Nine matches, five results and four draws including two nail-biters at Lord’s and Taunton.
The new county season got underway on Friday and was packed with its traditional drama and intrigue, with players across the country vying to push towards the England Test set-up.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have had their eye on the county game for the next gem to bring into the national team, and with every ball available to watch, every little detail can be analysed and highlighted.
Here are 10 things Wisden editor and Mail Sport’s Cricket Correspondent LAWRENCE BOOTH learned from the opening round of fixtures.
1 – People still care
At Chelmsford, spectators were still trying to get in after the start of play at 11am. At Lord’s, they were queuing round the block for the division two fixture between Middlesex and Lancashire – even though Jimmy Anderson’s absence had been known in advance.
A huge queue formed at Chelmsford to watch the biggest match of the week between Essex and Surrey
The ECB will soon decide on a new domestic structure, which could mean the loss of two championship fixtures per team, from 14 to 12
The cricketing logic around cutting the schedule – quality rather than quantity – is understandable. But the argument for county cricket as a way of life keeps being reinforced
The ECB will soon decide on a new domestic structure, which could mean the loss of two championship fixtures per team, from 14 to 12.
The cricketing logic – quality rather than quantity – is understandable. But the argument for county cricket as a way of life keeps being reinforced.
2 – Tom Banton is back
Which may surprise those who didn’t realise he had even gone away.
But he told wisden.com earlier this year that he ‘hated cricket’ after being dropped by England in 2022, since when has he learned to relax, using Sam Billings as his ‘life advisor’.
Sure enough, Banton began the season with a monumental 371 against Worcestershire at Taunton, the highest score in Somerset’s 150-year history, beating Justin Langer’s 342 against Surrey at Guildford in 2006.
In one innings, his first-class average rose from 32 to 37. Banton’s 21 international appearances have all been against the white ball, but he’s only 26: don’t write off a Test career yet, especially as he scores at the desired rate.
Tom Banton began the season with a monumental 371 against Worcestershire at Taunton, the highest score in Somerset’s 150-year history, beating Justin Langer’s 342 in 2006
3 – Ben Foakes’s motivation remains undimmed
Foakes made a recent admission that England were ‘moving on’ from the days when he was in the wicketkeeping melting-pot with Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler.
Many believe England are wrong, despite the early Test success of his Surrey team-mate Jamie Smith, and his performance against Essex at Chelmsford this week showed why.
Not content with a superb leg-side take to get rid of Paul Walter, he kept the home spinners at bay to make 92 not out in five and a half hours in the first innings, then helped saved the game with 50 in nearly three hours in the second.
There are a few Test teams who would happily pick him behind the stumps.
4 – How much of a gamble did Yorkshire take?
On the one hand, Jonny Bairstow with a point to prove – in this case to England’s selectors – can be a force of nature.
On the other, his first innings as Yorkshire captain – caught at third man for 10 in a total of 121 – was not exemplary.
Bairstow has many qualities, but his man-management is unproven: whether he can galvanise a team trying to re-establish themselves in the top flight remains to be seen.
A five-wicket defeat by Hampshire, despite Bairstow’s second-innings half-century, may act as a reality check.
Jonny Bairstow has many qualities, but his man-management is unproven: can he galvanise a Yorkshire team trying to re-establish themselves in the top flight?
5 – Simpson’s late show
It’s hard to think of a better late-career signing than John Simpson, who moved from Middlesex to Sussex in time for 2024, and has not stopped scoring.
After his side’s opener against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, where his first-innings 181 not out helped Sussex to 528 in their first Division One game for a decade, his record for his new county was an astonishing 1,400 runs at 82.
Simpson, it’s easy to forget, played three ODIs for England during the Covid-affected home series against Pakistan in 2021. It’s a pity he turns 37 in July.
6 – The grapevine can work wonders
Not many county fans had heard of Keith Dudgeon, a 29-year-old fast bowler from Johannesburg, before he bowled Kent to victory over Northamptonshire with figures of seven for 36 – the best innings analysis of the opening round.
But Joe Root liked what he saw while playing with Dudgeon for Paarl Royals during the recent SA20, and mentioned him to Zak Crawley.
With Kent on the look-out for a short-term replacement for Wes Agar, who has been busy winning the Sheffield Shield with South Australia, Dudgeon stepped in – and blew Northamptonshire away for 114.
