ecb.co.uk’s Andy Wilson looks back at the main talking points from the third round of LV= County Championship fixtures.
Howay the lads
Durham are at it again. Every spring, their squad seems to look a little thinner. This year Ben Stokes and Mark Wood were whisked away to the Caribbean immediately after their pre-season tour and press day.
But there they are again, the county with the longest continuous presence in Division One (10 seasons and counting, and of course having won three Championships in that time) played two, won two, and therefore almost certain to go top of the table if they avoid defeat in their next match against Middlesex at Lord’s, which starts on Saturday.
It’s the homegrown hard core of the team who have made the key contributions to the victories, against Somerset and Sussex. Paul Collingwood, the Brigadier of Shotley Bridge, was an all-round wonder in Taunton. Two Sunderland lads, Chris Rushworth and Scott Borthwick, took the individual honours against Sussex - something to cheer the long-suffering diehards at the Stadium of Light.
Rushworth has 14 wickets in the two matches; Borthwick who, like Newcastle’s Mark Stoneman, has passed 1,000 first-class runs in each of the last two seasons is averaging 130.
Whenever you¹re feeling gloomy about cricket in general, or county cricket in particular, Durham are an excellent antidote. One of the best stories in British sport, never mind just cricket, in the last two decades.
Here's to you (Mr Robinson)
Yet arguably the best story at the Emirates Durham ICG this week involved a visiting player.
It was a pretty well-kept secret that Oliver Robinson had been practising with Sussex until Saturday morning, when the club emailed a media release confirming that the 21-year-old had been signed on a short-term basis and would be included in their squad to face Durham.
Less than 36 hours later he was the talk of county cricket, having come in at number nine with Sussex on 145 for seven, and belted 110 from 112 balls, sharing a record-breaking last-wicket stand of 164 with hulking Matt Hobden. Then he dismissed Durham’s top three for good measure.
This came as no great surprise to Yorkshire's inner sanctum. They had always rated Robinson’s potential and big-match temperament. He had no problems bowling the death overs in the Roses T20 last summer at a packed Emirates Old Trafford. So they released him with some reluctance, feeling they had no alternative after a series of minor disciplinary indiscretions.
Robinson has had some time to reflect on squandering the opportunity to be part of a Championship-winning squad, and could have no better mentor than his namesake Mark, who has developed a reputation for putting careers back on track.
Doubling up
If Robinson was the Sunday superstar of the last round of LV= County Championship fixtures, then Martin Guptill was the Monday marvel.
A maiden first-class double-century, 227 smashed from only 176 balls with 29 fours and 11 sixes, fired Derbyshire to victory against Gloucestershire in Bristol, an impressive and necessary response to their opening defeat by Lancashire.
Of course Guptill’s romp was pedestrian in comparison to his previous double, the unbeaten 237 he hammered from 164 balls against West Indies in a Wellington World Cup match last monthbut in Bristol, he had no need to rush.
The only frustration for Derbyshire is that they will lose the Aucklander to international duty after their next fixture against Glamorgan in Cardiff - he is set to return to the south-west for New Zealand¹s tour opener against Somerset which starts in Taunton on Friday week.
The Only Way
There can’t have been many Championship rounds with so many compelling tales. After Robinson, and Guptill, came Daniel Lawrence, the Essex teenager who became the third youngest in the 125-year history of the competition to score a century, impressing a distinguished audience including Kumar Sangakkara and Kevin Pietersen in stroking 161 against Surrey at the Kia Oval in his third first-class innings.
Essex may have been denied the chance to press for a seventh consecutive Championship victory by the miserable weather yesterday, but this has been such a heartening start to the season for them.
Partly because of circumstance - Ravi Bopara at the Indian Premier League, and Tom Westley injured - they have fielded a couple of other likely local lads, Jamie Porter and Kishan Velani, and Nick Browne also hit a century at the Kia Oval to enhance his growing reputation.
Clegg cornered
Away from the cricket, there have been a few of the offbeat quotes, headlines and stories in which the county game specialises.
Andre Adams described taking a wicket for Hampshire against his former county Nottinghamshire as “like kissing your sister” in the Southern Daily Echo.
The Newcastle Chronicle summarised an interview with John Hastings, Durham¹s overseas bruiser who has been bowling well without much luck, with a headline saying his missus was unimpressed by his near misses.
Meanwhile Richard Hobson of The Times was in pursuit of Nick Clegg during his visit to the Ageas Bowl on Monday, the second day of the Hampshire-Nottinghamshire game.
Clegg might have thought he had dealt with all media questions, about education policy and red lines, as he lingered on the balcony outside the Shaun Udal Suite. But Hobbo took advantage of some relaxed security to ask a surprised Lib Dem leader if he was planning to hang around to watch Alex Hales.
