Wednesday 20 August 2014 11:39, UK
A fighting century from Luke Wright was not enough to stop LV= County Championship leaders Yorkshire from gaining a nine-wicket victory over Sussex at Scarborough.
A wet ground from earlier showers caused a 20-minute delay to the start of the final day which saw Sussex resume on 98-4 still trailing by 25.
Wright's 113 guided the visitors to 230 which left Yorkshire to make 106 off 39 overs and they got there with 18.5 overs in hand, Alex Lees top-scoring with 46 from 50 balls with four fours and a six, while Adam Lyth was unbeaten on 39 and Kane Williamson 15 not out.
The maximum haul of 24 points that Yorkshire took out of the game leaves them six points ahead of nearest rivals Nottinghamshire - one point more than before the match began.
An unbeaten century from in-form Alex Hales enabled Nottinghamshire to maintain their title challenge with a five-wicket success over Northamptonshire.
A mighty six from Hales took him to 102 not out and lifted Notts to their victory target of 211 with more than a session to spare at Wantage Road.
The 25-year-old Hales, who also struck 16 fours as well as that maximum off Andrew Hall, had shared in a stand of 122 with James Taylor (37) to take the match away from the home side. His only life came on 89, with the finishing line in sight, as Hall put him down at slip off Neil Wagner.
Nottinghamshire's victory, their sixth of the season, earned them 23 points and keeps them hard on the heels of Yorkshire, whilst Northamptonshire, still looking for their first Championship success of the season, took only four points from the contest and slipped to their 10th defeat in 12 matches.
Jeetan Patel and Recordo Gordon took four wickets each as Warwickshire also kept themselves in the race for the title with a 215-run win over Somerset at Taunton.
Experienced off-spinner Patel finished with 4-64 and match figures of 8-145 after helping to bowl out the hosts for 188 in their second innings, while Gordon claimed 4-53.
Peter Trego top-scored with 42 in a poor final-day batting effort from the visitors, who had resumed on one without loss.
Warwickshire took 23 points to leapfrog their opponents into third place in the Division One table, while for Somerset defeat and only five points appeared to spell the end of their hopes of being involved in the fight for silverware.
At the other end of the table, Lancashire moved out of the bottom two with a dramatic one-wicket win over Durham - a result that means their opponents are now occupying one of the relegation places.
Last man Simon Kerrigan made 14 not out as he and Tom Smith, who finished up unbeaten on 35, saw the hosts to their target of 107 at Old Trafford with just two balls to spare.
Kerrigan had earlier taken 4-61 with the ball as Durham were dismissed for 187 in their second innings. They had started the final day on 59-1 but only skipper Paul Collingwood (45 no) offered any real resistance.
However Lancashire were quickly reduced to 36-5 as John Hastings (4-40) ripped through their top order. Ben Stokes then picked up three wickets as the Red Rose County stumbled to 90-9, only for the final-wicket pair to save the day.
