Ryan Hadley heroics, Ben Duckett 200, Zak Crawley form, video, highlights

New South Wales bowler Ryan Hadley has produced an all-round masterclass in the County Championship, heroically steering Glamorgan towards a “miracle” victory over Somerset in Cardiff.

The 27-year-old, whose previous highest first-class score was 15, walked out to bat as a nightwatcher with Glamorgan in a spot of bother at 4-133, chasing a 283-run target for victory.

After combining with Sean Dickson for a 114-run partnership for the sixth wicket, Hadley batted for five hours and soaked up 231 deliveries, finishing unbeaten on 50 and hitting the winning runs as the Welsh side clinched a dramatic two-wicket victory. The Blues quick had averaged 5.78 in first-class cricket before the match.

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Earlier in the match, Hadley took 3-28 to help roll Glamorgan for 157 in the second innings, while teenager teammate Tom Norton took a hat-trick on first-class debut.

“It’s a miracle,” Hadley said.

“It happened in blocks. I was just hoping to chip away at a few to help the boys. I played and missed a few, luckily not good enough to nick it.”

Hadley survived a couple of close calls, at one stage dropped at second slip, while in comical scenes, the umpire seemingly made a last-minute decision to reject an LBW appeal from seamer Craig Overton.

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Elsewhere in the County Championship, England opener Ben Duckett all but secured his spot in the starting XI for next month’s first Test against New Zealand by smacking a double-century during Nottinghamshire’s drawn contest against Surrey at Trent Bridge.

The left-hander’s unbeaten 203, his first century in 11 months, spanned over six hours and featured 24 boundaries.

“Obviously, my knock was great,” Duckett said after the match

“Last night going in, I thought that if we lost a few wickets we could have been under a lot of pressure against that attack. So I just spoke to the guys about taking it hour-by-hour.

“That second half of my innings was probably one of the easier parts of my career, but I had to do a lot of work to get to that stage and kept telling myself to be there at the end.”

During the same match, New South Wales quick Sean Abbott claimed four wickets for Surrey, while Victorian seamer Fergus O’Neill contributed a handy 41 but went wicketless in a high-scoring affair.

Duckett has compiled 503 runs at 83.83 for Nottinghamshire this season, which comes after he decided to skip the Indian Premier League to focus on his red-ball cricket following the disastrous Ashes tour. However, his position in the Test side no longer appears to be in jeopardy.

“I’ve made a decision to be here for my personal career, I love playing in this dressing room,” he continued.

“That decision I made last month, everything is going in the right direction, and my game is good order and hopefully I can take this confidence going forward this summer.”

He added: “I didn’t take the decision lightly and I’d like to finish my career knowing that I’ve done all I could to be playing for England. I’ve been working really hard behind the scenes and it’s nice to have got the rewards. It’s been a long time since I scored a hundred.”

However, opening partner Zak Crawley is at serious risk of being dropped from England’s Test side after another failure with the bat for Kent, posting 1 and 17 against Gloucestershire in Bristol. His second-innings dismissal, bowled off a reckless slog, all but sealed his fate.

The right-hander hasn’t managed a fifty this season, averaging 19.50 across ten innings, while the likes of Emilio Gay and Daniel Lawrence have compiled multiple hundreds.

During the same match in Bristol, which Kent won by two wickets, Gloucestershire captain Cameron Bancroft top-scored in the second innings with a gritty 82, while Tasmanian seamer Gabe Bell contributed 3-76 and 4-87 with the ball.

England captain Ben Stokes, playing his first competitive match since January’s Ashes finale in Sydney, opened the bowling during Durham’s nine-wicket victory against Worcestershire in Worcester, perhaps providing a glimpse at the role he’ll fulfil during the home Test summer.

The all-rounder claimed four wickets across the match, dismissing rival opener Daniel Lategan with the new ball in the first innings.

Elsewhere, Sussex captain Ollie Robinson further pressed his case for a Test call-up by taking six scalps during a six-wicket victory against Leicestershire in Hove. The 32-year-old, who has taken 17 wickets at 26.17 this season, hasn’t represented his country since 2024, but revealed that England head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key had recently been in touch about the prospect of a potential recall.

“I had a text from Baz at the start of the season, just to say that the door was still open, which was nice,” Robinson recently told ESPNcricinfo.

“Keysy rang me as well to say, ‘Take wickets, knock the door down and there’s still a spot for you’.”

Meanwhile, former New South Wales batter Daniel Hughes struck a season-high 136 for Sussex, while incumbent Test opener Jake Weatherald contributed 43 and 13 for Leicestershire, bowled by Robinson in the second innings.

Tasmanian opener Caleb Jewell fell agonisingly short of triple figures during Derbyshire’s thumping victory against Northamptonshire in Derby, toppled for 94 by former Australia A seamer Harry Conway, who claimed 3-102.

South Australian captain Nathan McSweeney was dismissed for a golden duck before posting 62 in the second innings, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Northamptonshire from losing by an innings and 113 runs.

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, former Test opener Marcus Harris fell cheaply in both innings of Lancashire’s six-wicket loss against Middlesex at Old Trafford, gone for 5 and 1.

Playing his first County Championship match of the season, Sydney Thunder all-rounder Chris Green scored 35 in the first innings and wasn’t required with the ball.

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