Englandwatch: Matthew Potts bounces back, Sam Hain continues to shine
After the latest round of the County Championship, we take a look at how recent England Test players and a few select others performed.
Dan Lawrence – Essex
61 & 13 v Yorkshire
In a low-scoring thriller at Headingley – Essex won by one wicket chasing 163 after they’d been reduced to 93-7 – Lawrence top-scored for his side in their first-innings total of 225.
Sam Cook – Essex
3-31 & 2-45 v Yorkshire
Cook’s fantastic season continues; his match haul took him past the landmark of 200 first-class wickets, with his career average now sitting at a lowly 19.59.
Rory Burns – Surrey
10 & 1 v Northants
A quiet match for the opener. Table-toppers Surrey were frustrated by a fine third-innings hundred from Saif Zaib that secured a draw. There was still time on the final day for Surrey to have a bat, but Burns was run out for 1.
Dom Sibley – Warwickshire
5 & 54 v Somerset
Sibley is into his last few weeks as a Warwickshire player, with the opener to return to Surrey ahead of next season. Before then he’ll be hoping to rescue Warwickshire from the prospect of relegation; they currently sit second-bottom, level with third-bottom Kent on 115 points. The Bears finished on 256-6 in their final innings against Somerset, with Sibley one of three half-centurions in an unsuccessful chase of 364.
Sam Hain – Warwickshire
67 & 52* v Somerset
Hain reeled off two half-centuries in the match; he has reached fifty in more than half his innings in this year’s Championship. He played List-A cricket for the Lions earlier this summer but is developing strong red-ball credentials, too; since the start of the 2019 summer he averages 47.84 in first-class cricket after 43 matches.
Matthew Potts – Durham
6-52 & 7-49 v Leicestershire
Left out of England’s XI for the final two Tests against South Africa, Potts made a spectacular return to the shires, finishing with a new career-best match-haul of 13-101. Despite having played just eight matches, Potts is the joint-second leading wicket-taker in Division Two and has 69 first-class wickets this summer at 20.37.
