Gloucestershire v Yorkshire, Somerset v Essex: county cricket – live! | Sports

Need for extra in 24 overs for the Yorkies, the tightwads. Marcus Harris starting to look sublime and, ah, Charlesworth nibbles to Fisher and is well caught by Duke for 15. Gloucestershire 50-1.

How do Somerset escape this rip in their batting universe? It is going to be a long, long season. Head slumps into neck, neck slumps into shoulders: 49-5. Three for Sam Cook, two for Mark Steketee.

Have Derbyshire (80-1) made the signing of the season? Yes they have.

“Tanya,” John Burton, Hello! “Why are 4 teams having byes during this round of games, I had assumed that the point of splitting the divisions into even numbers was that all could be playing.Am I missing some meaningful reason for byes?”

There is no reason apart from each team is playing six games in the first seven weeks – so we think everyone gets one week off.

The first seven rounds run Thursday-Sunday in successive weeks. A further five rounds follow in June and July before the finale in September.

Each county plays 14 Championship matches, with seven home matches and seven away matches. So in Div Two, all play all, but in Div one .. they don’t.

Happy Birthday Durham! Thirty years a first-class county today. Last week’s unbeaten centurion Alex Lees not playing today, whispers of an injury.

Writes Gary Naylor:

oohoh, I reckon in the sun, with a bank holiday ahead, people are happy to clap most things! As to whether people are getting less discerning – I don’t know. Does it matter do you think?

Mark Harris pats Haris Rauf square for four – gorgeous shot – and oooh dropped by Harry Duke next ball. Glouc’s 29-0.

Ok, time for a coffee and a sniff round the Division One grounds:

Here at Gloucestershire, it’s been slow stuff: Fisher and Thompson keeping it tight, four slips, a good scattering in the cheap seats. And here comes Haris Rauf.

Lancashire have lost their first wicket of the day, nay the season. Balderson gone for 7, while Wells has smashed six fours in his 30 – a three Weetabix morning.

Somerset’s top order proves as fragile as ever: 25-2, Green and Renshaw gone; while surrey Ease into second gear, Burns and Patel swapping the roles they took at Edgbaston: Burns all bombast and Patel steady.

“How on earth can it be fair for England to drop Anderson for West Indies tests then block Lancashire from using him but without guaranteeing him a place in the next test?” asks Stephen Herzenberg. “They are stopping Anderson from showing up the ECB by decimating Kent.”

Hi Stephen, to the best of my knowledge, Anderson and Broad fix their own schedules in conjunction with physios etc with the aim – as in other years – of getting themselves in the best shape for the first test. Whether they play or not is another matter…

Still no Jimmy Anderson, no Stuart Broad.

Zak Crawley is back, as are Jack Leach, Craig Overton other parky.

Simon Harmer returns for Essex, Matt Renshaw for Somerset, Marnus Labuschagne for Glamorgan, Mark Harris for Gloucestershire, Mohammed Rizwan and Cheteshwar Pujara at Hove

If anyone missed this yesterday: reports of up to 12 ex Yorkshire players to be charged by the ECB on breaching the anti-discrimination code/bringing the game into disrepute, including Gary Ballance, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Gale and Tim Bresnan.

DIVISION ONE

Yorkshire win and will bowl

Lancashire win and will bat

Essex win and will bowl

Hampshire win and will bowl

DIVISION ONE

Derbyshire win and will bat

Leicestershire win and will bowl

glam organ win and will bowl

DIVISION ONE

Bristol: Gloucestershire v Yorkshire

Canterbury: Kent v Lancashire

Taunton: Somerset v Essex

TheOval: Surrey v Hampshire

DIVISION TWO

Derby: Derbyshire v Sussex

Chester le Street: Durham v Leicestershire

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Glamorgan

Warwickshire, Northants (Div one) and Middlesex and Notts (Div two) get a bye this round

A legend lays down her cap:

Shrubsole, who won two World Cups with England – the iconic player of the match on that fantastic late evening at Lord’s in 2017, taking 6-46 -spanned the amateur and professional game.

She started her domestic career for Somerset before going on to play 173 England games across all formats, winning the Ashes twice, and claiming 227 wickets. She finishes fourth on the list of England’s ODI wicket-takers, and bows out as England’s current top IT20 wicket-taker.

She became the first woman to appear on the front of Wisden, in 2018, and retained her golden arm right to the end, taking two key wickets in the recent World Cup semi-final against South Africa. She will continue to play domestic cricket.

“I feel immensely privileged to have been able to represent my country for the past 14 years,” said Shrubsole. “To have been involved in women’s cricket at a time of such growth has been an honor but it has become clear to me that it is moving forward faster than I can keep up with, so it is time for me to step away.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be lucky enough to play for England for so long, I’d have been happy with one game. There have been many ups and downs along the way but it was all worth it to be able to lift the ICC Women’s World Cup at Lord’s in 2017.

“There have been so many people who have supported me along the way and I want to thank them all for everything they have done, but most of all I couldn’t have done it without the unwavering support of my family. They have been with me every step of the way and I simply couldn’t have done it without them.”

Gloucester news: Marcus Harris will make his Gloucestershire debut today – said to be excited about playing Division One cricket after a spell with Leicestershire. Naseem Shah doesn’t play, out with a shoulder injury.

From round two, and a misty Bristol, where Yorkshire, the story of the winter, prepare for their first match of the season.