Archive May 4, 2025

Emirates Old Trafford, Division Two, Rothesay County Championship (day three)

Lancashire 450: Harris 167, Singh Dale 3-67

Gloucestershire 589-8: O Price 253*, Hammond 97, Bailey 2-67

By 139 runs, Gloucestershire (5 pts) surpassed Lancashire (4 pts) by 5 runs.

Ollie Price added a career-best 253 runs before the county championship match at Old Trafford, making him the third Gloucestershire batsman in history to score a double-century against Lancashire.

The visitors finished with a score of 450, which is the highest level in first-class matches between these two teams, and they were 589-8 at the final whistle.

However, the game looks very likely to end in a draw shortly after tea on Monday, excluding collapses on this flat pitch.

None of which should diminish Price’s accomplishments, who reached his 200th wicket 40 minutes into the evening session off John Turner and was congratulated by his older brother Tom, who matched him with 72 for the seventh wicket.

Ollie Price made a double-century against Lancashire after facing 358 balls and hitting 28 fours. He follows in the footsteps of Charlie Barnett and Wally Hammond.

In 1938, Hammond was the last to surpass Hammond in this feat, and he also recorded two more double hundreds in opposition to the Red Rose.

However, Lancashire’s bowlers had a difficult day in the dirt. Tom Hartley finished with 2-149 from 44 overs, Tom Bailey took two wickets, George Balderson took his second wicket of the day, and Tom Bailey took two more.

Miles Hammond lost his middle stump to Bailey when he was three runs short of his century in the morning session, scoring 112 runs in 29 overs for Gloucestershire.

With a single off Bailey, Hammond’s 203-run partnership with Ollie Price, who had already reached three figures two overs prior, was ended by that dismissal.

On the way to his century, Price faced 208 balls and hit 14 fours while being 114 not out at lunch, Gloucestershire were 296-3.

Lancashire took three more wickets in the afternoon, but they were unable to stop their rivals, who had only allowed 17 runs in arrears at the start of the session.

Cameron Green was bowled by a good ball from Bailey for eight, James Bracey was squandered by Keaton Jennings for 44, and Marcus Harris was squirted off Balderson for 13 by a diving Marcus Harris.

After a 35-over session in which Lancashire used seven bowlers, Price was unbeaten on 181 at tea.

Ollie Price, who had a double century in the evening session, was the star, but Turner eventually dismissed his brother Tom after he could only glove a skillfully angled bouncer into Jennings’ slip.

In the closing moments of the day, Price, Zaman Akhter, and Price flogged the exhausted bowlers in total, with Akhter scoring 25 before Hartley bowled him.

With over 490 pitches in their first innings this season, Gloucestershire has allowed all three visiting teams to bat once more, with no need to bat a second time.

The Blaze defeated Hampshire to take the women’s One-Day Cup title, thanks to Tammy Beaumont’s unbeaten century.

With seven wickets in hand at Trent Bridge, the England opener chased down a modest target of 190 with 112 from 113 balls.

They defeated previous leaders Hampshire and Lancashire, who lost by five wickets to Essex, who won their first game, to claim a third straight victory.

In another game, Somerset defeated Durham in a rain-affected game to move up to second place, while Warwickshire edged past Surrey despite Sophia Dunkley’s ton.

Hampshire finished the matchup unbeaten at Trent Bridge, but Sarah Glenn, England’s leg-spinner, took three wickets (36) to send Hampshire down from 62-1 to 101-5.

Ella McCaughan, the opener, hit 57 from their 50 overs, but a sluggish Blaze attack snuck in Kathryn Bryce’s 10 overs, which were just 22 runs short.

The chase entered early jeopardy at 33-3 when Lauren Bell cheaply removed both Kathryn and Sarah Bryce.

Before Chloe Skelton’s 3-16 loss, 89 off 94 balls from captain Hollie Armitage gave the Durham bowlers something to work with, Ellie Anderson (3-49) had the hosts struggling at 49-4.

Rebecca Odgers, Somerset opener, hit 60 runs before Katie Levick (2-33), who added a run-a-ball 68 before falling to Fran Wilson.

With nine balls to go, Amanda Jade-Wellington fought back to win by four wickets using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

Emma Lamb and Eve Jones combined for a 106-run opening stand at Chelmsford, continuing her strong early-season form with 43 off 53 balls.

