Little Cricket for Kiwis in County Championship Round Eight Action Due to Rain

There hasn’t been much action for New Zealanders in round eight of the County Championship with rain causing little action across the country.

Michael Rae and Tom Bruce squared off at Manchester for Warwickshire and Lancashire respectively whilst Nathan Smith and Will Young matched up for Worcestershire Nottinghamshire. 

Rain caused havoc in both matches with multiple days across either being delayed or having no play at all, leading to both games ending in draws.

Young found himself only spending three balls in the middle for Nottinghamshire, scoring two runs before finding his wicket gone to Smith.

Earlier in Worcestershire’s batting innings, Smith too found himself with little success, making one run from the ten balls that he faced before being adjudged leg before wicket to Dane Paterson.

Smith did grab another wicket in Nottinghamshire’s first innings with Ben Slater falling for 41. 

However, that was all the action that could be had in Worcester with rain on days three and four allowing in no action.

Rae found himself with some success for Warwickshire in his second fixture for them with three wickets in Lancashire's second innings. 

Earlier on, he was out for zero to Luke Wells and bowled twelve wicketless overs in Lancashire’s first batting innings conceding just 20 runs.

Bruce on the other hand managed a catch in the first innings of the match, grabbing Hasan Ali. Three runs only came off his bat in his side's first batting innings, facing off five balls.

In pursuit of 232 runs on the final day, in just 45 overs, Lancashire were in trouble at 41/3 inside eight overs when Bruce came to the middle.

They soon found themselves four wickets down and just over 200 runs needed in 34 overs. Rain however potentially saved Lancashire from a defeat with Bruce ending on 31* from 22 balls.

Attention for teams now turns to the Vitality Blast with Young, Smith, and Bruce all playing the entire tournament whilst Blair Tickner (Derbyshire) and Ben Lister (Nottinghamshire) will be available for the first eight games. 

County Championship Stats (End of Round 8):

BATTING (runs, average, 50s, 100s, fours, sixes): 

Will Young: 271 runs @45.16 | 0 50s | 1 100 | 29 4s | 2 6s

Tom Bruce: 271 runs @24.66 | 1 50 | 0 100s | 31 4s | 3 6s

Nathan Smith: 213 runs @35.50 | 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 @7.00| 0 50s | 0 100s | 0 4s | 2 6s

BOWLING (wickets, average, 3 wicket hauls, 4 wicket hauls, 5 wicket hauls):

Nathan Smith: 19 wickets @25.42 | 2 3w | 1 4w | 0 5w

Michael Rae: 8 wickets @22.88 | 2 3w | 0 4w | 0 5w

Blair Tickner: 8 wickets @61.50 | 0 3w | 0 4w | 0 5w