CHAMPIONSHIP CHINWAG: Clarke left dangling, Newton's knee and keeper hokey-cokey at the Ageas

SAM MORSHEAD looks back on an eventful first round of the County Championship season with reflections on some of the key talking points from around the grounds

Clarke of the court

Championship Chinwag remembers what it was like to be dismissed on 97. It was a sunny August afternoon in Wiltshire and Chinwag had been clattering the ball to all parts.

With three needed, the oppo right-arm slower-than-slow-medium dropped a long hop which Chinwag rolled onto the back foot and carted for four… or so he thought. Instead, out of nowhere, the lolloping square leg, who had spent much of the match, hands in pockets, hankering after tea, was suddenly compelled by the spirit of Jonty Rhodes to launch himself to his right and collect the ball cleanly in his oversized mitt.

Now that was frustrating enough. To be left dangling on 97 with a day to play would be enough to make Chinwag punch the wall and rule himself out of action for several weeks. Still, that’s what happened to Joe Clarke at Trent Bridge. Unbeaten overnight and three runs shy of twin tons on debut (what a talent this kid is, by the way), he found himself cut off with three figures tantalisingly within reach.

The decision looked on the face of it a little miserly, like a barman calling time at a minute to midnight on New Year’s Eve, but there was reasonable logic behind it. Nottinghamshire needed 10 Yorkshire wickets on the final day and if they had been left two or three overs short having taken nine, just to appease cricket’s insatiable demand for personal milestones, it would not have reflected well on captain, coach or Clarke.

Plus, the player himself was not overly bothered - captain Steven Mullaney said Clarke had been the first to suggest a declaration might be the right course of action - and that’s understandable, given that at the age off 22 he already has 14 first-class centuries to his name (as mentioned, this kid has a mighty bright future).

^{Joe Clarke was in fine form}

Kneejerk reaction

Unusual dismissal of the round award this week goes to Max Holden of Middlesex, whose wristy off drive at Wantage Road got a bit too aerial, careered into the left knee of Northamptonshire’s Rob Newton at silly point and looped up for a simple catch.

Newton was okay; the video’s numbers online were excellent.

If you think you're having a bad Monday, take solace from the fact you are not Rob Newton's left knee

Live scorecard 👉 https://t.co/ExfcQ6laenpic.twitter.com/nXpe1OmSvU

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) April 8, 2019

Gregory for England

There are many fine seam bowlers available for England in English conditions right now, but how long until the selectors have to start paying serious attention to Lewis Gregory of Somerset?

Last year, the Plymouth-born 26-year-old returned a 37-wicket haul at 25s as his county came closest to runaway champions Surrey and on Monday he picked up where he left off last summer with a blitz-like spell to swing, quite literally, the match against Kent in his side’s favour.

He claimed three wickets for eight runs before lunch on day four, and finished with 5-18 in the Kent second innings (8-44 in the match), as Somerset performed their best impression of the slapstick bad guy who simply refuses to die.

It might be said that Gregory does not possess the outright pace 'needed' for international cricket, yet could the same not be said of his Somerset team-mate Craig Overton, or current pin-up boy of English cricket, Sam Curran?

Gregory toured with England Lions over the winter, and in sub-continental conditions performed as well as might be expected of a bowler of his ilk - eight relatively economical wickets in the ODIs against India A, not so prolific in the ‘Test’ matches - but he has not been picked for a senior squad since 2015, and even that was as a fringe player in an already fringey selection for a game against Ireland.

He is worth another look, especially as Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad begin the long walk to retirement.

^{Lewis Gregory routed Kent on day four}

The rule of six

It was wicketkeeper hokey-cokey at the Ageas Bowl, where a total of six men held the gloves over the course of four days, three apiece for both Hampshire and Essex.

Adam Wheater began the game in situ for the visitors, only to break his thumb. Dan Lawrence took over briefly before Adam Buttleman was parachuted in (not literally) to assume responsibilities for the rest of the game.

On the home side, Tom Alsop was struck by a throw from Fidel Edwards and had to retire, James Vince deputised for a while and Lewis McManus finished things off. It was enough to send a scorer crazy.

Whether or not six wicketkeepers in a first-class match is a record is unclear, but the episode bore striking similarities to the 1986 Test between England and New Zealand at Lord’s.

Wisden Almanack’s report explains: “It would hardly be a drawn Lord's Test without rain and bad light plus a much-discussed, if short-lived controversy. This came on the second day when French, England's injured wicket-keeper, was replaced by the former England wicket-keeper, RW Taylor. French had been struck on the back of the helmet when he turned away from a Hadlee bouncer, the resulting cut requiring three stitches and the blow leaving him groggy until after the weekend.

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“Athey deputised for two overs at the start of the New Zealand innings until Taylor could hurry round the ground - from his duties as a host for Cornhill, the match's sponsor - and equip himself with an assortment of borrowed kit, although he did, far-sightedly, have his own gloves in his car. Despite having retired from first-class cricket two years earlier, Taylor, at the age of 45, kept almost without a blemish. He did his old job until the 76th over, near the lunch interval on Saturday, after which R J Parks of Hampshire, following his father and grandfather, appeared in a Test match.

“However, Parks, a more authentic substitute, should have been on stand-by at the start of play because recovery from such a head wound is seldom immediate. French finally resumed his appointed role for one ball on Monday morning. All these switches were made with the generous permission of New Zealand's captain, Coney. With substitutes also needed for Willey and Foster and for Coney and Jeff Crowe, 29 players took the field at various times.”

And once last thing

Anyone tuning in to the free-to-air YouTube stream of Middlesex making up their over rate on day four at Northants by opening the bowling with the right-arm pies of Eoin Morgan would have been hooked for life.