But from 133-1, Essex’s Kate Coppack (2-39) and Abtaha Maqsood (3-42) restricted the visitors to 230-8.

Hannah Jones and Lamb made 3-39 and 2-39 in the reply, but Jodi Grewcock’s well-paced, undefeated 73, following Alice Macleod’s 45 from 47 balls, gave the hosts their maiden victory with 16 balls to go.

As Surrey piled up 313-7 at Beckenham, skipper Bryony Smith stroked 14 fours in a 72-ball 78 before England’s Dunkley added a six and seven fours in an unbeaten 102.

Natasha Wraith kept the momentum going with 54 deliveries, set the pace for the Warwickshire reply, and Natasha Perrin did so with 69 less than a run-a-ball.

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton (day three)

Essex 206 & 259: Cox 103* (retired hurt); Pretorius 3-36

Somerset 145 & 216-6: Rew 65*; Harmer 3-80

Somerset (3 pts) need 105 more runs to beat Essex (3 pts)

An injury to centurion Jordan Cox marred a strong Essex display on the third day of the County Championship Division One match with Somerset at Taunton.

Fresh from his recall to the England squad, Cox extended his overnight score of 61 to an unbeaten 103 as his side stretched their second innings total from 163-4 to 259 all out.

But he retired hurt immediately on reaching three figures, having collapsed clutching his lower left side after taking the single that put him on 99.

Cox took no further part in the Essex innings and was replaced in the field when Somerset began their quest for 321 to win on a pitch still offering assistance to seam and spin.

They closed on 216-6, Lewis Gregory making 57 and James Rew 65 not out.

The first hour’s play saw Cox and Michael Pepper build rapidly on the Essex overnight advantage of 224.

Cox reverse swept Jack Leach for boundaries off successive deliveries before greeting the introduction of Craig Overton with a glorious extra cover drive for four. Pepper leant good support and the pair had taken the total to 234-4 when misfortune struck.

Cox had been in some discomfort and the quick single off Leach on the cusp of his ton ended with him prostrate the bowler’s end. After several minutes of treatment, he was helped to his feet, but he continued only long enough to slog-sweep Leach for four and complete a 155-ball hundred.

Pepper glanced a four off Overton to take the lead past 300, but on 36 became the first of three victims in quick succession for Migael Pretorius, leg before on the back foot.

Noah Thain edged to wicketkeeper Rew, while Sam Cook top-edged a pull shot to be caught at fine leg. Leach weighed in with the wickets of Kasun Rajitha and Simon Harmer as Essex plunged from 252-4 to 259 all out.

A lead of 321 still looked secure enough on a pitch which had aided bowlers from the first morning. So it appeared, as Somerset’s fragile top order misfired again, leaving the 91-5 at tea.

Andy Umeed edged a catch to second slip off Jamie Porter to depart without a run on the board and soon it was eight for two as Archie Vaughan top-edged a shot to leg off Cook to give a simple catch to mid-wicket.

Harmer was introduced from eighth over and struck first with the total on 54, Tom Lammonby falling lbw for 30 to a ball that turned past the left-hander’s forward defensive shot and struck his back pad.

Tom Abell played well to reach 29 before a sharply turning delivery from Harmer nipped back to clip his off stump and make it 71-5.

With only seven runs added, Tom Banton, on 13, went to reverse sweep the spinner and was judged to have got a touch on the way to the ball reaching Dean Elgar at slip, a decision which clearly frustrated the Somerset player.

Skipper Gregory and Rew were unbeaten at the tea interval and both came out for the final session in positive mood.

Anything remotely loose was punished mercilessly with boundaries in a counter-attacking partnership that only served to highlight previous batting inadequacies. Gregory raced to a half-century off 80 balls, with seven fours.

Rew was equally impressive and was unbeaten on 37 when his captain brought up the 100 stand with a flashing cut for four off Rajitha. But the same over saw Gregory attempt another back-foot forcing shot only to get a thick inside edge onto his stumps.

Rew’s 10th four, guided to third-man off Cook, brought up a fluent fifty off 91 balls and the Somerset 200.

He was still there at the close with a further 105 needed against a refreshed attack and the second new ball tomorrow.

The angst of a football manager’s life was writ large over Barry Ferguson’s contorted frame in the dying seconds of the last Old Firm derby of the season.

A Rangers throw-in down the Celtic end and an opportunity for James Tavernier to hurl one towards the box in the hope of something happening to turn a 1-1 draw into a win.

