The semi-finals hinted at a final full of promise with Hampshire expected to host a
partisan crowd, the type that would have made Lancashire all the more determined.
It was an innings of classical shots and grit from Gaby Lewis who played a match-
winning 141 not out that helped Lancashire to a six-wicket victory with nine balls to
spare.

It proved to be the case as 2,536 fans congregated to see one of the tightest
women’s finals in recent years. It is also testament that since the advent of
professional women’s cricket, 289 is seen as a very chasable target. Gaby Lewis
and Seren Smale – who this time last year were playing international cricket against
each other – combined to put Lancashire within reach of the double after winning the
T20 County Cup earlier in the season.

With Hampshire still firm favourites, having topped the group stages on net run rate
over The Blaze, Lancashire won the toss and elected to bowl. With a pace trio of
Kate Cross, Mahika Gaur and Grace Potts it seemed the sensible decision, and
although starting in clear skies the threat of rain later was never out of the realms of
possibility.

While they didn’t make the breakthrough early, Hampshire never really pulled away
in the powerplay. The opening partnership of 70 between Maia Bouchier and
Rhianna Southby took 95 balls before a ball out of the back of her hand from Potts
fooled Southby into chipping a simple catch to Cross at mid-on.

It brought Georgia Adams to the middle, the sort of dependable batter for the
situation. She could carry on the role that Southby was doing and allow Bouchier to
be more aggressive.

Bouchier brought up her twentieth half-century before she tried one big shot too many,
and again Cross took the catch at mid-on to give Gaur her only wicket of the day.

Adams kept things steady with 77 from 98, top scoring, and with Freya Kemp scoring
a run a ball 41 and Abi Norgrove 36 from 31, Hampshire should have set Lancashire
over 300 to win.

In the semi-final on Tuesday, Lancashire needed a big partnership from Ellie
Threlkeld and Ailsa Lister. Today, it was their top order that contributed, albeit with a
couple of run-outs that the umpires didn’t spot.

Lewis and Smale added 144 for the second wicket. Smale’s 72 from 85 was the sort
of mature innings that she needs to continue to build on.

It was the Irish international that played the innings of the day, in full control of the
scoring shots she played, unconcerned when the dot balls built up, secure that her
ability to find the boundary would catch up.

It is always a risky strategy, as The Blaze found out to Lancashire’s benefit in the
semi-final.

When Lewis brought up her hundred from 121 balls, there were still 72 runs to win
with 56 balls remaining.

What helped Lewis was that Threlkeld started to score at more than a run a ball from
the start. It took the pressure off Lewis to an extent. Lancashire still needed some big
overs.

Threlkeld’s 32 from 30 was just the injection that Lancashire needed, and when she
was dismissed, caught Kemp, bowled Freya Davies in her final game,
it brought the free-scoring Lister to the middle.

Lewis, with three overs to go, decided it was time to go and rode her luck as
Bouchier dropped her on the boundary to make a Lancashire victory the most likely
result.

With just five needed to win from the final two overs, the only thing in doubt was
when Lancashire would get over the line, and they did so with a quick single that
caused a moment of confusion before Lancashire players streamed onto the field to
celebrate with their hero Lewis.

The Northern Superchargers completed a super weekend in London as they etched their name on the Hundred for the first time, beating a Southern Brave side that have conquered all before them this season. They finally put right their disappointment of finishing runners-up to the same opposition two years ago, with a seven wicket victory and 12 balls to spare.

It is fair to say that the Superchargers have some world-class players in their side, but this weekend it was an all-round effort. Davina Perrin, with 101 against London Spirit yesterday, showed that their young emerging players are able to execute their skills with power, finesse and fun.

It was the bowlers that set up their win today. Having won the toss, Hollie Armitage, the Superchargers captain, chose to bowl first. With a seam attack including a superstar in Annabel Sutherland, alongside a Kate Cross determined to show she can turn up on the big occasion, it was going to be hard work for batters at an overcast Lord’s.

It was Grace Ballinger, the left-arm seamer who has had an inconsistent season with injury, that took the new ball and bowled through the first end, conceding just six runs. Four of them came from the sixth ball of the innings as Maia Bouchier looked to loosen the shackles.

