No winners in Division Two as wet weather wreaks havoc
Tuesday 1 May 2018 09:50, UK
Somerset sealed back-to-back wins to kick off the Specsavers County Championship season as Craig Overton, Lewis Gregory and Tom Abell helped bowl them to a 118-run victory over Yorkshire at Taunton.
Cheteshwar Pujara (6) snicked Gregory (2-59) behind from the first ball of the day as Yorkshire, who resumed on 49-1 chasing 321 for victory, slipped to 103-6 before lunch - Gregory also accounting for Gary Ballance (19).
Jack Leaning (68 off 172) and Tim Bresnan (21) delayed the hosts with a seventh-wicket stand of 56 but Abell trapped the latter lbw with his medium pace and then nicked off Ben Coad (2) as Somerset bowled the Tykes out for 202 to back up last week's win over Worcestershire.
Craig Overton (3-43) picked up the final wicket of Leaning - the Yorkshire batsman skewing to Matthew Renshaw at square leg on the pull - having earlier removed Matthew Waite (6) and Andrew Hodd (1).
Yorkshire - whose defeat was their first of the campaign following an opening-round washout against Essex and a 164-run success against Nottinghamshire - will be boosted for their game at Essex next week by the inclusions of England pair Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.
Jake Ball is hoping to be involved with England this summer and pressed his claims with 5-59 as Nottinghamshire thrashed struggling Worcestershire by an innings and 41 runs to move top of the table, five points clear of Somerset, after a second victory in three matches. SCORECARD
Ball removed three of the Pears' top five, including Travis Head (29) and Daryl Mitchell (3), as the hosts, all out for 149, crumbled for the second time in two days to suffer a third straight defeat since promotion.
Stuart Broad, who bagged three wickets in Worcestershire's first innings and one in their third, earlier struck an enterprising 38 from 40 balls, featuring three fours, a six and a collision with team-mate Luke Fletcher, as Nottinghamshire declared on 300-9 at New Road.
Lancashire remain winless after being unable to force victory against Surrey at Old Trafford, with Ben Foakes (57) and Ollie Pope (41) helping bat the visitors to a draw on day four. SCORECARD
Surrey followed on after being dismissed for 235 - Graham Onions (4-49) removing last man Amar Virdi - and slipped to 90-4 in their second dig, Mark Stoneman battling his way to a 90-ball 29 after his first-innings duck.
However, Foakes and Pope dashed Lancashire's hopes of a win, combining for a stand 86 for the fifth wicket, with their dismissals coming too late as Ryan Patel and Sam Curran (both 9no) saw Surrey to 199-6.
Tom Bailey (4-13) bagged the wickets of Foakes, Pope, Stoneman and Scott Borthwick (0) to take his match tally to eight, having also scored a career-best 66 down the order in Lancashire's sole innings in Manchester.
Alastair Cook scored 84 in his first hit of the Championship season and Ravi Bopara compiled 84no as Essex replied to Hampshire's 351-7 with 300-6 on a chilly final day of the drawn game at the Ageas Bowl. SCORECARD
Essex's Australian seamer Peter Siddle bowled in a black woolly hat to combat the cold, wearing it when he broke Rilee Rossouw's bat and then had the South African caught behind two balls later.
In Division Two, Northamptonshire and Durham endured a washout at Wantage Road with the fourth day going the same way as the previous three - the first time a first-class fixture at Northampton has suffered a full abandonment since 1981.
Rain scuppered Sussex and Gloucestershire's hopes of forcing victory with no play possible on the final day at Hove - Gloucestershire having closed an action-packed third day on 108-6 chasing 167.
Middlesex's clash with Glamorgan at Lord's also fell victim to the weather, while a stalemate ensured in Leicestershire versus Derbyshire with the first seven sessions of the fixture having been washed out.
Leicestershire were dismissed for 381 on an uninterrupted day four at Grace Road, with Ned Eckersley taking his score to 54 before Derbyshire reached 251-8, thanks chiefly to Gary Wilson (64no). SCORECARD
