County Championship round-up: Kyle Coetzer makes double-hundred against Northamptonshire
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Your support makes all the difference.Batsman of the day
It is fair to assume that the number of Scottish-born batsmen to make a double-hundred in first-class cricket could be counted on one hand, and possibly not involving many fingers. Dougie Brown, currently Warwickshire's head coach, made one for the Midlands county against Sussex at Hove in 2000. Today, that exclusive group was joined by Kyle Coetzer, Northamptonshire's Aberdonian, who turned his overnight 150 to 219 as the Division Two leaders turned the screw against Leicestershire, whose decision to bowl first at Grace Road may have been the wrong one. It is proving a memorable year for the 29-year-old Coetzer, who made his maiden ODI century for Scotland against Afghanistan in March and was appointed Scotland captain last month.
Bowler of the day
The lack of an obvious successor to Graeme Swann in England's Test side says much about the struggle for advancement that spinners still encounter in the Championship, so any wickets for slow bowlers are a cause for celebration. The value of a quality twirler is not to be underestimated, as Warwickshire's title win in 2012 underlined, when the plaudits handed to seamers Keith Barker and Chris Wright overshadowed Jeetan Patel's not inconsiderable contribution of 51 wickets. The New Zealand-born off-spinner is beginning to make an impact this season, dismissing Will Smith, Paul Collingwood and Ben Stokes to take his tally for the season to 20 as Warwickshire sought the upper hand against Durham in Chester-le-Street.
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Andrew Gale's patience at waiting for his elusive batting form to return was rewarded last week with his maiden double-hundred against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough, his first three-figure score in the Championship in two years. He did not have to wait long for another as Yorkshire put Middlesex under pressure at Lord's, where they are eager to reinforce their strong start to the season before Chris Rogers leaves to join up with Australia after this match. Captain Gale's 103 supplemented young opener Alex Lees' maiden century and with Adil Rashid continuing his prolific run with the bat Yorkshire totalled 390 before Steve Patterson dismissed Rogers' opening partner, Sam Robson, to strike an early blow with the ball.
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With two wins in their last four matches and an attempt to beat Gloucestershire at Liverpool two weeks ago that was thwarted on the last ball, Lancashire are beginning to look to have the potential to make a swift return to the First Division after the humiliation of following their title two years ago with immediate relegation. They looked in the mood as Essex were reduced to 72 for 5 at Chelmsford before Ryan ten Doeschate and James Foster added 95 for the sixth wicket. It might have been more if Ten Doeschate had contented himself with hitting Simon Kerrigan for one huge six over long-on rather than trying two in a row. His second gave Simon Katich an easy catch.
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