Kent veteran Darren Stevens becomes the oldest man to hit a County Championship hundred since 1986, while Hampshire captain James Vince races to three figures and then pushes on to make a double ton during opening round of 2021 fixtures
Wednesday 14 April 2021 07:58, UK
Sky Cricket’s Benedict Bermange has poured over the opening round of LV= Insurance County Championship matches, bringing you some top stats on long innings, quick-fire centuries and another winless first-class outing for Nottinghamshire…
Jake Libby carried his bat through Worcestershire's first innings against Essex, playing the second-longest innings in County Championship history, ending just two minutes short of Jason Gallian's record set 25 years ago:
Hampshire defeated Leicestershire by an innings & 105 runs to record their largest margin of victory since beating Kent by an innings & 111 runs at Southampton back in 2010.
Hampshire's James Vince reached his century off 81 balls - his fastest ever - and his final score of 231 was the joint-third-highest score by any Hampshire captain in the County Championship:
Somerset managed to defeat Middlesex at Lord's despite finding themselves 89-9 in reply to Middlesex's first innings of 313. Lewis Gregory became the first player to score a half-century and take five wickets in an innings in the same Championship match at Lord's since Toby Roland-Jones for Middlesex against Yorkshire in 2015.
Darren Stevens made an unbeaten 116 in Kent's first innings against Northamptonshire at the age of 44 years 344 days. He became the oldest centurion in the County Championship since Chris Balderstone made 115 for Leicestershire against Sussex in 1986 at the age of 45 years 247 days.
David Bedingham and Ned Eckersley shared an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 254 in Durham's second innings against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, setting a new county record for that wicket. The previous record was a partnership of 247 between Gordon Muchall and Ian Blackwell against Worcestershire at Worcester in 2011.
Nottinghamshire's failure to win that match took their winless streak in English domestic first-class cricket to 27 matches, the longest such streak since Leicestershire ended their 37-match streak in 2015.
Their current streak is the joint-fifth longest since the Second World War, but still 16 matches short of the overall Post-War record, ironically also held by Nottinghamshire:
