john sweeney

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[Niall John O Brien @niallnobiobrien]

Loved being back on the BBC. Been a while but always love bringing the game to the listeners. Michael is great to work with always has been always will be.

[Martin Shaw @shawma1]

Blackpool, day 3 summary: Kent 178. Lancashire 87. Kent 332. Lancashire 283. Kent win by 140 runs
Kent beat Lancashire by 140 runs during the evening session on day 3 at Blackpool. This was a tremendous performance from Kent who were absolutely outstanding on day 2 to set up the victory, and finished it off on day 3 despite some resistance from the home side.
Kent lost the remaining two wickets for 12 runs at the start of day, thus setting Lancashire 424 to win. That looked a very tall order and my winviz at the time was 95%.
In less favourable bowling conditions than the first innings, Dudgeon and Milnes were unable to make a breakthrough with the new ball.
But Hasan Mahmud, on as first change, had a wicket in his first over when Harry Singh edged and Dawkins took a very good catch at first slip. 19-1
Josh Bohannon hit Hasan Mahmud for 5 fours in an over. Hasan Mahmud then switched ends and induced an edge from Bohannon to Northeast at slip. 58-2.
Marcus Harris joined Keaton Jennings, and almost immediately Harris ran down the wicket to Parkinson, missed and it hit Benjamin on the leg. A tough stumping chance missed.
Both batsmen rode their luck. An example: Jennings edged Hasan Mahmud through the vacant third slip in the air for 4 when third slip had been removed the ball before.
By lunch, Lancashire were 89-2 needing another 335 to win.
Jennings and Harris continued into the afternoon session.
Jennings pulled Parkinson, it hit Finch on the helmet at short leg and looped up, but not to hand. Jennings edged an attempted sweep off Bertie Foreman between keeper and slip, for 4. Harris edged Foreman, Dudgeon at slip did well to get a fingertip to it, but it ran away for 4. Harris edged Foreman but it was short of Dudgeon at slip and ran away for 4. Jennings edged Hasan Mahmud just wide of second slip for 4. In the same over, Hasan beat Jennings twice.
A single for Harris off Hasan Mahmud raised a 100 partnership. Plenty of near misses, but they were still there.
Finally the stand was broken and again it was Hasan Mahmud with the breakthrough as Jennings gloved down the legside and Benjamin took a good catch. Out for 61. 162-3
Moments later, another wicket as Harris pushed into the offside, they set off for a single, a great throw from Northeast, Benjamin took off the bails, and Ben McDermott was run out for 0, having only faced 1 ball. Great fielding. 162-4
Liam Livingstone joined Harris. Livingstone played with more caution than his erratic first innings effort.
By tea, he was on 38, and with Harris they had added over 50. Lancashire were 216-4. 208 to win. Scoring against Parkinson and young Bertie Foreman had begun to look relatively easy. My winviz was down from 95% to 75%, Lancashire had given themselves a chance, but they did not have much batting to come.
But into the evening session, Hasan Mahmud returned and bowled Livingstone for 47 in his first over back. Livingstone was attempting an extravagant pull. A crucial breakthrough, Hasan with it again. 233-5
Joe Moores, 17 year old keeper, cousin of Tom Moores, was then out second ball. He tried to clip Hasan Mahmud down the legside and Benjamin took another good legside catch. 233-6. A 5-fer for Hasan Mahmud.
George Balderson was next in and he edged Hasan Mahmud to Finch at third slip. Out for 4. 246-7. Hasan had 6-68, truly magnificent on debut.
Foreman replaced the ineffective Parkinson. And with the first ball of his new spell, Foreman bowled Bailey for 1. Well bowled Bertie! He deserved that wicket, his first wicket for Kent. 247-8. My winviz was now 100%.
Parkinson meanwhile was not impressing the Kent members who had travelled as he racked up his 6thno ball, which was pulled straight for 4 by Aspinwall. 264-8.
Finally though Parkinson claimed a wicket as Aspinwall tried to reverse sweep, missed and was lbw. 276-9.
And the game was over as James Anderson chipped Foreman off a leading edge back to him.
Lancashire 283 all out. Kent won by 140 runs. Harris left 91 not out, having rode his luck earlier in his innings before looking more solid later on.
Hasan Mahmud was the hero of the day with 6-69, taking wickets seemingly when Kent needed them, and often early when coming on for a new spell. Added to his 3-32 in the first innings, this was a quite outstanding debut. 9-101 in the match.
Well done to Bertie Foreman for claiming his first two Kent wickets. Parkinson, with conditions in his favour, a turning wicket and plenty of runs to play with, took 1-82 including an unbelievable six no balls. Parkinson has 3 wickets this season at an average of 101 each.
A great win for Kent. Plenty of excellent performances in the game in addition to Hasan Mahmud. Dawkins with 50 on day 1 when the going was tough. Dudgeon was brilliant in the Lancashire first innings with incredible figures of 6-21. Milnes was also excellent in the first innings despite only taking one wicket, but helping to create pressure. Then in the second innings, Harry Finch set the Kent innings up with an excellent 83, and then Chris Benjamin raced to a 78-ball hundred in the evening session (one ball faster than Grant Stewart’s incredible hundred here last season, which came up off 79 balls, and was the fastest century of last season according to Wisden). Benjamin is having a stellar season with the bat, averaging 55.
A win enjoyed by plenty of Kent members at Blackpool. With 3 wins and 3 draws from 7 games, Kent are genuine contenders for promotion. Middlesex are the visitors to Canterbury on Friday. See you there.

