Sunday (2 August) was a good day for local cricketers in the professional arena, with two former Bedford School students scoring centuries in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
Bedford-born, Emilio Gay prepared for a second test series with England with a one-day hundred for Durham, while Gus Miller followed suit with his first ever ‘List A’ century for Northamptonshire.
Both Durham and Northamptonshire went on to win their respective ties against Hampshire and Lancashire, and both were led by opening batters who herald from Bedford.
Durham beat Hampshire by nine wickets at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton, making a chase of 246 look straightforward, while Northamptonshire racked up the runs at Wantage Road, posting 347/6 against Lancashire, winning by 67 runs.
And they were led there by Miller, who celebrated a maiden professional milestone in doing so.
Runs and a wicket for Miller
Consistently on the fringes of the Northamptonshire first team, 24-year old Miller has been made to wait for his opportunity to impress and has endured a largely frustrating campaign at the top of the one day order so far.
But Northamptonshire’s patience paid off on Sunday as Miller’s 110-ball 115, which included nine fours and four sixes, helped lay the platform for a huge total of 347 that Lancashire could not chase down.
Miller was also in action with the ball, bowling four overs and picking up the wicket of Josh Bohannon to round off a decent all-round display.
Northants, who were recently crowned T20 Blast champions for a third time, are still meandering towards the bottom of Group A with two wins from their five games so far, sitting eighth in a nine-team pool.
When not picked for Northants, Miller occasionally turns out for Bedfordshire in the National Counties circuit, and was last seen batting at three in their final T20 group stage double header at Berkshire.
Bedfordshire’s latest three-day game against Lincolnshire also began on Sunday as they were bowled out for 178, before Lincolnshire piled on 479/6 in response throughout day two at Dunstable Town Cricket Club.
Northamptonshire are back in action on Friday, 7 August as they travel to second placed, Nottinghamshire Outlaws before returning to home turf on Sunday, 9 August as they host Somerset.
Welcome ton for Gay
Emilio Gay will be back in action for England in the test match arena from 19 August as Pakistan visit for a three-match test series which sees a changing of the guard, with one New Zealander replacing another in the England head coach role.
Gay, who made a solid start to his test career with two half-centuries in the series loss against New Zealand earlier in the summer, will return to open the batting alongside Ben Duckett, and is keeping his eye in in the county game.
His first three List ‘A’ games of the season saw Gay average just a shade over 15, with two scores of one, but Sunday saw him promoted to familiar territory opening the batting, and he bounced back with a swift 104 as his team chased down a Hampshire total of 246.
His innings came off 108 balls and included nine fours and three sixes, as a century opening partnership with Graham Clark helped the north eastern county lay a fine platform for a straightforward chase.
Such was the simplicity of the second innings, Durham didn’t need to call on the services of ex-England captain, Ben Stokes who has returned to the county game following his international retirement.
Emilio will soon be returning to that international scene, under his second head coach in Stephen Fleming, who replaced Brendan McCullum last week, with Joe Root stepping up for a second spell as captain.
For Gay, his attentions will solely be on run scoring across three test matches against Pakistan, beginning on Thursday, 19 August at Headingley in Leeds before further tests at Lord’s and Edgbaston in Birmingham heading into September.