With the powerplay slow going for Brave, they hit their first six of the game from the 20th ball as Bouchier pinged Sutherland over the deep square-leg boundary. A change of ends followed next ball, but Danni Wyatt-Hodge was in the mood to match Bouchier’s six count, smashing Cross straight back over the long-on boundary. However, Cross was not out of the game just yet. Two balls later Bouchier mistimed a shot through cover and Armitage took the catch.

The sight of Laura Wolvaardt usually fills bowlers with dread, as the South African has the habit of taking games away from you. Cross wasn’t concerned, and she bowled a wicked in-swinger that collided with the top of Wolvaardt’s leg stump.

Sophie Devine has seen it all in her career, and and she safely negotiated the hat-trick ball. With Freya Kemp, a batter in form, it shouldn’t have been a worry for Brave, and while these two were batting, the balance started to even.

A total of 130 was what the Braves would need to have a realistic chance, and at 90 for three after 73 balls, there was every chance of that happening if one or both batters could stay there. Devine, on 23 from 27 balls, felt the need to start matching her younger teammate’s strike rate. When Lucy Higham bowled a wide one that Devine couldn’t resist, she drilled it to Phoebe Litchfield at deep extra cover.

Kemp followed seven balls later, for an enterprising 26 from 16 balls, top-edging to midwicket as Sutherland hurried her with pace. It would need a lower order, who haven’t had to bat too often in pressure situations this season, to get the Brave up to a defendable total, and a late blast of 17 from 11 balls from Mady Villiers got them to 115 for six.

Perrin wouldn’t repeat her antics of the previous day, but her 17 from 16 balls ensured that the Superchargers didn’t get stuck chasing a modest total. The Brave are a side that haven’t lost all season, and were never going to count themselves out of it just yet, as they knew early wickets would add pressure.

It was Devine, the old campaigner, that would make the breakthrough, getting the young pretender Perrin, as the opener could only loop a catch to Bouchier at mid-on. Alice Davidson-Richards, who had one of the best views of Perrin’s innings yesterday, was content to watch Litchfield do something similar today. That was before an unlucky deflection off the wicketkeeper Rhianna Southby rebounded back onto the stumps with Davidson-Richards out for seven runs.

It felt like only rain would stop Litchfield from putting in a match-winning innings. The Australian was her usual inventive self, with reverse sweeps and coming down the track to smash Villiers for a straight six. The players had to come off for 12 minutes as a heavy shower swept across the ground and allowed Brave to regroup. It was shortly after they came back on that Litchfield swept once too often, giving Lauren Bell a simple catch for 26 from 13 balls.

It was left to the Superchargers’ other two Aussies to take them to the brink of victory. Sutherland was content to play the anchor role, nudging it around, while Nicola Carey attacked the boundaries. It was a combination that would help take the women’s Hundred trophy north for the first time, with an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 60, as Sutherland delivered the knockout blow with a six over long-on.

On the road has been where they have found their feet, winning both trips to London and a win at Cardiff to make it a clean sweep of the capitals. It was only against Birmingham Phoenix that they tripped up on their travels in the derby fixture.

With fourth place the best that they could hope for, and something to prove against Ellyse Perry’s Phoenix side, it all went right in front of an expectant crowd after they had lost the toss and were asked to bat first.

Ash Gardner said when interviewed at the toss: “We would have bowled, for no particular reason.” She had good reason, of course, as Alexa Stonehouse and Cassidy McCarthy bowled the first two sets of ten straight through. Georgia Voll was dismissed sixth ball, having miscued to Bryony Smith at backward point. It would have been worse for Phoenix had Perry not found the boundary twice in the first 20 balls.

Emma Lamb was the one bright spark for the Phoenix. When Stonehouse came back into the attack to finish out the powerplay, she started to find her rhythm. A partnership between Perry and Lamb was needed, but Perry was soon the second Phoenix wicket to fall, as she took on Kirstie Gordon but couldn’t get it over McCarthy at long-off.

