Middlesex v Derbyshire, Essex v Durham and more: county cricket – live

Gary Naylor with the latest what’s what and who’s who in the Blast.

A sun-dappled walk around Division One after half an hour:

Durham are 30-0 at Chelmsford after winning the toss.

Kent, shorn of Zak Crawley, have made a better start than usual at 32-1 against Lancashire.

Craig Overton has just bowled HH for 15, Notts 26-1.

Olly Hannon-Dalby grabs an early Hampshire wicket, Albert for five.

And Rory Burns falls to the third ball of the day at New Road, but Ollie Pope and Dom Sibley have already hit a couple of boundaries each in their own distinctive ways. Surrey 29-1.

Middlesex found themselves in further hot water when they were charged by the The Cricket Regulator on Friday with a “breach of ECB Directive 3.3” The allegations, against CFO Illa Sharma, include an incident when the club mascot Pinky The Panther was groped at a Blast game in 2022.

Reminded from BTL that Durham’s Brydon Carse is currently serving a three month ban from cricket for betting on games.

While Zak Chapple is terrifying the Middx batters, a beer festival buzzes for the duration of this game in the Coronation Gardens: “real ale in casks to craft beer on tap from breweries around London.”

Oh dear, Sam Robson goes for 0.

Made it just in time to the Lord’s press box where there is cucumber in the iced water and the coffee is strong. Middlesex won the toss and chose to bat, as, around the grounds, did Northants, Hampshire, Notts and Durham.

Some rotten news from Gloucestershire last week:

Just pips USA beating Pakistan as the surprise of the World Cup:

DIVISION ONE

Chelmsford: Essex v Durham

Canterbury: Kent v Lancashire

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Somerset

Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Hampshire

New Road: Worcestershire v Surrey

DIVISION TWO

Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan v Northamptonshire

Lord’s: Middlesex v Derbyshire

Hove: Sussex v Leicestershire

Scarborough: Yorkshire v Gloucestershire

Good midsummer morning! I should be at Lord’s with a coffee in one hand and a scorecard in the other, but Sunday service on South West trains means I’m currently chugging towards Waterloo. Should be there for the toss…

But enough of that, welcome to this two round trifle of county cricket when the sun is high and the nights short. Enough to top up your red ball temperature during a continuous diet of the T20 World Cup and Vitality Blast.

Lots to look forward to – Yorkshire take on Gloucestershire at sunny Scarborough, table-toppers Surrey visit New Road where Shoaib Bashir is on loan to Worcestershire, Jimmy Anderson doesn’t make his return at Canterbury where Lancashire are hoping to reboot their red-ball season and Surrey-chasers Essex entertain Durham.

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