The County Week - June 19-26

Goodwin doubles up and Thorp stars

Andrew McGlashan

June 27, 2006

Cricinfo takes a look back at the week of county action and some of the performances that caught the eye.

Murray Goodwin celebrates his double ton for Sussex as he continues to churn out runs © Getty Images

Bowling of the week - Callum Thorp, v Hampshire
Teams including Shane Warne don't often crash to a three-day defeat, let alone against a bowler who previous had 26 wickets in 16 matches. But Hampshire had no answer to Thorp - who also hit a career-best 74 for good measure - as he twice tore through the batting at The Rose Bowl. His first-innings 6 for 56 turned the match into virtually a one-innings contest then, with Hampshire building their run chase on 71 for 1, he knocked out five wickets in the blink of an eye to rout them for 104.

Team of the week - Lancashire
As the Championship takes its break for the Twenty20, Lancashire sit on top of the pile after a comprehensive 10-wicket win against Middlesex. Throw in the three-wicket win at Edgbaston that secured a C&G final place and it hasn't been a bad week for the men from Manchester. It is all the more impressive given who they are missing from the ranks. Glen Chapple is still recovering from injury, James Anderson has only just come out of his back brace, while Sajid Mahmood is being flogged by the Sri Lankans. But up have stepped the more unheralded names of Kyle Hogg, Steven Croft and Tom Smith to fill the gaps and show the depth of Lancashire's squad.

Aussies wave goodbye...for now
A batch of Australian overseas players took their leave of the county scene after the latest Championship matches had finished to take in the Top End Series in Darwin and Cairns. But most left a lasting impression. Brad Hodge hit a glorious 161 at Lord's, Phil Jaques helped himself to 202 against Northamptonshire and Mark Cosgrove launched 80 off 48 balls before leaving Glamorgan. Given their performances in the first half of the summer we could be seeing a fair bit more of them come the winter. And have no fear, as one Aussie leaves there is always another to replace him. Justin Langer and Andy Bichel have just arrived to begin their county seasons for Somerset and Essex.

Anyone for football, the cricket's finished
There was a certain sporting contest of interest played in Germany on Sunday. The rumour has it that England won and a bloke called David Beckham scored (then threw up on the pitch). Of course, though, the major events were the final round of C&G matches - especially the ones with nothing riding on them - or maybe not. However, one match certainly caught the eye. Gloucestershire and Sussex produced an amazing match at Arundel; Gloucestershire were skittled for 98 then Sussex crashed for 96 and the match was over a little past the halfway mark - and in time for the football. As David Lloyd says: "A quick game's a good game."

England watch
Michael Vaughan suffers a hamstring strain and more problems with his knee..Matthew Hoggard goes wicketless in 22 overs against Sussex...Monty Panesar is taken for 211 in 58 overs as Worcestershire pile up 543

Andrew McGlashan is editorial assistant of Cricinfo

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