While the Rockets’ fielding was generally good, Lamb was dropped twice. Once when she was on 21, as Heather Graham could not hold onto a catch that she had to move to her left for, and again on the deep midwicket boundary. As Lamb approached her fifty, she was dropped off a swirling ball that, as it fell, refused to stay in Gordon’s hopeful hands. The next ball inevitably found the fence through midwicket to bring up a 40-ball half-century.

Lamb would finish unbeaten on 56, to go with a Metro Bank One-Day Cup hundred at Trent Bridge earlier this season. However, 123 didn’t look like it was going to be a big enough total to defend against a Rockets side with genuine power at the top of the order.

They picked up the wickets of Smith for a run-a-ball 10, and Grace Scrivens for 16 from 21 balls; an innings that suggests in the shortest forms of the game she isn’t ready for an England place in the near future. Sciver-Brunt was again dominant with bat in hand and as long as she was out in the middle, the total was going to be chased with ease.

It didn’t help that the Phoenix bowlers gave away three no-balls in the first 50 balls of the innings and bowled too many wides. Sciver-Brunt was teasing the fielders with shots that effortlessly flashed for four, and when she lifted Hannah Baker over deep extra cover for six to bring up a 28-ball fifty, it looked like the game was done.

It was time for Sciver-Brunt to put the foot down and get the game finished. However, trying to deposit Baker through the covers next ball, she hit it straight to Megan Schutt. It was the middle of a collapse, as Gardner had been dismissed for ten, just five balls earlier, and Ailsa Lister held onto a low catch to see off Graham for five.

When Ellie Threlkeld was lbw to Phoebe Brett for two from the 75th ball, the Rockets had lost four wickets for 17 runs. By that stage 15 runs were still needed, and Alana King and Jodie Grewcock brought it down to five needed from the final ten. King was caught behind and it moved the supporters to the edge of their seats, but Gordon and Grewcock saw the Rockets home with three balls to spare.

The esoteric way in which the tournament works is that the counties are split into two groups and the top team in each group progresses directly into a semi final. The teams finishing second and third contest quarter finals with the winners moving to the semis. And just to provide further complication, who finishes where in the group has often to be determined by the somewhat obscure concept of net run rate. Are you with me so far? Pay attention, there, at the back!

The main drama in the last round of group matches occurred in Group B. But even in Group A, there was excitement and uncertainty. Had Gloucestershire won their match against Hampshire, they would have topped the group. As it was, they lost, which allowed Worcestershire (winners over Surrey) to progress straight to the semi-final stage and Hampshire themselves to earn a home quarter-final place. Except that the home tie won’t happen – Hampshire’s Utilita Bowl ground is occupied with another competition that Latin scholars refer to as C. Although they have a history of using many out-grounds such as Dean Park in Bournemouth, May’s Bounty in Basingstoke and even on the Isle of Wight, Hampshire opted to forego their home advantage.

And so to Group B.

Yorkshire and Somerset won their final qualifying matches and took first and second places in the group. But who would join them? Warwickshire and Middlesex were level with each other on points, with Warwickshire having a slightly better run rate. So if Warwickshire won, they would go through, even if Middlesex beat Lancashire. By about 5.00 pm, Warwickshire were almost home and dry against Sussex. They were on 228 for 4 and needed 52 more to win from just over 11 overs). Middlesex, on the other hand, were almost down and out. Chasing 292 to beat Lancashire, they were 127-6.

Roll forward an hour and a half and two miracles had occurred. Sussex (who had no hope of qualifying) had bowled out Warwickshire thanks to five wickets from leg-spinner Archie Lenham who is normally well down the pecking order amongst Sussex’s crop of spinners. In the meantime, a half-century from Nathan Fernandes (only his second in List A matches) had revived Middlesex’s hopes.

Even so, when Fernandez was ninth out in the last over for 92, Middlesex needed eight more to win. Somehow, aided by some crazy Lancashire bowling and fielding, Middlesex got home with a ball to spare. It will not have escaped the notice of Bears fans that one of the last pair, Nathan Gilchrist, is joining Warwickshire next year.

