Cricket County Championship Round-Up: Essex and Sussex Lead the Pack

1. Essex hit the heights

If you’re the form side in the country, the confidence that brings can overcome setbacks like a stone skimming across a pond. Essex illustrated that point by easing to a six-wicket win over Leicestershire, whose admirable spirit is unlikely to keep them in the top flight.

They started well, Ben Green knocking over the openers, but that only brought Jordan Cox to crease, keen for time in the middle after a frustrating IPL and with a Test debut imminent. He scored a maiden double century and was promptly replaced by Michael Pepper as England decided that was probably enough.

Nick Kelly provided the only resistance from the home side with six Essex bowlers sharing the wickets, so they could not have been surprised to find themselves back out in the middle with Tom Westley enforcing the follow-on. As is so often the case, it was more of a struggle second time round, Lewis Hill’s century anchoring a stout Leicestershire effort right down the card.

A target of 215 is certainly well inside tricky territory, but the mark of a good side is the ability to find someone to step up. Cue tall Paul Walter (as with tall Dan Burn, the adjective is obligatory) with a ton, allowing his team to return down the M1 with 23 points in the bag.

2. Coles on a hot streak as Sussex win again

The table never lies – or so they say – but Essex have not been the best team in the first half of the season. That accolade belongs to Sussex, who trail them because of a 12-point penalty they were given due to administration issues. The fact their players have responded with such verve is a superb testament to the leadership on the field, if not off it.

Glamorgan (another 2026 feelgood story) rolled down to the seaside and were rolled over in 53 overs, five bowlers pecking away at the batting order like gulls on the pier swooping on your chips.

Since he received a bid of £390,000 in the Hundred auction, the 22-year-old James Coles has struggled a bit for form, but he is back with a bang, hammering 11 sixes and 22 fours en route to 224no. Glamorgan, to their credit, did not immediately fold, but fell 98 runs short of making their hosts bat again, their last man falling to, who else, that man Coles.

3. I know I shouldn’t say this, but …

In 16 seasons of this column, I cannot have written a sentence more often than variants on: “Somerset’s win puts them back in the hunt just behind the leaders”. It’s what they do.

Somerset’s win puts them back in the hunt just behind the leaders, but, just maybe, this time it could be a portent for the second half of the Championship. Jinx or not, such thoughts are inevitable if you dispatch Nottinghamshire, the champions, by 308 runs.

There were maiden Somerset centuries for Jordan Hermann and Thomas Rew (who is younger than his brother, James, was when he hit his) but this was a win born of experience. Haseeb Hameed’s men fell to Lewis Gregory (34), Migael Pretorius (31), Craig Overton (32), Jack Leach (34) and Jake Ball (35), a substitute for Gregory. Keep those thirtysomethings fit and it really, really could happen.

4. Both sides find something in a draw

At Scarborough, two sleeping giants met as Yorkshire and Warwickshire fought each other to a standstill in the sea breeze. That might sound unfair, but since 2015 they have won a Covid-truncated Championship/Bob Willis Trophy and two One-Day Cups between them, a poor return given their histories, local significance and resources.

The draw helped neither to improve on that record, though it proved to be the right kind of hard-fought cricket they will need to play to get the wins they will need.

What may work for Yorkshire is giving Will Luxton an extended run in the side. Still only 23, he seems to have been in and out of the XI for years now, but, opening for the second time this season, he made a career-best 167 and then 69, which may be his ticket to the slot until the end of September. If he is the future of the club, his coach and captain should back him.

Faced with an unreachable target of 453 in 15 overs and a day, only Dan Mousley sold his wicket cheaply as every Bear dug in to see out the draw. Those scoring rates (indeed, the old-fashioned idea of batting time) won’t win many matches, but it forges team spirit – which is crucial to Warwickshire after a dismal few weeks in the Blast – and provides a platform to push on. They are five points off the lead.

5. Potts fires Durham to the top

It’s a very different story in Division Two, where Durham can probably start programming Trent Bridge and the Oval into their satnavs ready for 2027.

Despite Harry Came’s 105 being the highest score of the match, Derbyshire were swept aside by an innings at Chester-le-Street, Durham extending their lead over third-placed Kent to 30 points.

Kasey Aldridge picked up five for 19 in the first innings and Matthew Potts eight for 66 in the second. That both are handy bats is merely a bonus, but a welcome one in a county pro.

It seems that is probably the fate of Potts, overlooked for England again despite his proven value bowling long spells in home conditions. It may be expected of such a wholehearted cricketer, but it is to his credit that he responded to disappointment with a 10-wicket haul. He may be down the international pecking order, but he is a local hero for sure.

6. Lancashire as soft as old Blackpool rock

The break for the Blast came at a bad time for Kent, so they will have made the long trip to Blackpool wanting to re-establish momentum. There, they simply kicked sand in the face of a moribund Lancashire to do exactly that.

Liam Livingstone’s five wickets on day one cheered the locals, but a dismal effort in the first innings – 87 all out, Keith Dudgeon picking up six wickets – put the home side on the back foot. Chris Benjamin whacked a century in Kent’s second dig and Hasan Mahmud matched Dudgeon’s haul to ensure that Jimmy Anderson’s men got nowhere near their target of 424.

Lancashire have injuries, but they are consistently underachieving again. They will have to take a leaf out of Kent’s book if another season (probably Anderson’s last) is not to slide away. Two trophies in the 21st century is just not acceptable.