County Championship round-ups by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	County Ground, Derby, County Ground, Northampton, County Ground, New Road, Worcester, Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street
Scorecard:	Derbyshire v Glamorgan, Northamptonshire v Surrey, Worcestershire v Sussex, Durham v Lancashire
Player:	JWM Dalrymple, U Afzaal, MH Yardy, SJ Harmison, A Flintoff

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DateLine: 13th June 2009

 

On a wicket that offered enough assistance to the faster men, eighteen wickets tumbled as the county champions, Durham, pressed for lead. It was a day for the battle between the two England team-mates—Harmison and Flintoff, and in the end both of them emerged with their reputations intact. By the close of the second day, Durham had collapsed to 122 for 6 in their second innings, but still held an important lead of 250. Andrew Flintoff was right on the money when he bowled as he ended the day with extraordinary figures of 1 for 17 in his 12 overs.

 

Michael Yardy, Sussex’s new skipper, completed his second ton in four days to capitalise on a toothless Worcestershire attack. Yardy’s 152 was his highest championship score in four season as he cut and cover drove impressively in a fluent innings and was happy to play supporting roles to Chris Nash and Matt Prior who hammered aggressive half centuries. Yardy was caught behind three balls after he completed his 150.

 

Usman Afzaal piled misery on Northamptonshire as Surrey ended day two with a mammoth 219-run lead, Afzaal made an unbeaten 156. Surrey ended day two on 428 for seven. Northamptonshire's bowlers performed as disappointingly as their batsmen on the opening day, with only three wickets falling all day - the pick of which were seamer David Lucas' dismissals of Jonathan Batty and Chris Schofield. Surrey started the day on 113 for four, responding to 209 all out.

 

Jamie Dalrymple continued his impressive run of form as he celebrated his third century of the season. The Glamorgan skipper’s century rescued his team after they had slumped to 118 for five in reply to Derbyshire's 307. Glamorgan recovered to close on 225 for six, 82 runs behind. Dalrymple has been a thorn in Derbyshire's side this summer, also scoring two fifties in one-day games against them, and he again stood in their way as he and Rees rebuilt the innings. Rees faced 105 balls for his 42 but in the penultimate over before he tea, he was lbw pushing forward to the off-spin of Greg Smith.