All 18 counties in action as pink ball hits county cricket
Wednesday 12 July 2017 17:10, UK
Ben Duckett smashed a hundred before lunch against the pink ball but Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler fell cheaply during an intriguing day one of the first round of day-night County Championship fixtures.
Northants opener Duckett biffed an 89-ball ton against Leicestershire, while Lancashire's Shiv Chanderpaul hit a 76th first-class century against Warwickshire and Sussex's Luke Wright also reached three figures in his side's clash with Gloucestershire.
Alastair Cook (Essex), Jason Roy and Kumar Sangakkara (Surrey) and Dawid Malan (Middlesex) - the latter fresh from a match-winning England T20I debut on Sunday - were among other batsmen to hit fifties once play began around the country at 2pm.
Bowlers mostly dominated early on, though, including at Durham where Stokes snicked behind for a seven-ball duck as his team slipped to 18-5 against Worcestershire, and at Edgbaston where Lancashire's Buttler made just two.
Pakistan seamer Mohammad Amir took a wicket with his sixth ball on debut for Essex against Middlesex, while Nottinghamshire's Australian quick James Pattinson dismissed three Kent players for ducks - Joe Denly, Sean Dickson and Sam Northeast - during a scintillating opening burst at Trent Bridge.
The day-night fixtures are helping England's players get used to the format and pink ball ahead of the 'twilight' Test against West Indies at Edgbaston from August 17, live on Sky Sports.
James Anderson enjoyed his opening spell with the ball, pinning William Porterfield lbw under the lights after Lancashire had been dismissed, while Hampshire and Sussex declared late in the day in to test out their opponents' top orders.
DIVISION ONE
Essex (106-0) v Middlesex (246 all out)
Simon Harmer (5-77) tore through Middlesex with his spin, with only Paul Stirling (77 off 50), Stevie Eskinazi (66) and Malan providing any resistance for the reigning County Champions against the current leaders.
Yorkshire v Surrey (374-6)
Rory Burns top scored with 90 and became Tim Bresnan's 500th first-class wicket against a Yorkshire side featuring new England Test skipper Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow.
Warwickshire (23-1) v Lancashire (273 all out)
Keith Barker (3-59) and debutant George Panayi (3-41) shared six wickets to keep Lancashire in check, before Anderson ousted Porterfield in his third over.
Hampshire (211-9 declared) v Somerset (18-0)
Hampshire suffered a lower-order collapse after Liam Dawson scored 53 at the top of the order, Lewis Gregory snaring three wickets, including pinning Dawson lbw.
DIVISION TWO
Durham (197 all out) v Worcestershire (213-4)
Chris Rushworth and Barry McCarthy's 10th-wicket stand of 50 lifted Durham just shy of 200 but Brett D'Oliveira's unbeaten 91 has the visitors on top, despite Mark Wood's three wickets.
Glamorgan (5-0) v Derbyshire (288 all out)
Derbyshire's Afghan-born spinner Hamidullah Qadri became the first player born in the 2000s to play in the County Championship and watched on as his team-mate, Wayne Madsen, top scored with 70.
Northamptonshire (261 all out) v Leicestershire (65-4)
Duckett put on 136 with Max Holden (92) for the third wicket before Northants lost their final seven wickets for 50 runs as left-arm seamer Dieter Klein took 6-80.
Nottinghamshire (135-3) v Kent (180 all out)
Steven Mullaney took three wickets and scored 63 not out as Nottinghamshire bossed day one at Trent Bridge, despite Daniel Bell-Drummond's unbeaten 84 for Kent.
Sussex (358-9 declared) v Gloucestershire (31-0)
Former Sussex skipper Wright, whose ton was his 17th in first-class cricket and first since 2015, was backed up by new captain, Ben Brown (52) and Chris Jordan (50) for the hosts at Hove.
