County Championship 2021 News

A collective effort from the bowlers led by Chris Woakes and Craig Miles has made Warwickshire the new champions of County Championship 2021-22. They topped Division one and thereby booked the bragging rights. Somerset required 273 runs on the final day of their last league game in Division 1, while Warwickshire needed all the 10 wickets to lift the championship title. In the end, it was the team from Birmingham who got the better of their opponent and won the game by 118 runs to lift the trophy for the first time since 2012. Woakes was the pick of the bowlers with six wickets across two innings of the game while it was Danny Briggs’ all-around performances in both innings that kept the Warcs in the game. To put them further in control, Tom Yate’s century in the second innings set the game up beautifully on the final day. Winning the toss and eclectic to bowl first, Somerset were thwarted by an impressive Warcs batting line-up with the likes of Dom Sibley, Will Rhodes and Saim scoring half-centuries. Warwickshire posted a decent first innings total of 367 runs but Somerset were not out of woods in the first innings itself as their batsmen led an impressive riposte and posted 389 runs on the board. Having conceded a lead of 22 runs, Warwickshire needed batsmen to put their hands up one more time and aggressive innings from Yates along with another set of fifties from Sibley and Rhodes provided Warcs with a perfect platform to press on for a win on the final day. On the final day, Somerset openers Ben Green and Tom Lammonboy tried their best to provide solidity to their batting effort but once Lammonboy was snaffled up by Briggs, the floodgates opened for Warcs and the men in marron slipped to 35/3 in no time from 31/0 with the loss of both the openers and Azhar Ali. The championship triumph marks a remarkable turnaround for Warwickshire who failed to win even a single game in the last season. They had finished seventh in the championship in the 2019 edition and their last triumph had come way back in 2012.

Covid-19 has forced England and Wales Cricket Board to call off the County Championship Division-2 game between Surrey and Durham at Emirates Riverside in Chester-Lee Street. The decision was taken after an unnamed member of the Surrey playing squad tested positive for Covid-19. The ECB in a press release said, “The player has begun to self-isolate along with a significant number of the Surrey squad who have been identified as close contacts.” “Due to the required isolation protocols and the extensive impact on Surrey’s available playing squad, reluctantly the decision has been made that the match will not go ahead on Monday 30 August,” it added. The board further informed that the confirmation on the awarding of points for the match will be announced in due course. After the end of the Group stage of the County Championship in June, the T20 Blast and Royal London One Day cup carried on in the English Summer. The Royal London Cup has been finished with Glamorgan being crowned as champions and T20 Blast awaits a Finals Day conclusion where Kent, Somerset, Hampshire and Sussex have made it to the Semi-Finals. And thus the County Championship once again begins with the first of the four rounds in all three divisions on Monday, August 30. It is important to note that only teams in Division-1 will be contesting for the Championship. The teams in Division Two and Three play among themselves to decide the four best teams if the County Championship goes back to its 2019 pattern of having two divisions with 10 teams in Division 1 and eight in Division 2 with Division 1 contesting for the Championship and Division two teams battling for promotion to Division 1.

Ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin got a much-needed bowling practice ahead of the five-match Test series against England and tormented the Somerset batting line-up during a county championship game while plying his trade for Surrey. Ashwin returned with figures of 6/27 in the second innings to bowl out Somerset for a paltry score of just 69 runs. On the back of his stupendous spell of spin bowling, Surrey managed to bounce back strongly in the county championship encounter after conceding a massive lead of 189 runs. It was spin bowling of the highest order from Ashwin as he ran past the Somerset batting line-up with his guile and variations. Ashwin bagged the wicket of Steven Davis upfront to open the floodgates for a dramatic collapse. He floated the ball around the off stump area and Davis went fishing for it. The ball turned enough to take the outside edge and the keeper held onto a good catch. Soon after he bagged the wicket of Tom Lammonby as the left-handed batsman went for a reverse sweep and gloved the flighted delivery straight to the slip fielder. James Hildreth was his 3rd scalp and a faster off-break breached his defence and struck him plumb in front. Ashwin used his variations brilliantly and none of the batsmen had any answer to his mastery. George Bartlett was his next scalp as he turned one into the right-hander and breached his defence as the batsman was in two minds whether to leave or play. A faster carrom ball brought about the downfall of Roelof van der Merwe as he was struck right adjacent to the stumps. Bem Green was Ashwin’s final scalp as the tweaker bowled a brilliant off break which turned sharply and went through the gap between the bat and the pad and disturbed the timbers. Courtesy his superb spell, Somerset stands a realistic chance of chasing the target of 259 runs. When the piece was written, Somerset needed 230 more runs to win with 8 wickets in hand.

Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc in England cricket as a fresh case in the Derbyshire camp led to the abandonment of their home fixture against Essex. The name of the player has not been made public yet but he has been isolated and considering the constraint in the Derbyshire camp, umpires decided to call off the game. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said that both teams will get the points and the announcement will be made soon. "The ECB has worked closely with Public Health England and both Derbyshire and Essex County Cricket Clubs with the health and safety of players, staff and officials the first priority. Confirmation on the awarding of points from the match will be announced in due course,” the ECB said in a statement. Earlier, Kent county side had to field a completely new side from their preferred XI after a player tested positive for Covid-19. Covid-19 has started to hurt England cricket as the ECB is willing to walk away from the biosecure bubbles they have had to employ since the outbreak of the pandemic. The senior Men side had to field a new side against Pakistan after seven members of the squad that played against Sri Lanka tested positive for covid-19.

Australia batsman Peter Handscomb has tested positive for Covid-19. Handscomb who is leading Middlesex this County season was forced into isolation after testing positive and missed the match against Leicestershire in England. “Irishman Tim Murtagh stepped up to fill in for Handscomb as skipper as Middlesex ended day one of the clash with Leicestershire at 3-280,” A report in ‘The West Australian’ said. The right-handed batsman didn’t really have a great run in the County Championship so far and only managed to score one half-century in seven matches that he has played. Handscomb last played a Test for Australia back in January 2019 while last donned an Australia jersey in July 2019. He has been capped 16 times in Tests for Australia and has scored 934 runs at an average of over 38 during the course while has played 22 ODIs for the national side, scoring 632 runs at an average of 33.26. Batting first against Leicestershire, Middlesex rode on Sam Robson’s unbeaten ton to put 280/3 on the board on Day 1 of the game before the stumps were called. Middlesex who are a part of Group 2 in the County Championship are presently placed at the bottom of the points table with 63 points and one win to their name. They have suffered defeats in 7 matches out of the nine that they have played.

COVID-19 proved to be the nemesis yet again in a cricket tournament as an unnamed Kent player of their first XI team has tested positive for the deadly virus and has been forced to isolate himself along with the rest of the team members. The Kent team management has decided to field a fresh squad for the match against Sussex. They will field a second XI team with Heino Kuhn taking the charge. Meanwhile, the new-look squad will also feature in two of the vitality T20 games against Middlesex and Sussex with the quarter-final berth already secured. The positive case came out after an RT-PCR test which was administered on Saturday. The news was broken by the county through a media release. The player who has tested positive will now undergo a 10-day self-isolation starting from 10th July. The other members of the squad who was part of the Vitality Blast games on Friday night have been deemed as close contacts of the affected player and will need to quarantine themselves for 10 days. "With the emergence of the Delta variant and recent release in lockdown restrictions, the Club has been conscious of the increased possibility of an outbreak," Kent CEO Simon Storey said. "Overnight, the Club has worked swiftly to identify a replacement squad that will be ready to take on Sussex in the much-anticipated Canterbury Cricket Week, and will also be preparing for the final two matches of the group stages of the Vitality Blast, with a quarter-final berth already secured,” he further added.