Top three of Surrey, Hampshire and Lancashire all victorious in County Championship Division One, while Nottinghamshire remain on course for promotion from Division Two after hammering Sussex at Trent Bridge
Thursday 28 July 2022 21:12, UK
Table toppers Surrey beat Warwickshire by six wickets at The Kia Oval as they maintained their push for the LV= Insurance County Championship title.
The Londoners extended their lead over second-placed Hampshire to 16 points with three games remaining after reaching a target 248 in 60.4 overs against the Bears on Thursday.
Hashim Amla (80no), Rory Burns (61) and Ollie Pope (52) hit half-centuries before Will Jacks (18no off six balls) slammed three sixes in an entertaining cameo.
Earlier, West Indies seamer Kemar Roach took 4-20 in a six-over burst to earn overall figures of 5-72 as defending champions Warwickshire slid from an overnight 270-4 to 310 all out.
Hampshire eased to a target of 214 to beat Yorkshire by seven wickets at Scarborough and maintain the pressure on leaders Surrey with an eighth victory in 11 games.
Openers Felix Organ (72) and Ian Holland (71) put on 139 before a mini-wobble which saw Hampshire lose three wickets for 12 runs - Organ, Holland and Joe Weatherley (0) departing as the visitors slipped to 147-3.
Vince (43no) and Nick Gubbins (20no) then steered their side to victory with an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 67.
Lancashire remain third in the top flight after skittling Kent for just 127 to record a 184-run victory at Emirates Old Trafford.
The hosts - who declared on 436-9 earlier in the day as Kent were set 312 to win from a minimum of 82 overs - rolled their opponents in 46.2 overs with Zak Crawley following his first-innings duck with just four second time around amid his side tumbling to 10-3.
Daniel Bell-Drummond (69no) made the only substantial score for Kent as Tom Bailey (5-46) - who recorded match figures of 11-110 - Will Williams (2-14) and Washington Sundar (3-24) shredded his team-mates.
It was a remarkable comeback win for Lancashire, who trailed by 125 runs after first innings.
A frustrating draw for Essex against Somerset at Chelmsford looks to have all but ended their faint hopes of another Championship title.
Concussion substitute Tom Banton (126 off 120) and James Rew (101 off 210) struck contrasting maiden red-ball centuries for the away side to help them declare on 605-6.
It left a lead of 100 and a tricky period for Essex to bat but they brushed off a fifth-ball dismissal for first-innings double centurion Nick Browne (0) to reach 30-1.
There was much more excitement at Cheltenham where Ryan Rickelton's exhilarating 68 off 47 balls saw Northamptonshire successfully knock off a target of 202 with two wickets left against Gloucestershire.
Defeat left a bitter taste for Gloucestershire captain Graeme Van Buuren, who struck 127 not out and declared on 363-9 to set up the chance of a positive result.
Zafar Gohar tried in vain to bowl the hosts to victory with 5-62 but Rickelton smashed three maximums and received able support from Will Young (43) before Northamptonshire survived a mini-collapse at the death to succeed with 20 balls to spare.
In Division Two, Nottinghamshire consolidated top spot as they hammered Sussex by 256 runs at Trent Bridge, with the visitors bundled out for 142 in 47.3 overs having been set an unlikely 399 to win.
Dane Paterson (3-14) and James Pattinson (3-47) shared six wickets, while India batter Cheteshwar Pujara top-scored for Sussex with 46 not out.
One positive for Sussex, and England, was that Ollie Robinson bagged nine wickets in the match in his first outing since May following a back injury.
Nottinghamshire's title rivals Middlesex could only draw at Durham but home favourite Chris Rushworth was able to celebrate his 600th first-class wicket.
Rushworth's milestone scalp helped bowl out the away side for 455, but the home team soon wiped out the 34-run deficit before reaching 142-3 when the anticipated draw was finally confirmed.
Derbyshire beat Worcestershire by 98 runs at New Road as all-rounder Anuj Dal claimed 5-40 to cap a superb individual performance.
Dal took four of the five wickets to fall on the final day as Worcestershire were dismissed for 190 having resumed on 108-5 in pursuit of 289 to win.
Dal - who scored 55 and unbeaten 112 for Derbyshire earlier in the game - added the wickets of Jack Haynes (45), Joe Leach (0), Josh Baker (4) and Dillon Pennington (4) to his third-day dismissal of Kashif Ali (6).
