Another good day for Aussie openers on county scene

Caleb Jewell’s eye-catching start to life as a county cricketer has continued with his third half-century in as many innings while Daniel Hughes fell just short of his hundred.

Beginning the season with 61 and 51 not out in Derbyshire’s win over Gloucestershire, Jewell hit 13 fours as he made 83 in the first innings against Peter Handscomb’s Leicestershire.

Handscomb’s day-one 63 had guided the Foxes to a commanding 484 when they were eventually bowled out early on day two, but Jewell led Derby’s fightback with his typically aggressive style despite wickets falling around him early.

Following Jewell’s wicket, bowled by a ball that stayed low from pacer Ben Mike, Martin Andersson’s maiden century closed the deficit before stumps on day two.

Elsewhere, it was a near miss for Sussex’s Daniel Hughes who made 91 against Somerset.

The 36-year-old left-hander is finally back on the park after a frustrating summer that yielded only two matches across all competitions due to injury and has the task of opening the batting for the Sharks in Division One.

After missing out against Warwickshire in the opening round, Hughes found his groove against Somerset but will be kicking himself at missing out, scoring 49 in the first innings and falling nine short of his ton in the second.

The runs for Jewell and Hughes follows fellow opener Cameron Bancroft's massive 163 on day one as the Australian top order players continue to shine on English soil. 

At Old Trafford, Marcus Harris followed his opening match century with 43 against Northamptonshire. Lancashire find themselves in a bit of trouble at 4-139 in reply to Northants’ 496. The Steelbacks’ recruit Liam Guthrie, playing as a local player to his parents lineage, is wicketless from his nine overs.

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Fergus O’Neill got 42 with the bat in Nottinghamshire’s first innings, putting on a vital partnership with centurion Kyle Verreynne in the process, and has one wicket to his name in Essex’s ongoing first innings.

Brendan Doggett has two wickets in his first outing for Durham, currently sitting on 2-53 with two wickets to claim in Warwickshire’s first innings at the Riverside Ground.

Australians in County Cricket for 2025

Derbyshire: Caleb Jewell

Durham: Brendan Doggett (April-May)

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne

Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Cameron Green (April-May)

Hampshire: Ellyse Perry (July), Charli Knott (April-July), Jack Edwards (April-May)

Kent: Wes Agar, Tom Rogers (T20 Blast only)

Lancashire: Chris Green (June-July), Marcus Harris, Ashton Turner (June-July)

Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb

Northamptonshire: Ashton Agar (T20 Blast only), Liam Guthrie (local player), Harry Conway (May)

Nottinghamshire: Moises Henriques (T20 Blast only), Fergus O'Neill (until April 28), Daniel Sams (T20 Blast only), Heather Graham (May-July)

Somerset: Riley Meredith, Amanda-Jade Wellington

Surrey: Grace Harris (T20 Blast only)

Sussex: Daniel Hughes, Nathan McAndrew (June-July), Gurinder Sandhu (June-July)

Warwickshire: Beau Webster

Worcestershire: Ben Dwarshuis (T20 Blast only)

Yorkshire: Will Sutherland (T20 Blast + 2 County), Jordan Buckingham (four matches in May)

2025 Division One standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Nottinghamshire Men NOT	4	2	0	2	0	10	12	70
2 Surrey Men SRY	4	1	0	3	0	11	9	60
3 Sussex Men SSX	4	1	1	2	0	8	12	52
4 Essex Men ESS	3	1	0	2	0	7	8	47
5 Warwickshire Men WAR	3	1	0	2	0	6	8	46
6 Durham Men DUR	4	1	2	1	0	10	11	45
7 Hampshire Men HAM	3	1	0	2	0	2	9	43
8 Yorkshire Men YRK	3	1	1	1	0	7	9	40
9 Somerset Men SOM	4	0	2	2	1	6	12	33
10 Worcestershire Men WOR	4	0	3	1	0	0	10	18

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points

2025 Division Two standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Leicestershire Men LEI	4	2	0	2	0	14	12	74
2 Kent Men KEN	3	2	0	1	0	3	9	52
3 Derbyshire Men DBY	3	1	0	2	0	8	8	48
4 Gloucestershire Men GLO	4	0	2	2	0	10	12	38
5 Middlesex Men MSX	3	1	1	1	0	3	8	35
6 Lancashire Men LAN	3	0	0	3	0	3	7	34
7 Northamptonshire Men NOR	3	0	1	2	0	9	9	34
8 Glamorgan Men GLA	3	0	2	1	1	3	5	15

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points