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Another Kiwi has been handed a debut in the County Championship with Canterbury’s Michael Rae coming into the Warwickshire side for their defeat to Essex.
Rae took five wickets across the two innings for Warwickshire with two wickets in Essex’s first innings of 162. Feroze Khushi (10) and Simon Harmer (13) were Rae’s first and second County Cricket wickets respectively.
He had earlier struck two sixes of South African spinner Harmer before being bowled by him for 16 off 17 balls. Rae’s second innings with the bat didn’t go that well, having been sent in as night watchman he made five before once again falling to Harmer. However, it wasn’t the best batting performance by the Bears as they crumbled all out for just 94.
Essex pulled off a remarkable victory, as they managed to come back from a first-innings deficit of 235 with a century to Jordan Cox (112) and fifties to Matt Critchley (99*) and Dean Elgar (60).
There was some early success for Rae as he grabbed Khushi (0), Nick Browne (8) and Tom Westley (18) to have Essex at 65/3, but it wasn’t enough in the end.
Tom Bruce once again performed for Lancashire backing up his fifty from the previous game with a 46 from 87 at number five against Durham. The bowling attack of Durham even included English test captain Ben Stokes, who Bruce did manage to strike a four off, before being caught and bowled by him.
A couple of catches in the field for the Central Stags white ball captain assisted in helping Durham out for 236 and Lancashire a lead over 100.
Bruce once then performed with the bat striking a quick 43 from 47 before falling to Callum Parkinson, caught behind by Ollie Robinson. He was batting number six in this innings and assisted well in helping Lancashire set Durham a target of just over 470 runs.
There was no real action in the field for Bruce in the final innings, but there was a win for Lancashire but just 60 runs as Ollie Robinson (171*) and David Bedingham (103) gave the visitors some hope.
Will Young didn’t have one of the best games by his standards with a five-ball duck in the first innings for Nottinghamshire against Hampshire, and a 46-ball 14 in the second innings. Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas had him in the first innings whilst Kyle Abbott grabbed him in the second.
Young did manage a catch in each innings, but Hampshire took the win by five wickets.
Again, Nathan Smith showed why he is being regarded as one of the best-performing Kiwis with another good showing for Worcestershire in their fixture against Surrey.
It was mainly seamer Joe Leach who did the early damage for Worcestershire as he grabbed three early wickets, but Smith helped this with the wicket of captain Rory Burns.
With Surrey in real trouble at 15/4, it was up to Dan Lawrence (84) and Ollie Pope (63) to provide the resistance until Smith grabbed Pope caught behind by Gareth Roderick.
Surrey ended on 213 all out and there would be a real chance for the visitors to capitalise on this. That however didn’t quite go to plan.
Smith only managed a two-ball duck before being removed by West Indian Kemar Roach as Worcestershire crumbled to 128 all out.
There was no success for Smith in the second innings bowling 12 wicketless overs and going for 46 runs.
In pursuit of over 500 runs for a victory, it was always going to be a tough ask, and Worcestershire fell to 75/7, Smith did manage a quality 60 from 57 and this partnered with Ben Gibbon’s 75 meant that Surrey took a 281-run win.
Blair Tickner grabbed a couple of wickets in the first innings for Derbyshire in their clash against Northamptonshire at Derby. He grabbed opener Ricardo Vasconcelos for 53 and Ben Sanderson for six.
Eight runs came from Tickner’s bat in Derbyshire's first innings reply of 362, but they still were trailing by 60 runs.
A mammoth 310/3 declared by Northamptonshire left the home team with just over 370 runs needed for victory and with 83 overs it was going to be an interesting chase.
Tickner came out to bat when Derbyshire lost Zak Chappell for a valiant 72 from 101, with just under 10 overs on the final day and two wickets remaining.
He survived 21 balls before falling victim to Rob Keogh and that left Anuj Dal and Daryn Dupavillon with just 1.5 overs left to see it, which they managed to do and the game ended in a draw.
Lancashire will come up against Warwickshire, but it is unclear as of now if Rae is still needed for this match in a chance to square off against Bruce at Manchester. Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire play each other at Worcester in a battle between Young and Smith. Derbyshire and Tickner will travel to Bristol to face Gloucestershire.
County Championship Stats (End of Round 7):
BATTING (runs, average, 50s, 100s, fours, sixes):
Will Young: 269 runs @53.80 | 0 50s | 1 100 | 29 4s | 2 6s
Tom Bruce: 237 runs @23.70 | 1 50 | 0 100s | 28 4s | 2 6s
Nathan Smith: 212 runs @42.40 | 3 50s | 0 100s | 25 4s | 4 6s
Blair Tickner: 70 runs @14.00| 0 50s | 0 100s | 9 4s | 0 6s
Michael Rae: 21 runs @10.50| 0 50s | 0 100s | 0 4s | 2 6s
BOWLING (wickets, average, 3 wicket hauls, 4 wicket hauls, 5 wicket hauls):
Nathan Smith: 17 wickets @26.59 | 2 3w | 1 4w | 0 5w
Blair Tickner: 8 wickets @61.50 | 0 3w | 0 4w | 0 5w
Michael Rae: 5 wickets @24.80 | 1 3w | 0 4w | 0 5w
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