Coad wins second Div 1 Player of the Week

Yorkshire seamer Ben Coad beat stiff competition to be crowned Division One’s Player of the Week for the second time this season for his superb bowling performance in the Roses clash against Lancashire.

The contenders:

Sean Ervine - Hampshire
203 & 3-22 v Warwickshire

Hampshire managed to beat Warwickshire and the weather in one fell swoop to go top of Division One this week. Victory was in no small part thanks to Sean Ervine’s mammoth knock as his double century helped Hampshire reach a first innings total of 515. Ervine then chipped in with a couple of vital wickets on the final day to help his team wrap up an innings win in the nick of time.

Ben Coad - Yorkshire
6-25 & 2-34 v Lancashire

Ben Coad’s superb start to the season continued apace as the young Yorkshireman picked up his career-best figures of 6-25 in a Roses thrashing at Headingley. Tall, quick and menacing, Coad had the Lancashire batsmen on the back foot from the off: a blistering seven-over spell concluded with four wickets for just 16 runs, including three scalps in seven unplayable balls. The 23-year-old followed up with two more wickets in the second innings to take his tally to 31 for the season.

Dean Elgar - Somerset
158 & 33 v Middlesex

Somerset were indebted to opener Dean Elgar’s record sixth-wicket stand with Lewis Gregory as both batsmen scored centuries to rescue their side from 80-6 in the first innings against champions Middlesex. Elgar’s season-best score of 158 and Gregory’s maiden ton (137) ensured Somerset made it to 443-9d in the first innings and effectively salvaged the draw.

Adam Lyth - Yorkshire
100 v Lancashire

In a low-scoring match where the pitch proved to be a constant menace, Yorkshire opener Adam Lyth was the only man to reach three figures. In fact, the game’s second-highest score was just 47. Lyth’s battling 234-ball century was an astonishing feat of concentration and discipline in such testing conditions, and led Yorkshire on their way to a hard-fought 10-wicket win.