LVCC Review: Dawson and Lees break records in first round with Kookaburra ball

Division One:
Essex 457 & 85/1 beat Warwickshire 158 & 381 by nine wickets
Hampshire 419 beat Middlesex 150 & 208 by an innings and 61 runs
Northamptonshire 237 & 369 lost to Kent 621 by an innings and 15 runs
Somerset 163 & 514/8d beat Nottinghamshire 186 & 92 by 399 runs
Surrey 360 & 84 lost to Lancashire 274 & 293 by 123 runs

Division Two:
Glamorgan 232 & 319 v Sussex 203 & 273/9
Leicestershire 422 & 259/8 v Durham 517/6d & 343/6d
Worcestershire 237 & 243/6 drew with Derbyshire 578/5d
Yorkshire 550/9d & 200/6d drew with Gloucestershire 464

INTRODUCING: THE KOOKABURRA BALL

"Ideally it could have been done in September or in April or May. But it's part of county cricket and all the vagaries of the game that makes it exciting, interesting and different and we'll embrace it," said Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson.

Sussex quick Nathan McAndrew: "They are completely different balls, behave really differently, the normal Dukes swing a lot more and the Kookaburra doesn’t stay as hard. I was surprised how the ball lost its hardness after 16 to 17 overs."

Middlesex’s Josh de Caires, who bowled 27 overs on the opening day against Hampshire: "I wasn’t expecting to bowl as many overs but the pitch is taking a bit of spin, especially when the ball is a little harder. It was nice to get through a few overs but a shame I couldn’t get a few more wickets. I probably wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t a Kookaburra."

We're through one of two experimental rounds with the Kookaburra ball, rather than the Dukes. The second will be the next matchweek, from 10-13 July, and we'll do a deeper dive into the numbers on display after that. But, at a glance, five of the 12 scores this season over 500 have come in this round. Of those, only Durham got off to a true flier without losing a wicket in those crucial opening exchanges. Elsewhere, Lancashire certainly didn't find the ball too much an impediment, picking up five second innings wickets after the 20th over, albeit in overcast conditions.

BELL-DRUMMOND IN FORM OF HIS LIFE

Few can claim to have has as good a month in their career as Daniel Bell-Drummond has had in June. His Vitality Blast form since the start of the month: 19, 25, 22, 89, 0, 59, 66, 56*, 38, 69*, 111. That's 554 runs at 61.56, and it's form which has propelled Kent Spitfires well into quarter-final contention.

But at The County Ground, Northampton, Bell-Drummond made his white-ball form look mediocre by showing complete dominance against the red one. Across a little more than seven hours' batting, he crashed 300 not out, becoming only the third Kent player to reach a triple hundred in first-class cricket. Bill Ashdown, in 1934 and 1935, and Sean Dickson in 2017 are his peers in that regard.

Bell-Drummond stands as one of the perhaps under-heralded county pros: his first-class career is into its 13th season, and he's approaching 8000 runs at a tick over 34. Since his debut in 2011, only Darren Stevens has more Championship runs for the county. He has shown himself to be as reliable a batter as you can get, and his mammoth knock helped set up a vital victory over Northamptonshire, Kent's second of the season, which puts some daylight between themselves and the relegation spots.

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His work off the field is inspiring too, having set up Platform Cricket back in 2017. Platform's a project which aims to increase participation in cricket in Lewisham, where Bell-Drummond is from, and so far the project has involved over 18,000 children, of which more than 10,000 had never played cricket before, and 76% are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Kent have a fabulous cricketer and a fabulous man. Oh, and they have him for another two seasons.

DIVISION ONE TITLE RACE WIDE OPEN

At The Kia Oval, the direction of travel was almost impossible to keep up with. Surrey were in trouble at 107/5 and 230/9, trailing Lancashire's 274, before Sean Abbott and Dan Worrall crashed a partnership of 130. Few gave Lancashire much hope when they were effectively 59/5 second time, with nightwatcher Will Williams at the crease. And yet his methodical 60, over nearly four hours, set up a defendable target of 208. 

Defend it Lancashire did. Tom Bailey's heroic 11-over spell on the third evening, in bowler-friendly conditions, brought about figures of 4/34. He looked unplayable and, in addition to Bailey claiming his 14th career five-wicket-haul, Williams was similarly brilliant on the fourth morning as Surrey were skittled for 84. They've lost twice since the start of last season, both to the Red Rose. 

On the south coast, they'll wonder if England could overlook Liam Dawson more often. Not selected for the Lord's Test squad ahead of Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson reminded everyone of his credentials: an excellent 141 batting first, before claiming the best match figures of his career, 12/130. Twin six-fers. "Nothing about the Ashes, please," he asked journalists afterwards. Hampshire fans must be thinking the same.

Out in the east, Essex made similarly light work of Warwickshire. Simon Harmer wasn't quite the do-it-all-yourself man Dawson was; hundreds for Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence managed that. But if those batters set up the pins, you can bet Harmer knocked them down. Or, rather, sent them to hand. Nine catches off his bowling, plus one beauty which bowled Michael Burgess on the inside edge, and another pair of five-fers for arguably the world's best spinner.

LEES JOINS EXCLUSIVE CLUB

Only six cricketers have scored twin hundreds in a first-class match for Durham with Alex Lees joining that club at The Uptonsteel County Ground. 

The way Lees batted embodied the way Durham are playing cricket this season, and takes a leaf from the book of their England captain, Ben Stokes. In only four of their 13 team innings this season have they scored at lower than 4.00 an over: the two innings at Leicestershire came at 4.58 and 5.56. 

Lees' centuries came in 146 and 158 balls, respectively, and he looked to take the match away from Leicestershire on the very first morning. They were 54/0 after six overs - perhaps no one had told them it wasn't a Vitality Blast match? - and 150/0 at lunch.

Lees was actually circumspect in comparison to his partner, Michael Jones, who hit a 70-ball 78 in the first innings. Still, Lees was positive and set the platform for Ollie Robinson's second consecutive century, as Durham racked up 517/6d. In a quest to set an unreachable fourth-innings target, Lees struck 14 fours and a six for his 145 (190) - again outpaced by a partner, David Bedingham (145 not out from 133) this time. It wasn't enough for the win as Peter Handscomb's century denied Durham, but magnificent from Lees nonetheless.

POLLOCK'S ELITE ADAPTATION

When many think of Ed Pollock, they'd think first of him as a T20 cricketer. His career strike rate in the format is just under 159 and in his time, first at Birmingham Bears and now at Worcestershire Rapids, he has been renowned as an innovative, aggressive cricketer. 

But on the final day of Worcestershire's match against Derbyshire, with his side needing to bat out the day 271 in arrears, he was asked to play an entirely different role. With Gareth Roderick compiling his ninth first-class century at the other end, he played the ultimate "dig in" knock. At one stage, he had six runs from 119 balls - a strike rate of 5.04. 

Pollock did eventually hit 11 boundaries, upping the tempo to something resembling normality after Roderick's dismissal, and though he eventually skied one to mid off, Worcestershire did salvage the draw.