Key events
Ali Martin
Greetings from New Road, where I have snuck in unannounced to either Tanya or the office after waking up to glorious sunshine in the West Midlands. There’s a nice buzz at the ground, this being Worcestershire’s first home fixture of the summer and Gloucestershire the semi-local visitors. Out in the middle we have the usual flea circus warm-up, with various mitts, rubber stumps and coaches desperately attempting to nick the ball to the slips after playing careers spent trying to do the exact opposite.
A word from the county game’s biggest fan:
A delve into Wisden 2023
The five cricketers of the year are: Tom Blundell, Ben Foakes, Harmanpreet Kaur, Daryl Mitchell and Matthew Potts.
A great read from Gary Naylor on last week’s action:
Congratulations to Rehan Ahmed – and Leicesteshire! Long may they play happily together.
Division Two table
1 Leicestershire (played 2) 34
2 Durham (played 2) 27
3 Worcestershire (played 2) 27
4 Sussex (played 1) 21
5 Derbyshire (played 2) 14
6 Gloucestershire (played 2) 13
7 Glamorgan (played 1) 12
8 Yorkshire (played 2) 12
Division One table
1 Warwicks (played 2) 35
2 Surrey (played 2) 32
3 Essex (played 2) 28
4 Hampshire (played 2) 23
5 Notts (played 2) 23
6 Northants (played 2) 22
7 Kent (played 2) 20
8 Lancashire (played 2) 17
9 Somerset (played 2) 12
10 Middlesex (played 2) 6
Fixtures
DIVISION ONE
Canterbury: Kent v Essex
Lord’s: Middlesex v Nottinghamshire
The County Ground: Northamptonshire v Hampshire
Taunton: Somerset v Lancashire
DIVISION TWO
Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Durham
Hove: Sussex v Yorkshire
New Road: Worcestershire v Gloucestershire
Good morning! It’s round three, already! I saw a duckling on my dog walk, the hawthorn is intoxicatingly sweet and Leicestershire are at the top of the Division Two table.
Seven games in play this week, with Surrey, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Derby putting their boots on the side table. Loads to talk about this week, including the launch of Wisden, but first – today’s games.