Not many county fans had heard of Keith Dudgeon, a 29-year-old fast bowler from Johannesburg, before he bowled Kent to victory over Northamptonshire
Josh Tongue set up victory for Nottinghamshire against Durham at Trent Bridge with five for 66, including a decisive burst of four for three in 12 balls
7 – The pace race has a dark horse
Injuries to Mark Wood and Olly Stone, plus a mixed start at the IPL for Jofra Archer, have not encouraged English dreams of hitting Australia with pace.
But don’t forget Josh Tongue. His previous first-class county game had been in July 2023, when he took five for 29 for Worcestershire against Leicestershire, having picked up 10 wickets in his first two Tests, against Ireland and Australia.
Yesterday, after an injury-prone couple of years, he set up victory for Nottinghamshire against Durham at Trent Bridge with five for 66, including a decisive burst of four for three in 12 balls.
Expect a Test recall before the summer is out.
8 – Leach caught in a spin
Last week, Graeme Swann told this column that Shoaib Bashir should leave Taunton permanently, rather than move around on loan.
But did Somerset regret his absence as Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan – despite an outrageous lbw decision to get rid of Brett D’Oliveira for 121 – failed to bowl Worcestershire out in 200 second-innings overs?
Leach’s analysis of 65–26–107–4 recalled the time he wheeled away against West Indies in Barbados for 69.5–27–118–3: tight, but not penetrative.
Which is why England prefer the bounce and turn offered by Bashir, even if he did go wicketless on debut for Glamorgan during their 10-wicket defeat by Leicestershire in Cardiff.
The most entertaining post-match utterances this summer may come from Darren Lehmann, the former Australia coach who is now in charge of Northamptonshire
9 – Lehmann lays down the law
The most entertaining post-match utterances this summer may come from Darren Lehmann, the former Australia coach who is now in charge of Northamptonshire.
After his side were skittled for 143 and 114 in a total of 77.4 overs by Kent at Wantage Road, Lehmann told the BBC’s Andrew Radd that ‘bats cost about £500 – you may as well start using them’.
Three of his team had been out offering no shot in the second innings, not an option usually associated with Lehmann. Northamptonshire’s next game is a trip to Old Trafford, where you wouldn’t necessarily expect their fortunes to improve.
10 – The beauty of the four-day game is in the timing
Had Middlesex, inspired by Max Holden’s 181, shown a fraction less fight in their second innings, they would have had a bit more time to dismiss Lancashire on the final evening at Lord’s.
In the event, Lancashire – chasing 309 – closed on 262 for eight. Not that anyone was to blame for the draw.
On the contrary, this was almost the perfect championship match between two of the teams most likely to be challenging for promotion come September.
Had Middlesex shown a fraction less fight in their second innings, they would have had a bit more time to dismiss Lancashire on the final evening at Lord’s
A simple, and much-needed, reminder
Well played, MCC, who handed their spirit of cricket award to Mel Jones, Catherine Ordway and Emma Staples, for their work in helping over 130 members of the Afghanistan women’s cricket community – players, families, coaches – flee the Taliban regime and settle in Australia.
It’s a moving story, superbly told at last week’s Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s. The idea that cricket might have a spirit irritates many, though the thrust of the message is simple: respect each other.
And it was a reminder of how passive the ICC have been on the subject of the exiles, who ought to be allowed to set up a home away from home in Australia.
As so often when officialdom hides behind its own rules, the commonsense work has been done by motivated, compassionate individuals.
Hats off to Jones, Ordway and Staples for showing what is possible.
Hats off to Mel Jones (pictured), Catherine Ordway and Emma Staples for showing what is possible
A trip to picturesque New Road will not be the same after the sad death last week of the engaging and entertaining John Curtis
Farewell, John Curtis
A trip to picturesque New Road will not be the same after the sad death last week of the engaging and entertaining John Curtis, who became so synonymous with Worcestershire that he and two long-standing colleagues, Mike Beddow and Chris Oldnall, had the press box named in their honour last September. RIP John.
New career found
Simon O’Donnell is best known as the wholehearted Australia all-rounder from the old Benson & Hedges World Series triangular tournaments. Until now.
Last week, aged 62, he hit two holes-in-one during a single round at Flinders golf club near Melbourne. According to the National Hole-in-One registry in the US, the odds are 67million to one.
O’Donnell explained to the Sunday Herald Sun that the first came on a 252m par four (‘I thought my little fade had gone into a dam’) and the second on the 17th, a par three, when his partner ‘walked up to the hole and offered a heap of expletives’.
Presumably ‘strewth’ was not among them.
