By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (April 10^th 2025)

Essex v Surrey

This match was drawn after Essex posted a first innings total above 500. Essex scored 582 for 6 declared in their first innings. Three batsmen hit centuries: Matt Critchley an unbeaten 145 from 261 balls with 17 fours and a six, Jordan Cox 117 from 148 balls with 21 fours and Michael Pepper 109 from 162 balls with 13 fours and a six. Paul Walter was dismissed for 95. He faced 172 balls and hit 14 fours. Dan Lawrence took 3 for 169. James Taylor and Matthew Fisher also conceded over 100 runs.

Surrey made 365 all out in their first innings. Wicketkeeper Ben Foakes made an unbeaten 92 from 191 balls with 10 fours and the skipper Rory Burns made 73 from 171 balls with 10 fours. Simon Harmer took 4 for 83 from 47 overs. Surrey had to follow on. They scored 219 for 6. Foakes was dismissed for 50. Dom Sibley made 66 from 221 balls. Essex used eight bowlers in Surrey’s second innings to no avail.

Hampshire v Yorkshire

Hampshire beat Yorkshire by 5 wickets. Yorkshire made a dismal 121 all out in their first innings. Dawid Malan was run out by Mark Stoneman after top-scoring with 31. Hampshire responded with 249 all out. No batsman scored a half-century – the captain and wicketkeeper Ben Brown was left stranded on 49 not out. George Hill took 3 for 36 from 18.2 overs and Jack White took 3 for 51 from 19.

In their second innings Yorkshire made 275 all out in their second innings, which lasted one ball short of 100 overs. Adam Lyth made a century, 106 from 275 balls with 11 fours. Yorkshire’s skipper and wicketkeeper Johnny Bairstow made 56 from 108 balls with five fours and a six. Brad Wheal was the most successful bowler for Hampshire in this innings – he took 4 for 56 from 19 overs, setting a target of 148 to win, which Hampshire achieved thanks largely to Dom Prest who made 57 from 69 balls with ten fours.

Nottinghamshire v Durham

Nottinghamshire beat Durham by 8 wickets. The visitors batted first, making 378 all out. Colin Ackerman top-scored with 116 from 203 balls. His innings contained 17 fours and a six. The captain and opening batsman, Alex Lees made 52 from 70 balls. Fergus O’Neill took 5 for 81 from 22.5 overs. The hosts responded with a mammoth 579 all out from 155.5 overs. Lyndon James was the last wicket to fall for 125 from 160 balls. He hit 16 fours and a six in his innings. Josh Tongue was ninth man out for 55 from 97 balls – he hit nine boundaries. Ben Slater fell eight short of a century – his 147 balls innings included 19 fours. Freddie McCann hit 79 with ten fours and Matthew Montgomery hit 11 in his 75. Matthew Potts took 4 for 112 from 35 overs. Two other bowlers (Paul Coughlin 2 for 122 from 30 overs and George Drissel 0 for 114 from 36 overs) conceded over a hundred runs – Will Rhodes took 2 for 98 from 15 overs and Ben Raine took 1 for 93 from 33 overs. Ackerman took the final wicket to fall for 22 from 6.5.  overs.

Trailing by 201 on the first innings, Durham made 289 all out led by Ackerman’s century, 124 from 223 balls – he hit 16 fours in that innings. Graham Clark. made 62 from 123 balls with a six and five fours setting a target of 89, which the hosts achieved for the loss of 2 wickets. Joe Clarke made an unbeaten 35 and Haseeb Haseem was 39 not out.

Warwickshire v Sussex

This match was drawn. Sussex made 528 all out in their first innings from 136.3 overs, led by an unbeaten 262-ball 181 which included 28 fours and a six from their captain and wicketkeeper John Simpson and 140 in 279 balls with 19 fours and a six from Tom Clark. Ethan Bamber took 4 for 105 from 30 overs, supported by Taz Ali with 3 for 103 from 24 overs and Ed Barnard with 2 for 109 from 29 overs. Warwickshire scored 454 all out from 113.2 overs. The opening batsmen Rob Yates and Alex Davies put on 116 for the first wicket. Davies fell for 66 from 65 balls with 14 fours. Yates went on to make a 159-ball 115, which included 17 fours. Barnard scored 82 from 136 balls – he hit two sixes and 7 fours – and Dan Mousley hit 63 from 105 balls with a six and 9 fours. Jack Carson took the most wickets, 4 for 92 from 31.2 overs and Jayden Seales was alone in conceding over a hundred, 2 for 112 from 23 overs.

Leading by 76 runs, Sussex scored 313 for 7 from 85 overs before declaring. Tom Alsop top-scored with 82 not out from 131 balls – he hit 12 boundaries. James Coles was next highest scorer with 47, including a six and five fours from 94 balls. Yates took 3 for 79 from 25 overs, setting a target of 390 for Warwickshire in their second innings. Warwickshire made 104 for 2 from 28 overs. Yates hit 13 boundaries in his 82-balls 65 not out. His economy rate improved drastically – Seales took 1 for 10 from 8 overs and honours were shared.[1]

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[1] The other match between Somerset and Worcestershire has already been covered in Records Tumbled Part One at https://empowersmag.com/empowersmagwp/2025/04/11/records-tumbled-part-one/ – it was the match where Tom Banton hit 371 and Brett D’Oliveira responded with a century to help Worcestershire just save the match.