Richard Edwards

Somerset v Nothamptonshire: Craig Overton onslaught leaves Northants feeling down and out

Craig Overton, the strapping England Lions paceman, punctured Northamptonshire’s hopes of a first victory of the season by tearing out their top order between rain breaks. After five hours of watching the West Country drizzle, a brief 10-over…

Peter Trego plays to the Somerset crowd but Nottinghamshire grind on

The Taunton turf, a renowned batsman’s paradise, was torn up in recent years to stave off bore draws. On the evidence of this season, bowlers will be asking if it was relaid with feathers. A declaration in deficit from Somerset on Tuesday, and the…

Marcus Trescothick puts smiles back on Somerset faces with a bang

The English summer is a better place for witnessing Marcus Trescothick spank an Australian paceman around the ground. The old Banger is back. Trescothick followed a century last week at Hove by treating Taunton to a taste of his belligerent best, no…

Adam Lyth and Kane Williamson use soporific pitch for batting practice as Yorkshire draw with Somerset

A stalemate on a traditional Taunton pitch of old it may have been, but one novelty at least has emerged for county cricket this week – the birth of the post-Sunday lunch spectator. Guy Lavender, Somerset’s chief executive, said the first match under…

Craig Kieswetter holds nerve as Somerset make hay in the sunshine against Yorkshire

Batsmen gorging on runs, seamers toiling and spinners suffering – so much for April being a month for bowlers. In contrasting styles, Craig Kieswetter, James Hildreth, Johann Myburgh and Lewis Gregory all made hay in the sunshine on Tuesday as…

Somerset v Surrey: Hashim Amla's pair typifies slide towards County Championship Division Two

A pair for Hashim Amla, the world’s No 1 batsman, summed up Surrey’s great galactico experiment this summer. There were high hopes, great expectations indeed of a star-studded county team rekindling fond memories of the days that Ian Botham, Viv…

Surrey struggle at Somerset in relegation battle

Fortune does not tend to favour the tentative, and a wary batting display from Surrey on Wednesday was seized upon by Somerset to push the visitors ever closer to the precipice in Division One. Surrey’s caution, scoring at under two an over in a…

Tim Murtagh leads Middlesex to victory over Somerset as they go top of the County Championship table

The last visitors to leave Taunton victorious, 20 months ago, were crowned county champions that same day. Only the foolhardy make predictions mid May, but as Middlesex marched to the top of the table last night after completing an emphatic…

County champions Warwickshire deny Somerset victory after last-wicket stand at Taunton

A draw, it says on paper, but to a Somerset side who could – and should – have beaten the champions, it felt like a loss. To Warwickshire, who needed their highest ever fourth-innings total and a generous umpiring decision to emerge unbeaten,…

Somerset take complete control against Warwickshire after Jos Buttler century

By definition defending champions are there to be shot at, but rarely will Warwickshire suffer a more chastening day than this. Dismantled by a rampant Somerset team yet to put a step wrong in two days, even the most optimistic Bears' fan will…

South African Alviro Petersen hits 136 on his Somerset debut against Warwickshire

If the theme of the last international summer was for South African batsmen to accumulate effortless centuries against toiling English bowlers, Alviro Petersen’s return this year suggests county attacks are due to suffer the same fate. Two weeks…

Kevin Pietersen: I feel I have never batted any better

Kevin Pietersen says he is in the best form of his life and believes England have the edge going into a defining Test summer. Pietersen’s warm-up for the first Test at Lord’s against the West Indies next week was dampened by rain as he made a rare…

Steve Finn: I’d give up if I couldn’t be the best

Steve Finn has only just got back into the England Test team but already has his sights set on becoming the world’s best bowler. The 23-year-old believes he has improved significantly over the winter and is relishing the prospect of a pace battle…

Cricketer wins £90,000 after Twitter libel

A former Test cricket captain made legal history today by winning £90,000 libel damages over a 24-word tweet. New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, 41, sued Lalit Modi, ex-chairman of the Indian Premier League, at the High Court in Britain’s first…

Test cricketer launches England’s first Twitter libel claim

A former Test cricket captain began England’s first case for a libel on Twitter yesterday, claiming that his career “is dust” after a tweet accusing him of corruption. The New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns said his life would be for ever “tainted”…

Mervyn Westfield sentenced to four months in jail after being found guilty of spot-fixing

Former Essex fast bowler Mervyn Westfield was sentenced at the Old Bailey to four months behind bars in a spot-fixing racket the judge said was orchestrated by his team-mate Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan leg spinner. But it was also revealed that…

Tuition fees protesters attack police and vandalise buildings

Up to 30,000 students laid siege to Parliament square ahead of yesterday's vote and, in chaotic running battles with a mob, one mounted officer was knocked from his horse, another suffered a serious neck injury and others were attacked with flares,…

Tuition fees protesters attack car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall

Demonstrators kicked the Rolls-Royce as it travelled to the Royal Variety Performance in central London. White paint and bottles were thrown over the car and a window shattered. The Prince and Duchess were “unharmed” and continued with their…

Tuition fees: Coalition wins vote as violence worsens outside Commons

Nine police officers have been seriously injured in the violence and a number of protesters have attempted to storm the Treasury building. MPs voted 323 votes to 302, a majority of 21 in favour of the motion despite vocal opposition from some Liberal…

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested by Scotland Yard

The 39-year-old Australian was held when he attended a central London police station by appointment at 9.30am. He will appear before a district judge at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later today, where his lawyers are expected to fight…