Kiwis Show Value in County Championship Round Three Action

Nathan Smith and Will Young both showed promise in the third round of the County Championship.

Blair Tickner in action for Derbyshire. Credit: Alastair Pike - thecricketcamera

Central Stags pacer Blair Tickner, batters Tom Bruce and Will Young, and Wellington Firebirds all-rounder were all in action for their respective sides.

Nathan Smith has once again shown great value for Worcestershire in the County Championship with another 50 and more wickets for the Pears in their fixture against Durham.

Grabbing the wicket of former English test opener, Alex Lees helped to get Worcestershire off to a good start with the ball, but that was the only wicket in the first innings for the up-and-coming Wellington Firebirds all-rounder. 

With Worcestershire finding themselves in trouble at 112/6, Smith managed 33* to help propel his side to 184 with Jake Libby’s 61 and Rob Jones’ 32 being the other two scores of note with Durham taking a 60-run first innings lead.

Two wickets came in Durham's second go with the bat, as Lees fell to him again for four, before getting South African international David Bedingham after a quickfire 138 from just 99 balls. Durham’s captain Scott Borthwick was run out by Smith, having made 75.

Due to Durham’s high second innings score, it meant they had a lead of over 400 and a big job was to come for the Worcestershire batters. After once again Worcestershire failed with the bat, Smith was needed to due to a job. He did just that as he made his way to a 12th first-class 50 coming. He was dismissed for 57, with Durham eventually taking the win by 185 runs.

Will Young also found his name in the spotlight in his first game of the County Championship for Nottinghamshire. Only making 27 in the first innings, Nottinghamshire found themselves bundled out for 193.

It was the second innings, however, where Young showed his worth and talent that he can bring. Having lost both openers early, it meant that Joe Clarke joined Young in the middle and boy did they deliver.

The pair put on a mammoth 392* stand for the third wicket, spanning over 100 overs in the middle together. Young finished on 174*, his highest first-class score, beating the 162 he made against Auckland in 2017.

Rain brought an end to the fixture on the final day after around an hour of play.

Blair Tickner and Tom Bruce both had disappointing performances by their standards with Tickner getting two wickets for Derbyshire in the first innings against Leicestershire with Rishi Patel and Peter Hanscomb being his victims.

Blair Tickner bowling for Derbyshire. Credit: Alastair Pike - thecricketcamera

Tickner did bat in Derbyshire’s first innings making zero and didn’t bat in the follow on, as rain meant no play on the final day.

Bruce was the second top scorer in Lancashire’s first innings against Essex with 26 in their total of 143. He did get two catches in Essex’s total of 377 with Feroze Khushi and Jordan Cox being caught by Bruce.

The second go with the bat wasn’t successful with only five runs in Lancashire’s dismal total of 107.