Wells gets a life, as he is dropped at first slip off local giant Josh Hull. Cracking delivery. I can see the iconic Attenborough tower of my old university in the distance, but unfortunately not the scorebox where Mike Daniels normally lurks. Elgar and Walter are making good progress at The Oval, 49-0. Alex Lees lost his stumps to Somerset’s Matt Henry first ball. Durham 25-1. Stoneman also started his day in disappointment, caught for 0 off McAndrew, Hants 20-1. Rob Yates was the early wicket at Edgbaston, Warwicks 22-1, and HH’s chase of 1000 runs before the end of May looks forlorn, caught off White for 6. Notts 12-1. A quick-silver outfield at Grace Road, and Keaton Jennings making the most of it: Lancs 25-0. Elsewhere in Division Two, Derbyshire (34-0) and Glamorgan (15-0) have also got off to a brisk start, while Northants have lost Vasconcelos for four, lbw Tom Price. Northants 11-1. Good morning Tim Maitland! “Salutations Tanya, ”May your trip to Grace Road bring you joy. It brings back memories of a very young version of me wasting tape and the time of one David Gower esq. for the sheer delight of hearing him speak. “However my mind is dawdling over Headingley, another of my old haunts. Where if Yorkshire are going to have any against Nottinghamshire, it’s about time someone other than Adam Lyth stepped up, isn’t it? They’re just not getting the kind of match winning, or even innings winning performances with the bat. ”Lyth, who made 106 against Hampshire in early April and what should have been a victory defining 185 at Essex earlier this month, and Dom Bess, with 107 in the win over Worcestershire, are their only centurions. Lyth, with 682 runs to his name sits behind only Nottinghamshire skipper Haseeb Hameed in the Division One run scoring table. Next best? Dawid Malan’s 98 (also against Worcestershire) and the even-lesser spotted Joe Root’s 90 in his only appearance this year. ”But what strikes me as interesting, considering Young Jonny Bairstow’s role as captain and jilted lover (in the England sense), is how slowly they’re scoring when you’d expect a Bairstow side to be Bazballesque in their approach. With the exception of YJB’s 79 at a strike rate of 106 when he was pushing for the declaration at Chelmsford, and his contributions at Surrey (89 at 78 and 77 at 74) most of the knocks of any note this season have been closer to 50.00 than. ”Perhaps that’s an indication that most of the time they’ve been struggling to hold innings together rather than grabbing games by the throat?” I think you’re right. The Yorkshire young guns haven’t really pushed on so far this season – almost the opposite of Bazball’s hit yourself out of trouble mentality. England and Zimbabwe are about to get underway at Trent Bridge, you can follow its’ bish-bash-bosh progress with Jim Wallace and Daniel Gallan. We’ve started a minute before eleven, three slips standing boot to boot, as Holland charges in. Round the grounds, some ins and outs. Ben Kellaway has exams so misses Glamorgan’s game, but Matt Kuhnemmann plays. No Jimmy as Lancs “manage his return to competitive cricket'. Surrey add Sam Curran (torn away from watching brother Ben at Trent Bridge), Jamie Overton and Dan Worrall, Paul Walter returns for Essex, David Bedingham for Durham. Both teams are warming up on the dry Leicestershire grass. Warm sunshine, a few fluffy clouds, lots of lovely places to sit under a tree and read a book. In the middle, Peter Handscomb is wearing his leaf green Leicestershire blazer and has won the toss and having a bowl. No Jimmy today for Lancs – a management of workload thing. 1 Leicestershire 115 2 Derbyshire 85 3 Glamorgan 75 4 Gloucestershire 75 5 Middlesex 68 6 Kent 63 7 Lancashire 63 8 Northants 59 1 Notts 96 2 Surrey 93 3 Warwickshire 82 4 Durham 80 5 Hampshire 79 6 Sussex 75 7 Somerset 73 8 Essex 64 9 Yorkshire 56 10 Worcestershire 43 Division One Chester-le-Street: Durham v Somerset Southampton: Hampshire v Sussex The Oval: Surrey v Essex New Road: Worcestershire v Warwickshire Headingley: Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire Division Two Derby: Derbyshire v Kent Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Middlesex Grace Road: Leicestershire v Lancashire County Ground: Northamptonshire v Gloucestershire Good morning from Cross Country trains, chugging through high spring, the Midlands countryside all elderflower and ash saplings, and green, green, green all around. I’m on my way to Grace Road to see the runaway leaders of Division Two play feeling-a-little-less -queasy-than-they-did-last-week Lancashire. Loads more to look forward to round the grounds. Play starts at 11am, do join us!
Author: Tanya Aldred at Grace Road