And so Middlesex not only went through but took advantage of Hampshire’s generosity to claim a home tie at Radlett

Devoted fans can now discard those crystal balls and revert to more orthodox ways of planning their watching. So here are the fixtures to come:

Thu, 28 August at 12.00

Quarter Finals

Hampshire v Middlesex at Radlett

Somerset v Gloucestershire at Taunton

Sunday 31 August at 12.00

Semi- Finals

Worcestershire v (TBA) at Worcester

Yorkshire v (TBA) at Scarborough

Saturday 20 September at 11.00 am – Final at Trent Bridge

It would ultimately be the all-round performance of Kathryn Bryce, a player who plays
her domestic cricket at Trent Bridge, that proved the difference as Manchester
Originals won by ten wickets.

With drizzle intermittently falling during much of the morning, when Originals won the
toss they didn’t hesitate to put the Rockets into bat.
The home side’s top order all made starts but were never able to break totally free of
a disciplined bowling attack. The introduction of Sophie Ecclestone after 20 balls
made the first breakthrough, as Nat Wraith, not wanting the international left-arm
spinner to settle, advanced down the track and was stumped for 17.
Bryony Smith and Nat Sciver-Brunt had started to set a solid platform for the
Rockets, taking them up to 50 from 35 balls before Bryce struck, bowling Smith with
a ball that moved away slightly and took the top of off stump.
Sciver-Brunt again was key to the Rockets’ batting and, on 34, was well set before
Ecclestone and Beth Mooney combined to stump the England captain with a delivery
that spun enough to deceive the batter.

Ash Gardner was the third Rockets player to be dismissed for 17, as a burst of three
wickets from Lauren Filer ensured the game was pulling in the direction of an
Originals win.
The Rockets started with good intent when they went out to bowl, knowing 111 was
going to be a difficult target to defend. Alexa Stonehouse was able to bowl the first
ten balls for ten.
The Originals had Mooney and Bryce batting at the top of the order, and they hardly
offered a chance. Bryce, who has played a lot of cricket at Trent Bridge, judged her
innings well to bring up her first fifty in the Hundred this season.
For the Rockets, it was tough going, and they weren’t able to find the breakthrough
in the powerplay that was crucial if they were to win.
Mooney and Bryce are two of the calmer performers on the circuit, and it showed.
The right-hand left-hand dynamic worked well, and they chose their shots wisely on
a pitch that offered the slower bowlers something.
It was the sort of performance that showed the Originals can cause any team
problems on their day.

For Trent Rockets, though, it is a result that will raise questions in the dressing room,
and if they are to turn their season around they have to start a three-game winning
streak with the first of those games at The Oval on Thursday.
With two games on the road, it might just give them the boost to relaunch their
season.

Having been put into bat, the Rockets were in trouble early on. The early introduction of Tilly Corteen-Coleman, the 17-year-old left-arm spinner, caused Nat Wraith problems. She should have had the Rockets’ batter out the ball before, as a leading edge fell agonisingly short of Freya Kemp. The same shot was played next ball and Kemp had no trouble taking a shoulder-high catch. Two balls later the Rockets’ inspirational allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt was stumped for a duck.

Of the top order, only Bryony Smith with ten and Ash Gardner, the captain, with 25 made double figures. Corteen-Coleman and Lauren Bell were the architects of the Rockets’ downfall. With all the Rockets’ hopes falling on Gardner, Bell was brought back into the attack and bowled the Aussie. At 55 for seven, with 47 balls still to go, the Rockets were staring at a score under a hundred.

Alana King and Kirstie Gordon had a tough rebuilding job. The nature of the competition is to keep the scoring going, but with little left to follow it required sensible batting. Gordon was the more aggressive of the two, with King happy to rotate the strike, although one of King’s two boundaries was a six flicked through mid-wicket.

The pair added 51 for the ninth wicket and with it a faint chance they could make a game of it, having been bowled out for 106. It shouldn’t have been a competitive total, but on a tacky pitch where the ball wasn’t coming through to the batter, the bowler was always in the game.

It shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but with some momentum going the Rockets’ way they set about restricting their opponents and were gifted the early run out of Danni Wyatt-Hodge for four. It meant there was more responsibility on Maia Bouchier to make amends for the run out. She did just that with 42 from 30 balls.

