Game abandoned on day one as lethal hybrid pitch leaves batsman in hospital

Gloucestershire’s County Championship match was abandoned on the first day after the dangerous hybrid pitch at Bristol left two Northamptonshire batsmen with hand injuries and was deemed unfit.
Umpires Chris Watts and Sue Redfern suspended the match early on in the final session after Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rob Keogh had taken heavy blows on the hand off the bowling of paceman Ajeet Singh Dale.
Northamptonshire were 116 for two in reply to Gloucestershire’s 125 when the contest was suspended at 5pm with the umpires consulting with both captains before leading the players from the pitch and then holding discussions with Jason Swift, the match referee, before contacting the ECB’s chief pitch liaison officer, Andy Mackay. It was then that the decision was taken to abandon the match completely.
A hybrid pitch is one that uses plastic combined with natural grass. The plastic holds the roots of the grass together but cannot be seen above the ground surface. These pitches have been installed across most county grounds in recent years and provide good value for money because they can be used three or four times without needing to be prepared again.
A hybrid pitch had been used at Bristol earlier this season in their match against Middlesex without any issues but this one produced uneven bounce and Vasconcelos went to hospital with a suspected broken finger. When Keogh was struck during the evening session, the umpires intervened. Northamptonshire will collect 11 points for a draw, including three bowling bonus points, but the home side receive none and could face further sanctions after an ECB inquiry.
A statement issued by the umpires read: “The match has been abandoned because there was a foreseeable risk to the batters. In the opinion of the umpires, it would be unreasonable to continue.”
A statement by Gloucestershire said: “We deeply regret any disappointment or inconvenience to any Gloucestershire or Northamptonshire members or supporters who attended today’s match or indeed were planning to attend for subsequent days. Ticket purchasers will be given a full refund or a complimentary ticket to a future match. The club will make further comment in due course.”
Two days after being challenged by ­England to regain some form, Jonny Bairstow, always at his most dangerous with a point to prove, duly served notice to the selectors by scoring his first first-class hundred since 2022.
The Yorkshireman put aside his recent struggles for runs, that resulted in him being dropped from all England sides, to score a century for Yorkshire on the opening day of their Division Two promotion­battle with Middlesex.
He resumes today at Headingley on 107 not out from 130 balls and Yorkshire 372 for five after half-centuries for Adam Lyth and George Hill. The impressive Middlesex all-rounder Luke Hollman took three for 99 from 27 overs of leg spin.
It was Bairstow at his belligerent best. Fewer than half of his runs came in boundaries, although he nailed a pull off Henry Brookes for six over into the ­Western Terrace and brought up his fifty off 63 balls. He reached three figures off 122 balls before bowing to the home dressing room in celebration.
“I just see a very hungry Jonny Bairstow,” Lyth, the Yorkshire opener, said. “I don’t think he’ll be giving his wicket away too easily tomorrow. He’s playing beautifully and it’s great to see. It’s great to see him with a smile on his face. That was a special knock today.”
Tom Abell, now free of the captaincy, made it back-to-back hundreds at Taunton as Somerset scored 395 for six on the opening day of their match against Durham, with Archie Vaughan, son of Michael, making a handy 30 on his first-class debut.
Having hit a career-best 152 not out in the previous home game against Warwickshire, Abell scored 124 off 181 balls in sharing a stand of 185 with Tom Banton (73), which was a record for Somerset’s fourth wicket against Durham. James Rew was unbeaten on 89 at the close, while there were two wickets each for Daniel Hogg and Callum Parkinson.
Having been called up by England for the T20 and one-day series against Australia next month, Brydon Carse returned to action for Durham having served a three-month for historical betting offences. The 29-year-old fast bowler was understandably rusty in taking one for 75 off 16 overs.
Vaughan, the 18-year-old son of the former England captain and product of nearby Millfield School, earned his debut for Somerset after impressing with the bat and his off spin in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
Abell looked in total control, timing the ball well on both sides of the wicket. A pulled single off Bas de Leede took him to three figures off 148 deliveries, with 16 fours, before a cut for two off Parkinson took the stand with Banton to 172, beating the previous Somerset record fourth-wicket partnership against Durham.
Just when it seemed the pair would bat through the afternoon session, Parkinson intervened, dismissing both with turning deliveries. First Abell edged to Scott Borthwick at second slip and the left-arm spinner struck again in his next over, with Banton falling in identical fashion, having faced 129 balls and hit seven fours and a six.
Somerset were 260 for five at tea. Vaughan scored his first County Championship runs off the second ball of the final session with a leg glance off Parkinson and was soon sharing another profitable stand with Rew, who cleared the ropes over long-on off the same bowler.
By the time the second new ball was taken after 80 overs, Rew, the senior partner at the age of 20, was on 42 and Vaughan 28, having added 66 together in rapid time. The teenager fell for 30 with the total on 328, leg-before to a full delivery from Hogg, but could reflect on a more than handy debut knock.
Farhan Ahmed completed a fine first day of championship cricket with three wickets in eight balls in the final 50 minutes but Rory Burns, Surrey’s skipper, made 161 to follow 227 in the previous match (Neville Scott writes). Surrey still remain on course for a third County Championship title on the bounce, an achievement beyond any club for 56 years.
It is an observation made with respect: they may enjoy riches all other sides resent but their work promoting cricket in the community is a model for all. Though they play away to Somerset and Essex, their sole realistic rivals, in the last three rounds, they would probably have to lose both games heavily to be stopped. And even then a 45-point cushion before this match should absorb such shocks.
Stumbles in Nottingham came only late. The home attack, with three key bowlers variously absent to Test duty, injury or paternity leave, included a trio with a single championship appearance between them. Ahmed, whose brother Rehan became England’s youngest Test cap last year, was himself already the youngest to play for England Lions when selected a fortnight ago.
Now, at 16 years 189 days, he became the 13th youngest cricketer to make a championship debut in the competition’s 134-year history. Oddly enough, this made him only the second youngest in the eight days since Rocky Flintoff, the eighth most callow, made his Lancashire debut the week before, when 52 days his junior.
Rated by some as more promising even than big brother, Ahmed waited until ten balls before tea to claim the day’s second wicket, straightening an off break enough to find the edge of Ryan Patel’s defensive bat for 77. It ended a 185-run stand with Burns that built patiently before plundering the seamers in mid afternoon.
Rob Lord, taking the new ball in a wholehearted spell on red-ball debut, found the bounce first thing to remove Dom Sibley, fending to second slip, for nine but he, Ben Hutton and Lyndon James later shipped runs as the Kookaburra ball disappeared to deep. It took the return of Ahmed, given a second new ball when only two overs old, to have Burns caught by a backtracking mid-on before Ben Foakes edged his first ball behind. Will Jacks, a third England player, survived the hat-trick but was held on the long-off boundary for 59 seeking a fourth six. A maiden five-wicket bag beckons.