Covering each of the 18 first-class counties every month, including news, interviews and stats, as well as the oddities which make county cricket what it is

PHOTO BY GARETH COPLEY

Nottinghamshire’s players leave the Incora County Ground at Derby with smiles on their faces having secured the club’s first County Championship win since June 2018. Stuart Broad and Luke Fletcher were the heroes of the 310-run victory, sharing 13 wickets between them. A second win swiftly followed, against reigning champions Essex at Trent Bridge.

Derbyshire

NEXT MATCHES: Durham, CC (H), May 20-23; Worcs, CC (A), May 27-30; Warks, CC (H), June 3-6; Lancs, T20 (A), June 9; Leics, T20 (A), June 11; Birmingham, T20 (H), June 13; Lancs, T20 (H), June 15; Northants, T20 (H), June 17

Derby’s leading man: Matt Critchley

IN SHORT: Preston-born, 24 years old and all-round gun for Derbyshire. Rips his leggies and bats No.5 in the Championship.

BACKSTORY: “I played all the age groups at Lancashire, from under-11s,” Critchley told Wisden.com. “When I was 16 or 17, I wasn’t getting into the Lancashire academy. I was doing bits and bobs, training with them, but they had Matt Parkinson and Rob Jones at the same age.” He switched to Derbyshire’s academy and made his first-team debut at 18.

HERE AND NOW: In 2015 Critchley became Derbyshire’s youngest centurion in only his second first-class game, but it’s in the last year that everything has really clicked. He was the county’s Player of the Year in 2020 and produced a memorable all-round performance against Worcestershire this season: scores of 109 and 84 were supplemented by bowling figures of 5-67 and 3-76. He subsequently bagged the PCA Player of the Month award for April.

THE MENTOR: Former Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill, who Critchley first worked with in the winter of 2016/17. “I speak to him most weeks, so he’s probably been the biggest influence on my career,” says Critchley. “He likes that I’m tall and the bounce I get, then the shape on it, and the fact that I do still spin it. I don’t just push it on like a lot of one-day legspinners.” 

TH

WATCH OUT FOR: Fynn Hudson-Prentice, a late blooming allrounder who fought his way back into the game through the MCC Young Cricketers after being released by Sussex. Derbyshire signed him after a successful trial period in 2019 and the 25-year-old seamer took 15 wickets at 20 in his first four games of this season.

482

Number of Championship runs scored by Critchley in April. His 33 against Notts was his lowest score in seven innings

Durham

NEXT MATCHES: Derby, CC (A), May 20-23; Essex, CC (H), May 27-30; Worcs, CC (A), June 3-6; Yorks, T20 (H), June 11; Leics, T20 (A), June 13;

Notts, T20 (H), June 15; Lancs, T20 (H), June 17

Durham find a rich seam

After a bruising few years, the spirit is back at Durham. A proud club from one of the game’s most fertile regions has been reenergised by the new conference system and the chance to pi themselves against some of the best four-day teams in the business. A stinging reversal against Essex in round two after dominating the first half of the match could have blunted the mood, but an innings win soon followed against Warwickshire, with victory crafted by the club’s enviable seam attack –a collection of quicks as good as any in the county game. We asked James Franklin, the club’s director of cricket, to talk us through his arsenal.

BRYDON CARSE: “He’s exciting, and this season his performances reflect that. South Africa-born but he’s been around the set-up for a good few years now. He doesn’t want to get ahead of himself but he’s got everything there: height, athleticism, raw pace, and as a batter he’s exciting as well. He needs to help Durham win games and then if he’s recognised for higher stuff – and he has been, with England Lions already looking at him – then great.” 2021 standout: 3-37 and 5-82 against Essex at Chelmsford, with his five-for completed with an injured foot – make that 19 wickets in his first three matches.

CHRIS RUSHWORTH: “Our attack leader, what he’s done speaks for itself. One of the county game’s best seamers. He’s been phenomenal for us.” 2021 standout: 6-58 versus Derbyshire, on a flat one.

BEN RAINE: “There’s depth there now, which you need to survive the treadmill nature of the season. Against Warwickshire we had to leave out Paul Coughlin and Matt Salisbury, who have been great for us, to bring in Ben. He’s a similar bowler to Chris – I’m sure the two were separated at birth – and he was brilliant against Warwickshire. I think he had figures of 5-3 at one stage! 2021 standout: Day one, the Riverside, against an in-form Warwickshire, and figures to dream of: 13-8-9-5.

MARK WOOD: “Warwickshire was his first Championship game since I arrived at the club. It’s been great to have him involved. His pace was up and he got through 27 overs, which felt about right – we didn’t want to overburden him. He’ll play a second game for us and then we’ll wait to hear from the ECB as to whether we can get one more out of him, but ultimately Woody knows himself that regular performances for Durham will help his chances of making the Test squad.” 2021 standout: 3-28 versus Warwickshire, clean-bowling two of the top six in his first spell.

  PW

BELOW: Sam Cook has taken 113 firstclass wickets at 21.07 for Essex

Essex

NEXT MATCHES: Warks, CC (H), May 20-23; Durham, CC (A), May 27-30; Notts, CC (H), June 3-6; Som, T20 (A), June 9; Hants, T20 (H), June 11; Glam, T20 (A), June 13; Sussex, T20 (H), June 15

Cook bringing the house down

It’s been a testing month for the champions. A first defeat in 22 first-class matches, coming against Warwickshire, was greeted with the usual entreaties to keep things in perspective, but when Notts handed them an innings defeat two weeks later the narrative began to take hold: Essex, so dominant for the last two seasons, were listing.

The Notts defeat was marked by two factors. Concerningly the batsmen put up another sub-par first-innings score, rattled for the second time in four games for under 100. Alastair Cook endured a match to forget, leaving his average from five matches at 28, while Tom Westley, having played stylishly for a double hundred and 115 in the two draws versus Worcestershire, was nicked off for a pair of singles.

The other difference at Trent Bridge was the absence of Sam  Cook, their broad-shouldered attack leader, rested after four consecutive games. It has been a swift rise for the seamer, who emerged during the club’s extraordinary run to the title in 2017 before taking down Kent in a famous turnaround two years later with a second-innings 7-23. England Lions came calling last year, and may well do again.

With 18 wickets from four games, ‘Little Chef’ (work it out) has been Essex’s bowler of the season so far.

“And to have taken some of those on docile, flat pitches is a good sign for me,” he tells WCM. “In the past people might have thought I needed assistance from the pitch to take my wickets, but adapting your skills to stay effective wherever you play is part and parcel of the game.”