All posts by 234Radio

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Edgbaston (day two)

class=”ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3″>Warwickshire 93: O’Neill 5-19, Hutton 5-38

Nottinghamshire 204-5: Hameed 75*

Nottinghamshire (3 pts) lead Warwickshire (1 pt) by 111 runs with five wickets remaining.

Top-drawer seam bowling by Fergus O’Neill and Brett Hutton put Nottinghamshire in command against Warwickshire on the second day of their County Championship at Edgbaston.

Aussie import O’Neill took 5-19 and Hutton 5-38 as the home side floundered to 93 all out.

Only Sam Hain (43) offered sustained resistance as the visitors rapaciously made up for time lost on the first day when just 56 balls were bowled.

Nottinghamshire than advanced to 204-5 by the close of the second day with captain Haseeb Hameed carrying his team’s reply with an adamantine unbeaten 75.

When they passed Warwickshire’s total for the loss of just one wicket, a mighty lead beckoned and, though the home bowlers struck back with four wickets in the last session, Hameed’s side remains very strongly placed.

Nottinghamshire’s cricket in a first session trimmed at both ends by rain was exemplary. Warwickshire resumed on 34-2 then scored 58 for five in 24. 2 overs before lunch against an attack that applied relentless pressure.

Overnight pair Hamza Shaikh and Hain took the score to 60 but five wickets then fell for 31 runs in 13. 5 overs.

Shaikh left a gap between bat and pad and Hutton found it to bowl him. Dan Mousley did the same and O’Neill powered an in-ducker on to off-stump. When Ed Barnard drove hard at the Aussie, Freddie McCann held a screamer at second slip.

Hain, a habitual plunderer of Nottinghamshire with an average of 59. 7 against them across the formats, batted with as much assurance as possible in tough conditions but then copped a ferocious in-ducker from O’Neill and fell lbw.

After another rapid delivery ripped out Michael Booth’s off-stump, O’Neill lunched on 12. 4-4-19-4.

From 92-7 at lunch, Warwickshire swiftly declined to 93 all out as both bowlers completed five-fors.

Lady Luck then shone on Nottinghamshire as their reply began in the game’s first two hours of sunshine.

Hameed and Ben Slater (40) took advantage to raise 50 in 67 balls and 81 in 87 before Slater was lbw to Bamber on the stroke of tea.

In the last session, the Bears’ bowlers, without building the same pressure as their Notts counterparts, struck sporadically.

McCann nicked Fernando behind, Joe Clarke edged Booth to third slip and Josh Haynes fell lbw to Olly Hannon-Dalby, providing the Yorkshireman’s 332nd wickets in his 100th first class match for county.

Kyle Verreynne contributed a punchy 29 before top-edging a pull at Booth to deep square-leg but Hameed’s concentration was total and his true captain’s innings kept his side emphatically on top.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Venue: Jeddah Date: 20 April Race start: 18:00 BST

Championship leader Lando Norris crashed out of qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and will start 10th as Max Verstappen beat the Briton’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to pole position.

Verstappen in his Red Bull pipped Piastri by 0. 01 seconds to take his second pole position of the year in scintillating style.

Mercedes’ George Russell was third, split from team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Norris’ crash interrupted the first runs of all his rivals in Q3 apart from Piastri, who laid down a marker just before his team-mate lost control over the kerb at Turn Five and slid sideways into the wall.

When the session resumed, Verstappen went out on his semi-used tyres and took over top spot in his Red Bull from Piastri by just 0. 001secs.

The four-time world champion came straight back in to switch to fresh tyres and, while he warmed up, first Russell – and then Piastri – took top spot.

But Verstappen signalled his intent with a blistering first sector, 0. 123secs quicker than Piastri. Although the Australian was quicker in both the second and third sectors, the Dutchman had done enough to grab pole.

Verstappen said: “I definitely didn’t expect to be on pole here but the car came alive in the night and it was a lot more enjoyable to drive. The grip was coming to me. Around here a qualifying lap is extremely difficult. It is really satisfying.

“Tomorrow in the race it will be tough to keep them behind but we are going to give it a good go. “

Piastri said: “Max has done a good job, another high-speed circuit for them, where they seem to have a little more success. Our pace is good. It’s going to be a tough race, the tyres are softer than last year and we’ll see if that plays to our advantage. “

Norris will have to rely on the strong race pace of the McLaren to try to limit the damage to his championship position, as he starts the race three points clear of Piastri and eight in front of Verstappen.

His accident was caused by him misjudging the entry to the chicane at Turns Four and Five. The car oversteered on to the kerb at Five and was flicked into the wall on the exit, damaging the left-hand side of the car.

He swore over the radio that he was an “idiot”, but was unhurt.

Gallagher Premiership

Saracens (12) 36

Tries: Segun, Tompkins, Dan 2, Gonzalez, George Cons: Burke 3

Gloucester (14) 14

Saracens produced a powerful second-half performance to beat Gloucester and climb into the Premiership’s top four.

Trailing by two points at the interval, the hosts scored 24 unanswered points to take the game beyond their opponents with two tries from Theo Dan, an individual score from Juan Martin Gonzalez and one from Jamie George.

In the first half, Rotimi Segun and Nick Tomkins had crossed for Saracens, but scores from Chris Harris and Santi Carreras had edged the visitors in front.

But the champions of two years ago were unstoppable after the break as they moved level on points with third-placed Sale with this bonus-point success.

In search of their first top-four finish for six years, George Skivington’s Cherry and Whites have been the great entertainers this season and that was evident with their first try.

From inside their own half, they put together a flowing move which ended with Jacob Morris’ directing a grubber-kick perfectly into the path of Harris to score.

But it needed little time for them to respond thanks to the dancing feet of Segun as he grabbed a loose ball and sidestepped his way to the line.

And when Tompkins burst onto Fergus Burke’s short pass in midfield, the Wales centre showed nice footwork and balance to go over.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall made no secret of his decision to prioritise making the top four over success in Europe and his England contingent were all back for this one.

That showed in the second period as their forwards – with Maro Itoje, Ben Earl and Tom Willis all in from the start having missed the Champions Cup exit to Toulon – made a massive difference.

Dan’s try from a driving maul put Sarries back in front and a carbon copy move shortly after ended with the same result and a second try for the hooker.

Gloucester had little answer as Argentina flanker Gonzalez and then George put the gloss on the scoreline, with the former England captain, finishing like a winger after great work from his Red Rose successor, Itoje, in stealing a lineout.

It is the first time since January that Saracens have been in the play-off spots but suggested they are coming into form at the right time.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

“There was a lot of good stuff in the first half but we missed a couple of opportunities, which was a shame.

“Second half, there were a few key lineouts that hurt us. We’ve got to have a little look at a few areas where we weren’t clinical enough and lineout is definitely top of the list.

Saracens: Daly; Elliott, Tompkins, Hartley, Segun; Burke, van Zyl; Mawi, Dan, Riccioni, Itoje, Isiekwe, McFarland, Earl, Willis.

Replacements: George, Carre, Clarey, Tizard, Christie, Gonzalez, Bracken, Goode.

Gloucester: Carreras; Barton, Harris, S Atkinson, Morris, Anscombe, T Williams; Rapava-Ruskin, Singleton, Fasagbon, Clark, F Thomas, Clement, Ludlow, Ackermann.

Replacements: Blake, Ford-Robinson, Gotovtsev, Jordan, Clarke, Englefield, C Atkinson, Cotgreave.