Tuesday 12 September 2017 19:07, UK
Jamie Porter and Simon Harmer took four wickets apiece as Essex made a strong start to their Specsavers County Championship Division One clash at Warwickshire.
Essex came into the clash knowing a victory could secure them a first County Championship title since 1992 and captain Ryan ten Doeschate's decision to field first was soon justified.
Porter (4-62) claimed wickets in his first two overs to leave the hosts wobbling early on at Edgbaston and while Dominic Sibley made a battling 76, Warwickshire never really recovered as Harmer (4-47) soon got in on the act.
After Warwickshire fell to 201 all out, Essex openers Varun Chopra (42no) and Nick Browne (23no) began positively in their first innings and they had advanced to 69-0 by stumps.
Lancashire are the only side who can realistically deny Essex a first title in 25 years but a century from Steven Davies held them up on day one at relegation-threatened Somerset.
Somerset closed on 330-9 at Taunton with Davies making 111 before he was bowled by Tom Bailey late in the day.
Bailey had got Lancashire up and running with the wicket of Marcus Trescothick (25) but young leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson was the pick of the visitors' bowlers, taking 4-68.
Glen Chapple's side will hope to take the final Somerset wicket swiftly on day two as they aim to keep their slim title hopes alive.
At The Oval, Mark Stoneman strengthened his case for a place in the England squad for this winter's Ashes with a century for Surrey against Yorkshire.
The opener was in fine form on his return to the Surrey line-up, hitting 22 boundaries in his knock of 131 as Surrey reached 398-3 at stumps.
It was a difficult day for the Yorkshire bowlers as Rory Burns made 75 at the top of the order and Kumar Sangakkara and Ben Foakes also made fifties.
Sangakkara and Foakes will resume on 85 and 64, respectively, as draw specialists Surrey endeavour to build a platform from which they can catapult themselves to only a second Championship win of the season.
Meanwhile, Middlesex and Hampshire must wait until tomorrow to get their match underway after the first day was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to a wet outfield at Uxbridge.
In Division Two, a hundred from Neil Dexter put Leicestershire on top at the end of day one after second-placed Worcestershire had made a flying start at New Road.
Wickets from Josh Tongue, Joe Leach and Ed Barnard had reduced Leicestershire 25-3 but a stand of 104 between Mark Cosgrove (74) and Aadil Ali (40) prevented a collapse and Dexter then helped put the away side in the ascendency.
He will resume on 102 with Leicestershire 325-7 against their promotion-chasing opponents.
Gloucestershire's Cameron Bancroft finished unbeaten on 124 at the end of the first day against Kent.
The opener accounted for more than half of his side's runs as Gloucestershire finished on 242-5 in Bristol.
Bancroft shared an opening partnership of 141 with Chris Dent (59) and it took the part-time leg-spin of Joe Denly to eventually break the stand. It was one of two wickets for Denly (2-64) as, Bancroft aside, the hosts stuttered after an encouraging start.
David Wiese and George Garton shared seven wickets for Sussex as Derbyshire closed on 338-9 at Hove.
Luis Reece (51) and Ben Slater (48) put on 101 for the first wicket before falling in quick succession to Garton (3-79), who also dismissed No 3 Billy Godleman (51).
Derbyshire were boosted by contributions throughout the order but no one was able to push on as Wiese (4-63) got stuck into the middle and lower order, although Harvey Hosein (38no) stood firm.
Richard Gleeson's five-for helped Northamptonshire to bowl out Glamorgan for just 207 in Cardiff but a good day for the visitors was tempered by the loss of two early wickets in their reply.
Having bowled Glamorgan skipper Jacques Rudolph (0), Gleeson return to tear through the middle-order and wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Andrew Salter (59), who top-scored for the hosts.
Northants will begin day two on 59-2 having lost Ben Duckett (11) and David Murphy (nine) before the close.