Instead, Hamza Igamane gets it and flings it back towards his own goal, whereupon Rangers are mugged and Celtic are away. Daizen Maeda, their principal goalscorer all season, is scampering into the Rangers penalty area – and Ferguson is practically jumping out of his own skin in frustration.

Gesticulating madly, he’s like a man who’s been given electric shock treatment. From the gantry up above, you could almost feel his pain.

Celtic blew that moment, of course, but in real time you’d have bet money on Maeda picking out Johnny Kenny for a fairly routine tap-in winner.

In the wake of Philippe Clement’s demise, Ferguson and his coaches – Billy Dodds, Neil McCann and Allan McGregor – were sent into Ibrox as some kind of survival experts, but it hasn’t worked. Too many ills, too much damage done before they arrived, too little time to work on a solution.

You sense Ferguson has dedicated all his waking hours to this cause, that he’s emptied himself into the role with abandon. He’s spoken brilliantly, he’s sent out all the right messages, he’s practically tattooed the word BELIEVE on his forehead in an attempt to drag his players out their torpor.

It’s not been enough to address the bizarre contradictions at the heart of this team, a gang of players with a twin personality; confident and dangerous against good teams, afflicted by uncertainty and impotence against supposedly inferior opposition.

Rangers have gone away to Fenerbahce and won a Europa League match but have been knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Queen’s Park, the eighth-best team in the Championship.

Under Ferguson, they’ve beaten Brendan Rodgers’ runaway champions in their own backyard at Celtic Park (scoring three times) and yet they’ve lost at home to Queen’s Park, St Mirren and Motherwell (scoring once), though only the latter fixture was on Ferguson’s watch.

They reached the last eight in Europe but haven’t won in seven games at Ibrox. They’ve lost one in four in the league against Celtic, but they’re 17 points behind them. They’ve outscored Celtic 7-6 in Old Firm games, but Celtic can’t even see them in their rear-view mirror.

Across the span of the league, Rangers’ record against Celtic is markedly better than their record against St Mirren, who are sixth. They’ve dropped as many points against Hibernian, Aberdeen and Motherwell as they have against Rodgers’ serial league winners. Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur only got a draw against them in Europe. Seven different domestic teams (including cup ties) have beaten them.

The fans have repeatedly turned on Cyriel Dessers, who has now scored 25 goals this season and has 47 goals in 107 games, while giving little of the same kind of vitriol to Danilo, who they signed for £6m for a return (when fit) of 12 in 46.

Rangers were combative on Sunday, as predicted. They were fired up and, at times, threatening. Nothing about that was surprising. They scored first. Again, it wasn’t a shock-horror moment. They’ve now taken the lead in four Old Firm games in a row.

The puzzle about how they can look pretty coherent in these games and look so bereft in others remains unsolved. Yes, they have more freedom to play when up against strong opposition who don’t resort to the low block to frustrate them, but that only goes a certain part of the way in explaining the vast disparity in performances.

How can you go toe-to-toe with the likely Europa League finalists Spurs and Manchester United – scoring in both, drawing one and losing the other to a late, late goal – and yet fall in a goalless heap against teams with a fraction of your playing resources and questionable defensive records?

At their worst this season, Rangers have lacked nous, steel, pace, leadership, creativity, goals from midfield, apart from Vaclav Cerny, and goals from a striker other than Dessers.

All four of Celtic’s starting defenders on Sunday have scored more times this season than Conor Barron, who’s on zero. Liam Scales, a centre-half, has as many as Nico Raskin, a defensive midfielder.

Of the XIs who began at Ibrox, Rangers had two players in double figures for the season, Celtic had five – and that was with Nicolas Kuhn injured and Kyogo Furuhashi sold. Luke McCowan, an unused substitute on the day, has scored more goals than seven of Rangers’ outfield starters.

Despite all of this, they can live with Celtic on any given day. They just can’t live with the pressure of should-win and must-win games.

We’re told none of this is lost on the prospective new owners. They know the team and its foibles, they know the Scottish landscape and who dominates it, they know the distance they must travel across some rocky terrain and they know every inch of progress is going to be hard-won.

Rangers are capable of flash-in-the-pan performances, like Sunday and the other ones that went before against Celtic, but there’s an empty feeling, an irrelevance when you suspect their next slip is just days away.