First-Class Counties Second Eleven Annual 2018

4 REVIEW OF THE SEASON Hello and welcome to the review of the 2017 season. Once again, the three major honours were shared around and involved battles between North and South. The County Championship went to Lancashire. This was their fifth success and their first outright success since 1997, although they did share the title with Middlesex in 2013 when rain prevented a result in the play-off match. Rain once again interfered with the final, for the first time played on the Isle of Wight as Hampshire played Lancashire. Lancashire had built a lead of 104 on first innings and had reduced Hampshire to 66/6 in their second innings when rain washed out the final day. Lancashire were awarded the title. The One-Day Trophy also saw a north/south contest as Yorkshire took on Middlesex at Headingley. Yorkshire batted first and had reached 265/5 in 38.4 overs when the third rain interruption ended the innings. DLS dictated that Middlesex’s target would be 279 runs to win from 38 overs and it looked likely that they may well have got there, as Nick Compton ensured that the chase maintained a rate of almost eight runs per over. But he and Rob White departed and a rebuild was required. A recovery was underway , until, at 162/5, Yorkshire’s off-spinner, Jack Shutt from Barnsley came on to bowl and finished the innings in 21 deliveries, returning 4/19, a performance which won him the Second XI Performance of the Year trophy at Yorkshire’s end-of-season Gala Dinner. It was Yorkshire’s fourth win of the Trophy and their first since 2009. The T20 competition saw Sussex beat Hampshire in the final, after Lancashire and Yorkshire had lost in the Semi-Finals. Sussex batted first and ran up 171/6. They then dismissed Hampshire for 147, to win by 22 runs, their second success in this format, having won the inaugural tournament in 2011. It was Yorkshire’s first appearance at Finals Day. Two statistical oddities have occurred during the 2017 season. Firstly, several players have exactly equalled their personal bests with either bat or ball and these instances are all noted in the individual player biographies. The second matter concerns the number of players who have been left either high and dry on 99* or who were dismissed agonizingly short of the magic three figures on 99. With due thanks to Philip Bailey, who compiled the information below, I list these unfortunates. SCORE PLAYER & CLUB OPPONENTS VENUE COMPETITION 99* J A Stamatis (Essex) Hampshire Ageas Bowl Championship Nursery 99* J J Bohannon (Lancashire) Worcestershire Great Crosby Championship 99 C J Basey (Kent) Surrey Beckenham Championship 99 AMAli (Leicestershire) Worcestershire New Road Championship 99 S M Imtiaz (MCC YC) Lancashire Urmston CC Championship 99 J L Lawlor (Glamorgan) MCC Universities Mumbles Championship 99 T C Lace (Middlesex) Essex Coggeshall Championship