County Cricket

Hobbs gets his hundredth hundred...

Today in 1923, Sir Jack Hobbs scored his 100th century, when he scored 116 not out against Somerset for his Surrey side. Hobbs would go on to score 99 further first class hundreds, as well as the 15 test centuries he scored while playing for England. Speaking of high scores, on this day in 1896, Yorkshire were all out for 887 against Warwickshire. Talk about village bowling...

Elsewhere today in 1968 the Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie, along with their older brother Charlie, were arrested on suspicion of murder. They were picked up at their mother’s council flat in Finsbury where they were sleeping. Neither saw liberty again.

While more crime in 1978 as American serial killer David Berkowitz, aka ‘Son of Sam’, pleaded guilty to murdering six people and wounding seven others. He was captured after picking up a parking ticket near the scene of his final killing and said that he was ordered to kill by a neighbour’s dog. The dog was never brought to justice.

And finally we say Emre Belozoglu! as they say in Turkey to former Italian great Franco Baresi (48), World Cup winning Brazilian goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel (42), as well as pop goon Enrique Iglesias (33) and media darling Gary Glitter (64).

So quite a lot's been going on in the Friends Provident Trophy?

Indeed, and amongst the top boys, there's an unlikely leader in the Midlands division in Leicestershire. Hylton Ackerman smashed 103 while Jim Allenby 62 & 4-44) guided the Foxes to victory over Ireland before following it up with a stunning 45-run win over Warickshire whose supporters were chanting "what a load of rubbish" by the time Ryan Cummins (3-21) wrapped things up.

They should watch Scotland...

Rubbish!

Yes I know!

No, that's rubbish because Scotland produced the upset of the year by beating Lancashire in their Old-Trafford back-yard with a nail-biting two victory mainly thanks to bowlers Dewald Nel (3-26) and John Blain (2-22). Lancashire are still top though...

Now what about down in my neck of the woods in the sunny South?

Essex are the only unbeaten side in the South East division after magnificent wins over Kent and Sussex with Mark Pettini (119 vs. Kent) and Ravi Bopara (99 & 59) in fine feather.

So where does that leave us?

In the South West where Somerset had a cracking win over Hampshire as Kevin Pietersen top scored with 62 but James Hildreth overshadowed the England man with 112* off 90 balls but Gloucestershire are keeping up with the pace after romping home against Worcestershire owing most of the good work to an opening stand of 97 between Kadeer Ali and Hamish Marshall.

Top 5 Results this week:

Old Trafford:Scotland 155/9 beat Lancashire 153/9 by 2 runs
Oval: Kent 282/7 beat Surrey 192 by 90 runs
Edgbaston: Leicestershire 148/6 beat Warwickshire 103 by 45 runs
Hove: Kent 249/6 beat Sussex 245/6 by 4 wickets
Derby: Derbyshire 236/6 beat Durham 235 by 1 run.

Top 5 performances this week:

Lancashire's Kyle Hogg 2-33 & 66* vs. Scotland
Sussex skipper Chris Adams 109* vs. Middlesex
Hampshire smasher Chris Benham 54* off 27 balls vs. Gloucestershire
Kent slogger Justin Kemp 68* vs. Sussex
Derbyshire dead-eye marksman Graham Wagg 4-35 vs. Durham

Essex all-rounder Tim Phillips will be out of action until June following surgery on his right knee. The slow-left-armer picked up the injury during the recent Seconds match against Surrey at Garon Park. Phillips's recovery is expected to keep him out of contention until the start of the Twenty20 Cup in mid-June. We've got a few pictures of young Master Phillips but they weren't really up to much to be honest, so here's a picture of a kangaroo asking for middle and leg.

Forgotten England quickie James Ormond has been rewarded with a new one-year deal with Surrey after proving his fitness during his non-contract spell with the club. The 30-year-old has been training with the county over the winter with a view to earning a new deal if he impressed. Which, clearly, he has done. "I am obviously really pleased to get a contract after putting in a lot of hard work during the winter," said the former Leicestershire man. "I'd also like to thank our backroom staff for their efforts in getting me fit and ready for another season." And Eat Cricket for mentioning it, obviously.