Welcome back to the Kiwi County Tour; where Lord Jeetz scores runs, James Franklin's a champion and Neil Wagner does what always does in dominating. Ain't nothing like the KCT and it was a joy to welcome back Jeetan Patel from his Blackcaps holiday, he did come back a bit overweight though, a few too many morning pints and English breakfasts for dinner. Guess a Blackcaps holiday does that to ya, right?

Neil Wagner/Jeetan Patel

Essex vs Warwickshire

Truth is that Lord Jeetz came back at the perfect weight because he was able to throw a few extra kegs around with the bat. With Essex first up to bat, Jeetz settled into his standard dose of 45 overs, 4/138 @ 3.06 in which he snared Alistair Cook lbw as well as skittlin' Ravi Bopara's stumps after the former England international hit 192. 

Neil Wagner was left stranded on 24* (off 25 balls) as Essex were all-out for 541. After dismissing three of Essex's top-five batsmen, Jeetz then top-scored for Warwickshire at No.9 as he cracked 71 off 72 balls including 2 sixes. 

Thanks to this swashbuckling knock, Warwickshire crept their way up to 283 before being dismissed as Jeetz took his team from 192/7 to 283. Wagner chipped in with 2/95 off his 29 overs @ 3.27rpo, including the wicket of Jonathan Trott for 19 and he then doubled-up on the big wickets, sending Ian Bell packing for 11 as Warwickshire were forced to follow on. 

South African off-spinner Simon Harmer took 8/36 for Essex as they skittled Warwickshire for 94 (Jeetz only managed 8 runs this time) and this came after Harmer took 6/92 in the first dig. Harmer put Jeetz in the off-spinning shade, although it was Warwickshire's batting that robbed Jeetz of a chance to bowl twice and as Jeetz finished with the highest score of a Warwickshire batsmen in this game, Jeetz can't complain. 

Last time around I highlighted how Warwickshire had given Sukhjit (Sunny) Singh an opportunity with Jeetz on his Blackcaps holiday. With Jeetz returning, Singh was kept in the team and in that lone bowling innings for Warwickshire, he took 1/80 off 21 overs @ 3.80. 

Matt Quinn appears to still be out with those back troubles and Wagner still appears to be the mantis. Wagner is ranked 6th in Division One wickets with 23 wickets and with Harmer 3rd in wickets, two of Essex's top-three wicket-takers were born in South Africa. Shiver me timbers; Kyle Abbott (1st), Harmer (3rd), Ryan McLaren (5th) and Wagner (6th) were all born in South Africa. 

James Franklin

Middlesex vs Yorkshire

The joy of being skipper is that you can not do a whole lot with bat or ball and still lead your team to a momentous victory, which James Franklin did as Middlesex smoked the big-dawgs Yorkshire by an innings and a few runs. 

Middlesex were first to bat and without Adam Voges, Franklin slid up the order from his usual No.7 spot to bat No.5. This didn't yield any results for Franklin as ol' Ryan Sidebottom knocked his stumps over for 17 but a couple centuries from Middlesex's top-order put them in a good position; dismissed for 446.

Middlesex then pinned Yorkshire down for 208 and forced the follow on, which saw them repeat the dose and roll Yorkshire for 174 to grab a big win. Franklin only bowled in the second innings and took 1/12 off 5 overs @ 2.40rpo, he took the wicket of Adil Rashid and Rashid was joined by former England Test opener Adam Lyth, sometimes England batsman Gary Ballance and Aussie Test batsman Peter Handscombe in a strong Yorkshire batting line up.

The odd wicket here and there is putting Franklin in rather nice spot with his bowling as he's taken 9 wickets @ 21.66avg and only concedes 2.67rpo. Any team would love to have a bloke who can bat No.5 and own bowling stats like that, as well as being skipper and a GC. Lead 'em off Frank...

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