Somehow the Rockets were still hanging in. Laura Wolvaardt, one of the best players on the world stage, was caught at mid-on by Sciver-Brunt to give Gordon her only wicket of the day. On a surface offering help for the spin bowlers and those able to vary their pace, Gardner and King chipped in, and Heather Graham, with her seam-up variations, made life difficult for any batter.

The key for the Brave was Sophie Devine, who paced her innings to perfection, finishing not out on 41 from 42 balls. It was an innings that showed just how important her experience is. With batting to come from Kemp, Chloe Tryon, Georgia Adams and Mady Villiers, there was no need to panic as the balls remaining overtook the runs required.

A big six from Kemp off Gordon shifted the game in the Brave’s favour. When Kemp was caught at deep mid-wicket by Sciver-Brunt — a catch that reached the deep with the hush and slow-motion quality that had the partisan crowd erupt in joy when it was safely pouched — it felt like there could be one last twist. Unfortunately for the home crowd, Brave took the spoils with a six-wicket win. The result puts them four points clear at the top of the table and leaves the Rockets a simple equation: win all their remaining matches to qualify out of the group.

Haviong chosen to bat first, the Rockets rarely had a chance to get going. It was a powerplay to forget, with the top three all back in the dugout with the score on five. Bryony Smith was superbly run out by Georgia Wareham, who also took two well-judged catches to cause the Rockets even more trouble.

That brought Nat Sciver-Brunt and Ash Gardner to the middle. It feels as though the burden for runs has fallen on the Rockets’ two most senior players, last year’s and this year’s captains. Sciver-Brunt showed signs that more runs will come from her this year. Stepping down from leading the team should give her more freedom, and she was looking good on 15 before picking out Phoebe Litchfield.

Gardner played the type of innings that proves why she is one of the best all-rounders in the game, with a composed knock, her fifty coming from just 26 balls. However, she needed to bat through, but Grace Ballinger’s slower ball meant Gardner did not get enough power to clear Wareham on the boundary.

With 26 balls still to go, Emma Jones, who can strike the ball cleanly, and Alana King, another boundary-hitter, could not quite get the Rockets to a competitive total, finishing on 128 for eight.

When Alexa Stonehouse bowled ten balls straight from the first end, it looked like the Rockets might have a chance of containing the Superchargers. From the other end, Perrin began to open up, striking five fours, and the Superchargers never looked back.

Alice Davidson-Richards departed for 11 from 20 balls, but by then the Superchargers were 62 from the first 46 deliveries. Perrin kept taking the attack to the Rockets’ bowlers and, with cameos from Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland, the chase was never in doubt.

Litchfield’s 22 from 10 balls ensured there was no way back. She was bowled by Cassidy McCarthy trying one shot too many, but with Hollie Armitage, Wareham and Bess Heath still to come, there was licence to keep going, which Perrin and Sutherland did to the end.

The result took the Superchargers top of the table after two rounds, with a better run-rate than Southern Brave, the other early pace-setters. The Rockets have work to do to turn things around. Their next match is on Thursday against London Spirit at Lord’s, another unbeaten side, giving them plenty of time to address the areas that did not quite click.

It was a dominant top-order innings, at times helped by some ground fielding from the Rockets that was far from perfect. While catches weren’t dropped, there was one occasion where two fielders each waited for the other to collect, and the ball snuck past both of them.

It has been a standout season for Lamb, who has won her place back in the England side as well as scored consistently for Lancashire. Batting between Georgia Voll and Ellyse Perry, some of the pressure to be the batter to get the innings firing was eased. Lamb was able to relax into her knock.

Alexa Stonehouse and Cassidy McCarthy bowled tidily in the powerplay, and boundaries weren’t easy to come by. A wicket wouldn’t fall until the introduction of Alana King, the Aussie leg-spinner, who duly bowled her international teammate Voll. She swept across the line and missed, out for 19 from 16 balls that hinted at more to come.

Lamb was the second to go with the score on 87, of which she had 55. It sparked a bit of a collapse in the Phoenix middle order. Four wickets fell for 20, and suddenly they were 111 for five.

