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Nathan Smith and Tom Bruce’s County debuts, wouldn’t have gone exactly to plan with rain causing havoc across the country with many games having to stoppages or play delayed due to rain.
Blair Tickner and his Derbyshire side weren’t able to even get on the pitch during the four days with the game abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain. They were due to host Gloucestershire at the County Ground in Derby. Durham and Hampshire also had their fixture abandoned due to weather.
Smith was able to get on the field and make his County Championship debut for Worcestershire, becoming cap number 541 alongside Rob Jones (539), and West Indian Jason Holder (540).
He only managed to make four runs in the first innings for Worcestershire, whose innings was spearheaded by Kashif Ali (110) and Gareth Roderick (68) as they posted 360.
The second innings did go better for the Kiwi pacer, as he picked up three important wickets, including two on the third morning to help bowl Warwickshire out for 333. Smith’s three wickets were Will Rhodes (64), Michael Burgess (7), and Michael Booth (1), he also managed to run out Jacob Bethell for 12. The video below shows Smith’s interesting attempt to try and run out Burgess earlier on in his innings.
Smith wasn’t needed to bat in Worcestershire’s second innings, with a rain delay also limiting the number of overs that the sides had on the final two days. Ali (133) and Jake Libby (101*) got Worcestershire through to 295/3 when stumps were called. Worcestershire managed to grab 14 points from their return to the top division of English County Cricket.
Lancashire didn’t quite have much luck with the weather. Tom Bruce became cap number 707 along with Tom Aspinwall (706), and Australia’s Nathan Lyon (708) also making their debuts for the county.
There was no play on the first day, so all New Zealand fans had to wait until the second day to see Bruce in action.
Bruce was only in the action in Lancashire’s first innings as he hit a four and a six, in a knock of 17 from 23 balls. The six that Bruce did hit, managed to break one of the seats at Old Trafford. Josh Bohannon led the way with the bat for the home team hitting 84 from 155, to get Lancashire to 202.
Surrey only managed to be able to bat five overs following Lancashire’s innings on the second day and then a further 3.3 overs on the third day before the rain came back and no more play was had.
Only picking up eight points means that Bruce’s side sits ninth on the Division One ladder with Smith’s Worcestershire sitting pretty in third spot behind Essex and Somerset.
Lancashire's next fixture is against Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl, Worcestershire will be away to Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, whilst Derbyshire is away to Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.
Glamorgan's captain Sam Northeast is coming off 335* vs Middlesex at Lords and will surely be looking to continue his fine form. He's only the third player to score 500+ runs in a row twice without being dismissed, after his fabulous exploits just two seasons ago, when he made 410* against Leicestershire.
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