[Martin Shaw @shawma1]

Blackpool, day 2 summary: Kent 178. Lancashire 87. Kent 320-8, lead by 411.
Kent put in a quite brilliant performance on day 2 at Blackpool to leave themselves in a very strong position to win this game. In the morning session, Kent took the remaining 8 wickets to bowl Lancashire out for 87. Then Kent built on the first innings lead, with Harry Finch scoring 84, and then Chris Benjamin racing to a 78-ball hundred in the evening session, with Kent all over Lancashire. At the close of play Kent were 320-8, leading by 411, and my winviz is 95%.
The pitch has been difficult to bat on, but a major difference between the sides has been that Kent bowled outstandingly well, right on the money throughout the innings, building pressure, Dudgeon taking 6-21, Hasan Mahmud on debut 3-32, and Milnes 1-25. Milnes bowled unchanged for an hour and 20 minutes this morning and put enormous pressure on the batsmen, and he deserved more than one wicket. When Dudgeon has conditions in his favour, he is so difficult to bat against, as we saw when he took his 7-fer on debut last season at Northants. And Hasan Mahmud has had a great debut with the ball so far. He looks a good choice of overseas pace bowler.
Contrast that with Lancashire. Sir James Anderson bowled well. But he was the only Lancashire bowler to bowl well and as a consequence they didn’t build any pressure. Aspinwall was abysmal, serving up tripe, as was Livingstone. Bailey, who bowled well in the first innings, bowled only 10 overs, perhaps carrying an injury.
In the Kent second innings, Dawkins was out first ball. Curiously he has been out to the first ball he has faced in each of successive sessions, the evening session on day 1, and the morning session on day 2.
Northeast helped steady the ship with Finch, as they added 55, before Northeast was out for 23.
Then Bell-Drummond made 34, adding 88 with Finch.
Ekansh Singh made 14 including 2 sixes.
Finch was finally out for a brilliant 83, with 12 4’s and 1 6. In the context of what had gone before, it was a crucial innings to put Kent in control.
Benjamin was on just 6 when Finch was dismissed at 178-5.
Benjamin then took over in the evening session, scoring a century in the session, as Kent added 177 runs after tea. Benjamin hit 5 6’s and 6 4’s to go to 100 from 78 balls. It was stunning stuff on a pitch offering assistance to bowlers who put the ball in the right areas. I wrote in the matchday live blog that some of his ball-striking was reminiscent of Grant Stewart’s incredible hundred here last season, which came up off 79 balls, one ball slower than Benjamin’s. Whereas Stewart’s innings last season was the fastest century of the season according to Wisden, Benjamin’s is not the fastest of this season though, with Dan Lawrence having hit a century off 64 balls earlier this week. It is the fastest in Division 2 though.
If Dudgeon, Milnes and Hasan Mahmud bowl with anything like the control they did this morning, Kent will win this game comfortably tomorrow, I think. Of course if they don’t, Lancashire might get back into the game.
One thing to look out for is that Keaton Jennings was off the field for most of the Kent innings after an injury in the field. Will he be able to bat tomorrow or will he be subbed out?

[Martin Shaw @shawma1]

Enjoying the cricket at Blackpool!

[Quinssa @QuinssaRugby]

@DRoj Plus a last min winner against Sarries at StoneX in the Prem Cup ! #trooper 👍😀

[Quinssa @QuinssaRugby]

On Wednesday night, William France was posthumously honoured as the Quinssa fan of the season. A very worthy winner.