Where the Hundred works best is it gives domestic players, young and experienced, a chance. In Alisa Lister and Marie Kelly, Phoenix were grateful. The pair put on an unbeaten 37 from the last 22 balls to take them up to 148 for five.

Lister, the young Scottish international, is starting to show just how capable she is at counterattacking with the bat. She backs up her shot selection with conviction. Kelly, in an unaccustomed role down the order, had the licence to hit. Her 23 not out took just ten balls to accumulate.

It would take a fantastic effort from the Rockets to chase down 149 from their hundred balls. Not that they didn’t have the firepower, but it would be a record chase for the Rockets.

Grace Scrivens scored just two runs from the opening partnership as Bryony Smith dominated the stand of 35 from the first 24 balls. It would need Smith to carry on bludgeoning the ball to the boundary. Yet in a middle order that contained Nat Sciver-Brunt, Ash Gardner and Heather Graham, it was only the England captain that got going. She was dropped on 13 by Hannah Baker.

Baker made amends by taking the wickets of Gardner for two and Graham for eight. Sciver-Brunt was still there, and while the Rockets always had a chance, by the time she reached her fifty off just 32 balls they were fast running out of time.

With 20 still needed from the last five balls, Sciver-Brunt swept behind square leg, only to find a diving Millie Taylor, who looked relieved to take the catch. The Phoenix looked the more balanced of the teams, but it’s early in the competition and the Rockets will have taken plenty of positives as well.

It’s often the case that former players come back to haunt their old sides, and Worcestershire took full advantage of that today. Their captain, Jake Libby, a former Nottinghamshire regular, was instrumental in the performance. It was his strong displays in white-ball formats that ultimately led to his move away from Trent Bridge.

When he arrived at the crease, Worcestershire were beginning to falter. James Hayes, playing on his club ground, took 4 for 63 and made the early breakthroughs to leave the visitors struggling at 44 for three. However, along with Kashif Ali, who had also spent time with Nottinghamshire’s Second XI, Libby set about rebuilding the innings with a composed 180-run stand. Both looked assured, matching each other shot for shot, as they calmly wrested back control of the match.

It took a stunning one-handed grab from Tom Moores behind the stumps to end Ali’s innings. It was his second List A century, with 101 from 104 balls, including eight fours and a six. Libby was more assertive, and had it not been for a long shower that curtailed the innings after 47.1 overs, he would likely have added to his unbeaten 112 from just 95 balls. His knock included two sixes.

Notts had started to work their way back into the game. Ethan Brookes was caught behind for one, before cameos from Henry Cullen, who made 27, and Matthew Waite, who added 13, helped propel Worcestershire past 300. They eventually finished on 312 for seven.

With DLS adjusting the target to 327 for Notts to win, it was never going to be easy. Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater started well for Notts with a partnership of 39 from the first 5.2 overs, when Hameed was castled for 13, to the obvious delight of bowler Matthew Waite.

It didn’t derail the Notts innings, as Ben Slater and Jack Haynes carried on with a partnership of 45. Slater’s 41 and Haynes’s 51, against his former side, were the only substantive contributions from Notts’ top order.

It looked for all the world like Notts were losing their grip on the game when Moores was bowled first ball by Brookes, as the home team slipped to 121 for four. That soon became 129 for five, as Haynes was shortly after caught exceptionally by Rob Jones, as the ball failed to rise more than shin-high.

Defeat looked inevitable for Notts, before Joe Pocklington, in only his second game for the club, and Robert Lord were brought in by the fall of wickets and fate to give Notts one last chance. Pocklington, who made his debut on Tuesday and looked self-assured with the ball, showed his ability with the bat as well. He counter-attacked to good effect, smashing the ball for four sixes and hitting two more in an innings that suggested he has the swagger to be a fan favourite for years to come.

It was Lord, though, with the chips down and Brett Hutton for company, who started to bring people to the edge of their seats, not just because Notts were edging back into the game with every boundary, but because he also hit four sixes, and nine fours in an innings of 83 from 59 balls.

Waite came back into the attack and removed Lord, with the run rate back around a run a ball. It was now a straight shootout, with Notts’ last pair needing 19 runs and Worcestershire needing one more wicket. Four were needed from the last over.

