Yorkshire closing on second successive County Championship crown

Yorkshire continued their march towards a second successive County Championship with a dominant performance on day two against Somerset.

England batsmen Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow each scored 91 as Yorkshire built a first-innings lead of 281 at Headingley and they reduced Somerset to 44-2 by stumps.

Yorkshire already led by 28 after Tuesday's play, having bowled Somerset out for a paltry 110, and they continued to build on Wednesday morning with nightwatchman Steven Patterson and Ballance taking their stand to 90 before the latter became the first wicket of the day to fall to Craig Overton.

Patterson made 44 before Overton (4-64) struck again, and although wickets fell fairly regularly afterwards, all bar Yorkshire No 11 Ryan Sidebottom made it to double figures,

And with Bairstow returning to mid-summer form, hitting 11 fours and a six in his 91, Yorkshire were able to pile up 391 before he became the last man to fall, bowled by Lewis Gregory (3-75). Bairstow also passed 1,000 runs in Division One during his innings.

Worse would follow for Somerset as opener Tom Abell (four) fell off the bowling of Jack Brooks and captain Marcus Trescothick was trapped leg before by Sidebottom to leave them on 10-2.

They did at least manage a 34-run stand between Tom Cooper (12) and James Hildreth (18) before the close but Yorkshire are in a dominant position as they look to add to their healthy lead over Middlesex.

Middlesex failed to improve their hopes on the delayed opening day of their clash with Warwickshire at Edgbaston, being bowled out for only 207 after Tuesday's play was completely ruined by rain.

Jeetan Patel claimed five wickets for the home side, including the key wicket of top-scorer Neil Dexter, who was the only Middlesex batsman to pass 50.

They had started their innings brightly, mainly thanks to 41 from opener Paul Stirling, but they lost Dawid Malan (7) and Nick Compton (18) with the score on 80 and they were unable to battle back from that double blow.

Dexter and Olly Rayner did manage the only 50-run partnership of the innings but Patel claimed figures of 5-59, including having Dexter caught by Varun Chopra for a top score of 53.

The former New Zealand spinner also claimed the last two wickets to fall but it was not all plain sailing for the home batsmen once they had their chance.

Runs proved hard to come by in their 10 overs, and Ian Westwood was caught behind by John Simpson off the bowling of Rayner for seven as Warwickshire reached 21-1 by stumps.

Luke Wright reached 1,000 County Championship runs in a season for the first time as Sussex took control of their Division One basement clash with Worcestershire at New Road.

The former England one-day player took 23 balls to get off the mark but then produced a series of splendid attacking strokes in reaching 98 not out when play ended two overs early because of bad light - the second post-tea interruption. It was Wright's 10th score of 50 or more in the Championship this season.

By stumps Sussex had reached 251-3, a lead of 41 with seven wickets remaining, with Wright and Ben Brown (45) having put on 170 for the fourth wicket.

Matt Machan made 32 for Sussex and Chris Nash had reached 38 before he was forced to retire hurt when he top-edged a pull from Charlie Morris on to his helmet.

Hampshire stepped up their escape act in as they closed in on a second successive win against Durham at Chester-le-Street.

Ryan McLaren continued his excellent debut by scoring 30 and adding three wickets to his four in the first innings as Durham struggled to 126-6, a lead of only 88.

The momentum has shifted markedly since Hampshire clung on for a draw with nine wickets down when these sides met at the Ageas Bowl in July and a fourth successive home defeat looms for Durham.

Hampshire made it to 251 in their first innings, a lead of 38, despite none of their batsmen reaching 50 - Sean Ervine's 47 was as close as they got.

Graham Onions and John Hastings claimed four wickets apiece for Durham but, as in their first innings, the top of their batting order struggled second time around.

All of that was down to McLaren and Fidel Edwards, who shared the six wickets to fall between them, with Paul Collingwood (37) and Gordon Muchall (32) the only batsmen to provide a reasonable contribution.