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• Lancashire slip to first defeat of Blast season against Birmingham

  Lancashire suffered their first defeat of this season’s Vitality Blast as they slumped to a seven-wicket loss at Birmingham Bears on Monday.

  The Lightning lost their last seven wickets for 36 runs in 35 balls as they were bowled out for just 98 at Edgbaston.

  Spinners Danny Briggs and Dan Mousley did most of the damage, taking four for 15 and three for 13 respectively.

  The Bears then eased to victory, maintaining their own 100 per cent record in the competition, with captain Alex Davies, formerly of Lancashire, hitting an unbeaten 51 from 39 balls.

  Worcestershire claimed their third win from three outings as they saw off Leicestershire by 33 runs at New Road.

  Kashif Ali top-scored with 69 – his maiden half-century in the Blast – as the Rapids posted 183 for seven from their 20 overs.

  Leicestershire reached 70 for one in reply but then fell away as Brett D’Oliveira, Michael Bracewell and Usama Mir all took two wickets apiece and Pat Brown (three for 25) cut through the tail.

  Northamptonshire claimed their first win as they beat Derbyshire by six wickets with 12 balls to spare at Derby.

  Saif Zaib led them home with 37 not out from 32 balls while captain David Willey and Chris Lynn added 31 as the Steelbacks eased to their 152-run target.

  Wayne Madsen had top-scored for Derbyshire with 57 and wicketkeeper Brooke Guest weighed in with 49.

  Gloucestershire held on for a nail-biting two-run win over Middlesex in a high-scoring contest at Northwood.

  Miles Hammond hit 59 from 42 balls and Grant Roelofsen 34 from 19 as Gloucestershire ran up 181 for nine from their 20 overs.

  Stephen Eskinazi (59) and Joe Cracknell (42) got Middlesex off to a strong start in reply before Luke Hollman (39) and Ryan Higgins (24) took up the chase.

  Seven runs were needed off the final over but Matt Taylor conceded just four with Higgins run out off the last ball.

• Has ‘Bazball’ taken hold in county cricket? What the numbers tell us

  The men at the forefront of England’s red-ball revolution – Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum and Rob Key – have made it clear they would like to see their dynamic approach to the game replicated across the county network.

  Players from within the England dressing room have been invited to spread the word while back with their clubs and a get-together of first-class coaches and directors of cricket earlier this year saw Zoom presentations from Stokes and McCullum advocating their new methods.

  ‘Bazball’ was the talk of the shires in the build-up to the 2023 season, but what do the numbers tell us about its impact on the LV= County Championship ahead of the first Test of the summer?

  Run-rates

  It was perhaps ambitious to expect the first phase of the county season to hit the heights of England’s most frenzied scoring, particularly with soft early-season pitches and a lively Dukes ball for 2023. Stokes’ England reached a crescendo in Pakistan, when they scored at 5.50 runs per over – the highest ever in a series of three or more Tests – but unsurprisingly that bar has proved tough to meet.

  Division Two pace-setters Durham lead the way, scoring their 3,357 runs at a lively 4.20, but the only other side to go at more than four an over, Yorkshire, have had a very different experience. They are tracking at 4.09 but have scored only 2,229 runs in total and are winless in eighth place in the second tier.

  Another eight teams are scoring at more that 3.50 an over, while Division One’s bottom club Northamptonshire are outliers having made their runs at a relatively pedestrian 2.82.

  Individual performers

  Stokes has repeatedly said where runs are concerned he is just as interested in ‘how?’ as ‘how many?’, challenging Test hopefuls to catch the eye with dashing displays. Durham wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson has done more than anyone else to live up to that billing, scoring 465 runs from 527 balls for a strike rate of 88.23 runs per 100 balls.

  In the top flight two players already inked into the Test XI have carried the torch, Ben Duckett scoring 401 runs with a strike rate of 74.39 while Stokes’ new vice-captain Ollie Pope has 379 and 74.16. Unlike them, Somerset’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore has yet to clear the 500-ball mark for the season but his combination of 348 runs at 80.55 marks him out for attention.