The award was received by his parents. A fitting tribute to a dedicated fan of @harle

❤️💙🤍🤎🖤💚
#Quinssa
#coyq

[Friends Of The Stoop #COYQ 🃏 @QuinsFOTS]

Harlequins so tomorrow we say goodbye to an absolute Stoop Legend. From the class of 2012 just one remains, at the club
🟦🟥
🟫⬜️🃏

[Quinssa @QuinssaRugby]

Great effort from the team in blazing sunshine on a pitch that smelt like it was melting! 🤷‍♂️😀 Couldn’t make it 4 wins on the trot , but 3 out of 4 ain’t bad ! #COYQ🟦⬜️🟥🟫
@harlequins @Saracens 26-12

[TheKentSpitfire @TheSpitfire]

Free article online: an interview with @MarkSands756027 about his book on the John Player League: outgrounds, star players and a very successful Kent side ...
https://t.co/iVMrE3gA5w

[Karl Bamford @KarlBamford]

Never bettered; pulled generations in to love the game.
Never missed more…

[Friends Of The Stoop #COYQ 🃏 @QuinsFOTS]

Harlequins, back to the Premiership on Saturday when we travel to Allianz park with all eyes on Sarries, see you there and don’t forget the excellent @MillHillRFC pre and post game
🟦🟥
🟫⬜️🃏

[LordRic52 @LordRic52]

@SportSussex @WillHugall @SussexCCC @HorshamSports How about ...

Season 2027

On Tour
with
The Rhythm & Blues ...
The Sussex IIs

The Outgrounds across the County

From Chichester to Hastings
+
The Nevill @TWCricketClub
(Old boundary used to dissect ground 😉)

@stevebone1
@callummay
@bowmanontheroad
@HughNTJohnson
@huwzat

[DAN GOLLOP @DANGOLLOP]

FACT: Last team to beat Bordeaux in the
@ChampionsCup was @Harlequins #coyq

[Benjamin Watts @BenWattsSport]

There’s two minutes or so of Kent coach Adam Hollioake in the RT below talking about today’s abandonment and what happened with the pitch at Beckenham.

(For some reason the video shows as only being thirty seconds in length, but there is more if you just keep listening to it) 👇

[john sweeney @johnsweeney6]

@shawma1 @LordRic52 Staring role for my rucksack I would add....

[WG RumblePants @WG_RumblePants]

A composite panoramic view of the St Lawrence ground in Canterbury during the match between Kent and Nottinghamshire as part of the Canterbury cricket festival, 4th August 1937

[Martin Shaw @shawma1]

Beckenham, day 1 summary: Kent 385-4, vs Durham.
A brilliant day of cricket for Kent at Beckenham on day 1 against Durham. It’s the first County Championship game here for 4 years. The weather forecast was poor. But we had a full day’s play with no interruptions, and Kent reached 385-4, having won the toss. It was a good toss to win on what appears to be a good batting track and by batting first, Kent have the upper hand so far and can exert some scoreboard pressure.
The national media turned out to see Ben Stokes. And when he removed Zak Crawley for 30, Crawley driving in the air straight to extra cover, caught by Potts, they already had a story. Such a soft dismissal for Crawley. It was already obvious from the boundary meanwhile that Stoke was ill, Stokes was in front of us coughing and spluttering, and often bent double. He did well to see out the day and bowl 13 overs.
But the real story of the day was a second wicket partnership of 303 between Ben Dawkins and Sam Northeast. We already know Ben Dawkins is the real deal. We knew that from his ton in the Metro Bank at Northampton last season. Here he scored his maiden first class century and went on to bat all day for a sensational 181 not out. It might be a good Beckenham batting wicket, but he was facing Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Ben Stokes. He hit 21 4’s and 1 6. He was dropped on 63 and 175, but you need a bit of luck. He didn’t have much, it was (almost) all class.
Sam Northeast had been out of form, but he roared back here making 141, with 14 4’s. He was dropped on 58 (a very difficult chance to keeper Ollie Robinson) and 73. But he hit the ball sweetly.
The partnership of 303 by the way, was a record partnership for Kent against Durham, or indeed Durham against Kent, for any wicket (stats from Ken).
Northeast was finally out, edging Raine to second slip.
And that sparked a bit of a collapse against the new ball.
Muyeye edged Potts to second slip, out for 1.
Then Bell-Drummond got a good ball from Raine, and edged to gully. Out for 1.
Benjamin joined Dawkins and saw out the rest of play without any further wickets.
Kent will pick up 4 batting points tomorrow, but would need 65 runs from 14 overs for five batting points, which looks unlikely. Kent would like to bat for as long as possible to exert maximum scoreboard pressure on the Division 2 leaders.
It was a great day at Beckenham. The scoreboard was crap, but news from chairman Krish was that a new one had been ordered but has got stuck in shipping. However two small scoreboards provided the overall score, the batters’ scores, and the number of overs, which was adequate.
Hopefully the rain stays away tomorrow and we get another good day of cricket.

[Friends Of The Stoop #COYQ 🃏 @QuinsFOTS]

Harlequins absolute Stoop Legend
🟦🟥
🟫⬜️🃏

[john sweeney @johnsweeney6]

@dgriffinpix @DerbyshireCCC Wow, what we would give for for a bowler to get 100 first class wickets in a season now...

[john sweeney @johnsweeney6]

@BenWattsSport Simply the nicest, most helpful person you could every meet, and that was felt throughout the minute's applause today. RIP Dave you will be missed.