13 Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
