Exiled Shrimper
Manager
Cricket is often derided as a boring sport. Four-day cricket even more so, but I think the last week of Division One of the County Championship has disproved that.
At the start of play on Wednesday, Lancashire headed the table by 6 points, with a further four sides in with a chance of winning the title (due to the bonus point system, only two of these, Durham and Sussex, were in with a realistic shout).
By Friday evening, Durham stood on the cusp of their first ever Championship title in just their 16th season as a major county, having wrapped up their match against Kent inside two-and-a-half days. Sussex needed 5 wickets to beat Worcestershire and Lancashire, incredibly, looked out of it at 27-0 chasing 489 to win on the last day against Surrey, cricket's version of the Harlem Globetrotters, at The Oval.
At lunchtime today, Sussex had beaten whipping boys Worcestershire at Hove by an innings, promoting them above Durham in the table. However, by tea Lancashire were 300-3, only 190 short of their target.
Going into the final half-hour of the season, Lancashire required 41 to win from 8 overs with 2 wickets, including former England all-rounder Dominic Cork, remanining. But they eventually were dismissed for 464, an unbelievable total in the final innings, even on a batting track like The Oval, just 25 runs short, handing the title to Sussex, and missing out on their first outright success in 74 years.
At the start of play on Wednesday, Lancashire headed the table by 6 points, with a further four sides in with a chance of winning the title (due to the bonus point system, only two of these, Durham and Sussex, were in with a realistic shout).
By Friday evening, Durham stood on the cusp of their first ever Championship title in just their 16th season as a major county, having wrapped up their match against Kent inside two-and-a-half days. Sussex needed 5 wickets to beat Worcestershire and Lancashire, incredibly, looked out of it at 27-0 chasing 489 to win on the last day against Surrey, cricket's version of the Harlem Globetrotters, at The Oval.
At lunchtime today, Sussex had beaten whipping boys Worcestershire at Hove by an innings, promoting them above Durham in the table. However, by tea Lancashire were 300-3, only 190 short of their target.
Going into the final half-hour of the season, Lancashire required 41 to win from 8 overs with 2 wickets, including former England all-rounder Dominic Cork, remanining. But they eventually were dismissed for 464, an unbelievable total in the final innings, even on a batting track like The Oval, just 25 runs short, handing the title to Sussex, and missing out on their first outright success in 74 years.