  Dan Lawrence, called up as batting cover for the Ireland Test, is some way behind on a strike rate of 57.26, while Lancashire’s Josh Bohannon has 471 runs at 67.96. Dom Sibley, once a fixture at the top of England’s Test line-up, looks a long way back with his strike rate of 43.71 placing him close to the bottom of the ladder.

  Win, lose or draw

  A feature of England’s Test cricket over the past 12 months has been their stated aversion to draws. With an eye on entertainment and a belief that pushing hard for victory is worth the price of defeat, the McCullum era has effectively removed the idea of sharing the spoils.

  While a few counties suggested they were willing to engage with the same philosophy, it has proved harder than expected. Heavy rain has wreaked havoc with fixtures, with some teams worse affected than others, while extending the number of runs required for bonus points has also made forcing results more taxing inside four days.

  So far 25 games have been drawn out of 52 (11 in Division One, 14 in Division Two), with five from five for a well-fancied Lancashire side. Table-toppers Surrey and Durham are both rewarded for getting over the line four times in six attempts.

• Opening batter Ben Duckett backed to thrive long-term in second England chance

  Ben Duckett has been backed to thrive long-term in a position that has given England a headache for several years after grasping his second chance at Test cricket with both hands.

  Since his recall late last year, Duckett has been the model opening batter for the regime under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, averaging 56.44 at an eye-popping strike-rate of 95.48 in five Tests.

  Of the various options England have tried since Sir Andrew Strauss’ retirement in 2012, Sir Alastair Cook and Joe Root are the only other batters to have averaged north of 40 up top for England.

  While this summer’s Ashes series will present an examination of Duckett’s credentials, his head coach at Nottinghamshire Peter Moores feels the left-hander has the technique and temperament to excel against any opposition attack.

  Moores told the PA news agency: “Ben’s a dangerous player because of the speed he scores at and where he scores.

  “He’s got that ability to hit the ball in areas that are hard to defend against and can be a real nightmare for the opposing captain, not just against spin – which he’s got a reputation for – but also against seamers.

  “How he’s played for us in all formats in the last two to three years has been outstanding and he’s taken that form into England, which says that it’s his time.

  “I expect him to do really well, I don’t think anything will change. He knows his game and a player like that is a great thing for England to have. I think it’s the right time for him now to be opening the batting for England.”

  All of Duckett’s nine Tests have been overseas but he is set for his first appearance at home as England take on Ireland, starting on Thursday at Lord’s, where the 28-year-old made a stunning 177 in an LV= Insurance County Championship match against Middlesex last month.

  Duckett is averaging over 50 domestically against the red ball since the beginning 2020, the year in which he “lost around nine or 10kg” as part of a fitness drive and hit the winning runs in the Vitality Blast final – 12 months after failing to get a single off the last ball in the semi-final.

  Up until that point, one or two minor indiscretions had threatened to define the career of Duckett – who had his first crack with England in 2016, playing four Tests – but he has flourished under the tutelage of Moores after switching to Nottinghamshire from Northamptonshire four years ago.

  The former England head coach said: “In 2020, he really moved his game forward a lot. He got a lot fitter physically and he worked hard at his game. That was a credit to him.

  “He made some decisions about the sort of player he wanted to be and I think that was where he really started getting his talent out of himself.

  “How he’s played from then on in has been somebody who’s stayed calm at the crease, played well under pressure and backs his own talent to come out, which we’ve seen time and time again.

  “When he first came to us he had some tough bits to get through. But what he has done, like all good players, is they look to improve and move the game forward. He’s matured a lot.

  “I’m absolutely made up for him. He’s worked really hard to get his chance to be involved with England, he’s done really well since he’s got in and what a summer to be involved in.”

  Duckett was Nottinghamshire’s leading run-scorer in the Blast last year but is unlikely to feature much in this campaign because of his England commitments.

  Moores added: “You’ll always miss him as a player because of his quality, there’s no doubt about that and whenever we get him, we’re going to really enjoy it.

  “But we’ve got a lot of hungry, young players who want to get into that team and it creates an opportunity for them to come in and show what they’ve got and that to me is exciting.”