The Cricketer picks out the top performers at the end of the penultimate round of County Championship cricket...
“If Dom Sibley isn’t in an England shirt this winter then our domestic system is well and truly broken,” former Northants captain Alex Wakely tweeted after Dom Sibley had completed his latest audition for the role at Trent Bridge.
The right-handed opener made 324 runs in the match as Warwickshire won a game that, three days previous, seemed out of their reach. In the former Surrey starlet, however, they possess county cricket’s most consistent run-getter. Talk of a fraught technique must be placed to one side; he more than merits a go at international level. Surely on a plane to New Zealand…
An extraordinary contribution to a game his Derbyshire side initially appeared to have played itself out of. Five first-innings wickets appear to have flown under the radar in the context of what followed.
Reece ran through Sussex’s top order, removing all but Will Beer from the south coast side’s top six, including Delray Rawlins and Ben Brown in consecutive deliveries.
Having finished up with the ball, Reece set to work on more milestones. When he departed the crease 51 over into a 274-run stand with his captain, Billy Godleman, he did so with 184 runs to his name - a personal best.
His knock, which came at almost a run a ball, included 32 boundaries and a six. After Godleman fell soon afterwards for 106, nobody else in the match passed 42. Some performance ahead of Finals Day.
A remarkable game of Championship cricket at the Ageas Bowl; one with enormous consequences for the destination of the title and for the equation facing Somerset when they play host to Essex in next week’s final round of fixtures.
And but for James Vince, it would be the Taunton county in the driving seat heading into that decider. His second-innings 142 constituted more than a fifth of the runs scored in the entire match – one of just three men to pass 40 on an occasion dominated by the seamers.
“Both in the Somerset and Surrey games, I feel like I have got into the contest a bit more,” Vince said afterwards. “Against Surrey, I got into a few words with Rikki Clarke, nothing major but I also got into a couple of their guys this week. It seemed to get me going.” A new aggressive streak, perhaps?
It has not been the year Joe Clarke wanted after joining Nottinghamshire from Worcestershire at the end of last season. The move was born out of a desire to represent England, but a spate of off-field issues and poor form with the bat have tempered any immediate ambitions.
After making scores of 112 and 97* on his debut for the county back in April, it has been a titanic struggle. He was left out for the club’s T20 Blast quarter-final last week and came into this game without a 50 in 17 innings. Scores of 125 and 112 followed, his 15th and 16th first-class hundreds. He remains just 23 years old.
Dom Sibley has faced more than 1,000 balls more than anyone else in Division One
A season truncated by injury and disappointment is ending on a monumental high for Kent’s genial captain. After missing out on England’s World Cup squad, he suffered a serious shoulder injury during a Royal London Cup game, before his return at the back end of Kent’s T20 campaign coincided with a collapse that saw the Spitfires miss out on the knockout stages.
Two hundreds at Headingley, therefore, should help ease the frustration. Before him, only Shai Hope had ever achieved the feat in a first-class game at the famous old ground. Doing so in a record-breaking win for the county will only have sweetened it.
“It was just enjoyable to have some time in the middle,” he admitted afterwards. “I’m trying to make up for lost time. When you’re in form as well, you can’t take it for granted.”
With special mentions to Steven Mullaney, Liam Dawson and Samit Patel, there was only ever space for one allrounder in this team of the round. Only WG Grace, then 46 years and 303 days old, has previously accomplished what Stevens pulled off at a greater age.
A staggering knock of 237 was followed by the most frugal of five-wicket hauls. Striding out at 39 for 5 in the knowledge that his future at the county lay in the balance, Stevens dragged the game – with the help of his captain Sam Billings – into Kent’s grasp.
So, how’s that new deal coming along then…? “There's been discussions between my agent and Paul [Downton],” he hinted after Kent’s record-breaking win. “Fingers crossed we can sort something we both agree with and get pen on paper.” Fingers crossed, indeed.
Once again, a barrel-load of competition here. Ollie Robinson continues to look a hugely exciting prospect, while Adam Rossington has pulled off a near-miracle in dragging Northants from the depths of Division Two when he took over as captain to the very brink of promotion to Division One.
His latest feat came in dragging his side through top-order collapses in both innings en route to an ultimately comfortable win over Durham. However, it is difficult to look past John Simpson. Even in defeat, his unbeaten 167 was a staggering knock as Middlesex recovered from 34 for 6 to emerge with a first-innings lead.
The best spinner in county cricket just does not stop. Seven more wickets for him, all in the second innings, as Surrey were left with no answer against the uber-consistent offie. It is often said that it becomes more of a challenge for the spinner when the pitch is quite visibly in their favour.
And from the moment Harmer’s first ball on the third day spun prodigiously past the outside edge of Scott Borthwick’s bat, he never looked back. He made batsmen play throughout, rarely allowing for the pressure to dissipate.
When Will Jacks came in, Harmer left a gaping hole on the offside to test the restraint of the youngster. The plan worked with his very first delivery – flight, dip, sharp spin; the ball darted back between bat and pad as Jacks unfurled an expansive and unwise cover drive to lose his off-stump. Naïve batting but quite brilliant from the South African.
Kyle Abbott took 17 wickets in the match, handing Essex a huge advantage in the title race
The player of the week, even in Darren Stevens’ week. An extraordinary personal performance – one partially born out of revenge for Somerset’s celebrations after defeating Hampshire at Lord’s in the Royal London Cup final.
More than vengeance, however, this was skilful operator just doing what he does on a useful surface. His figures of 17 for 86 are the finest ever by a seamer in the County Championship, the fourth best of all time in the competition and the best in any first-class cricket since Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in 1956.
"I reckon that is the best I can bowl,” he confessed afterwards. “Everything I wanted to do worked. It just happened to be one of those days – it was incredible.
"Would I prefer to finish third or spoil Somerset’s party? I wanted to spoil the party by a long way," he added. “They celebrated against us at the Royal London One-Day Cup final so we wanted to give them some hard work for next week against Essex."
In a crazy week, Jamie Porter gets the nod over Matt Milnes, whose display went under the radar at Headingley. But if Simon Harmer put the finishing touches on a comprehensive win over Surrey, Porter put in many of the hard yards before the surface began to spin sharply.
Since he returned from injury, he has been superb. His figures at Edgbaston against Warwickshire said more about a flat wicket than about his toil. One for England to surely hand a chance to at some stage in the near future, especially as the injuries continue to rack up.
Ten wickets in the match for Tom Bailey sneak him into this composite team ahead of the ever-impressive Ben Sanderson of Northants. Bailey has gone under the radar somewhat as Lancashire have cleaned up in Division Two.
In amongst a feted seam attack – James Anderson, Graham Onions and Saqib Mahmood have all stolen headlines, Bailey has had to wait his turn. He picked up his second and third five-wicket hauls of the season at Old Trafford, with the first also coming against a MIddlesex side short of ideas when facing up to the Preston-born right-arm seamer.
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