We are at the business end of the One-Day Cup group stage, with 15 of the 18 counties still in the hunt for knockout places.
How have the Foxes moved into pole position?
Cricket does not quite have the games-in-hand issue that affects leagues in other sports, but dividing the counties into two groups for the One-Day Cup means that two teams will always be a match ahead, or behind, their competitors. Leicestershire knew they would finish the week having played a match more than their rivals, so needed to win two of their three matches to retain a strong position.
After a defeat at Trent Bridge, they picked up the eight points they required to go top of Group A with crushing wins against Northamptonshire and Somerset. Rishi Patel hit his second century of the competition, making 115 off just 61 balls at Wantage Road as Leicestershire chased down Northamptonshire in the first of those wins. His scores of four, one and four around those tons show the risk of the pinch-hitter strategy but, when it comes off, it makes you wonder why more teams do not invest one wicket in it.
Had Patel been caught instead of dropped before getting off the mark, we would not be having that conversation, but that is the game. Fortune usually favours the brave.
How did Joe Denly’s final Kent appearance unfold?
Professional sport has little truck with sentiment, but when a long-serving player retires, fans and teammates deserve the chance to mark his career with something more than social media posts or inheriting the best spot in the car park.
Joe Denly, who first played for Kent 22 years ago, contrived the best of both worlds. Having announced that the match against Somerset at Canterbury would be the last of his career, 3,000 fans turned up, a guard of honour was formed and he was given a legside half-volley to get off the mark.
OK, not the last bit.
It was a fine match. Denly snared a couple of wickets then made a handy 20 after his captain, Daniel Bell-Drummond, had made exactly 100. Ekansh Singh and Grant Stewart then applied the long handle to get the home side over the line. Denly will not have bought a drink that evening and might not for a while yet in the city of his birth.
Why is Ralphie Albert a key figure for Surrey?
This time last year, Ralphie Albert was making news at the Oval, partly as a result of being Jimmy White’s grandson. Since then, his Surrey career has been, er, somewhat snookered, but he has captained the England Under-19s against South Africa.
He scored a century in his last match representing his country, but it was his slow left-arm spin that choked off Gloucestershire’s late rally, dismissing top scorer Graeme van Buuren and a hard charging Will Williams.
With the top three teams in each group progressing to the knockout stage, the winners going straight into the semi-finals and the second- and third-placed teams playing off for the right to join them, Surrey are one of four clubs on 12 points, tucked in behind Leicestershire. So get the abacuses ready for net run rate calculations.
How did Middlesex and Yorkshire fight for Group B leadership?
Though one fears a little for its condition, this summer especially, Lord’s hosted Middlesex v Yorkshire to decide the leadership of Group B. The match showed the value of all-rounders in 50-overs cricket. With a format that requires teams to evaluate their progress continually and find different rhythms as a target is built or chased, the value of an experienced pro in the middle is critical.
After Middlesex had flown to 70/0 in the powerplay, Yorkshire got among them and five wickets went down for 51 in the next 15 overs as Ben Cliff got to work. Sights recalibrated from setting 350 to about 270, Zafar Gohar, with 101 List A appearances, joined Jack Nelson, with one List A appearance, for the kind of partnership that delights this competition’s fans.
They put on 94 for the sixth wicket, the teenager playing with freedom while Zafar kept one end safe at roughly half the kid’s strike rate. Neither could play in their chosen way without the other doing its bit. Dom Bess tried the same thing for the Tykes in the chase but could not find a partner and Zafar, back in the day job, took 4-24 in his full allocation to send Middlesex top.
How did Will Rhodes steer Durham to victory?
Durham are sitting pretty, level on points with Middlesex and Yorkshire at the top of Group B. Their win against Glamorgan on Wednesday featured an extraordinary innings by a thirty-something all-rounder, just not the one you might expect.
The crowd might have wanted Ben Stokes to do a WG Grace and replace the bails after his golden duck, telling Dan Douthwaite that they had come to see the Durham man bat and not Douthwaite bowl, but there has been enough recent controversy about cheating in the local area for that.
At 41/3, which soon became 97/6, chasing 327, Durham needed something, quite a lot actually. Not that it fazed Will Rhodes, who has seen most things that domestic cricket can throw at a player. He rolled up his sleeves and got on with it. At the other end, his captain Kasey Aldridge got his head down too, putting together a partnership of 145 for the seventh wicket. James Minto, another promising teenager gaining vital experience in this competition, joined Rhodes to see Durham home.
Rhodes finished on 148 not out, a score that would make Stokes proud.
What did Sussex’s first win mean in a difficult season?
A word for Sussex, whose players have shown such grit and heart, labouring under points penalties and with their continued employment in question. They face a huge September in the Championship, but can take heart from their first win in the One-Day Cup.
After Noah Thain, the form batter in the tournament, had hit a ton for Essex, Sussex set off in pursuit of 317 on a summer’s day at Arundel. One wonders if the players realised what heritage sat behind them, for all the changes in colours of kit and ball.
A chase like that usually needs a big partnership as its centrepiece, but in this instance Sussex chipped away at it. The Scottish youngster Charlie Tear was their top scorer with 73 but no player sold his wicket cheaply and they reached their target in the 50th over.
The staff at Sussex face a tough winter and will need that never-say-die attitude to get through it. Let us hope there is more joy at the seaside in 2027.
Key Facts
- Leicestershire went top of Group A after wins over Northamptonshire and Somerset.
- Joe Denly’s final career match for Kent against Somerset drew 3,000 fans at Canterbury.
- Middlesex beat Yorkshire at Lord’s to move top of Group B.
- Durham beat Glamorgan thanks to Will Rhodes’ unbeaten 148.
- Sussex claimed their first One-Day Cup win by chasing 317 against Essex at Arundel.