Hutton was still there unbeaten on 27, with two runs needed from the final ball, which was scampered through for a bye to tie the game. It was the sort of result that will have fans talking for years to come, as both skill and pluck were rewarded with a fair result.

Persistent showers threatened to disrupt the return of Metro Bank One-Day Cup
action at Welbeck, where Nottinghamshire hosted Essex. Players retreated regularly
as heavy showers blew through on a breeze that threatened to turn gusty.
It all worked out in the end and Notts got their campaign off to a winning start against
a more fancied Essex side, winning by 51 runs in a result that suggested they have
more of a fight in them despite having a host of players absent.
The outfield, though, was bone dry, the grass seemingly grateful for the light rain.
Nottinghamshire now play regularly at a ground on the outskirts of Mansfield that
wouldn’t feel out of place in Field of Dreams. It has the feel of a mini Arundel, though
its companions are electricity pylons, not a grand castle. It’s a ground that quietly
delivers a proper day of county cricket, close to the action, grounded in its
community, and increasingly a favourite on the Notts calendar.
Fitting, then, that the Notts player stepping up today likely has early memories of
playing at that Sussex outground. Tom Moores, on a white-ball only contract with
Notts, is making up for a couple of fallow seasons. The Outlaws’ top scorer in the
Vitality Blast, he continued that form here with a maiden List A century. He was
eventually dismissed for 148 from 93 balls, having been dropped twice.
The boundaries at Welbeck aren’t short, but the Notts keeper cleared them five
times, sharing a 137-run stand in 14.3 overs with Daniel Sams as Essex struggled to
contain either batter.
Jamie Porter, always a threat with a new ball, relished first use after Essex won the
toss, making early inroads and returning figures of 4 for 29 from his ten overs.
Haseeb Hameed was the first to fall, a week after scoring a County Championship
double ton. His seven runs looked scratchy, and he’ll have been disappointed to
drive straight to Tom Westley at mid-off.
With Notts fielding two debutants, it was just the occasion for one of the senior
players to step up, and Moores did that in abundance. He was lucky to be dropped
early in his innings, but he never panicked, arriving at the crease with Notts
struggling at 41 for four.
The rain delays didn’t seem to bother him as he anchored the innings, guiding Notts
to a competitive 283 for nine from their 46 overs. With DLS a factor, Essex were set
286.
Essex started well, keeping ahead of the run-rate as Robin Das and Tom Westley
compiled 65 runs for the second wicket from 60 balls before Robert Lord made the
breakthrough.
The tall seamer extracted some bounce from the surface, and as Das tried to pull
through mid-wicket, it looped off the top edge and Hameed took a comfortable catch
at mid-on for 46.

Westley followed soon after, again struggling with Lord’s bounce and control.
Looking to flick to the on-side, he found Jack Haynes at mid-wicket.
That shift in momentum opened the door, and Joe Pocklington, on his Notts debut,
took two quick wickets to put Essex firmly on the back foot.
He should have had a wicket in his first over when a catch went high towards deep
mid-on. Lyndon James did all the hard work to get there but overran the drop zone
and did well not to tip it over the rope for six.
Charlie Allison and Luc Benkenstein were the Essex pair tasked with seeing the
visitors home. They, however, hadn’t accounted for Pocklington’s left-arm spin.
First, he bowled Benkenstein for 19, then followed up with a caught and bowled off
the first ball of his next over to remove Allison for 18.
By the time Pocklington took his third, a mistimed reverse sweep from Nick Browne,
the pressure was on Essex as the run-rate crept up towards eight an over.
Pocklington eventually finished with figures of three for 53 on debut.
The game petered out as Essex lost regular wickets, and it was a disappointing day
for them and their supporters, who travelled in good numbers.
Essex finished bottom of their T20 group and are struggling in the County
Championship. They would still have come into this game with high hopes of
rescuing their season, but instead came up against a resurgent Moores and a
debutant spinner eager to prove himself at this level.
Notts return to Welbeck on Thursday to face Worcestershire, confident that they can
finish their spell in the northern reaches of the county with back-to-back wins.