County Championship Division Two: Essex earn innings win to stay top
Tuesday 16 August 2016 18:28, UK
Essex took the final five Derbyshire wickets they needed to earn an innings-and-62-run victory that keeps them top of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two table.
Derbyshire - resuming on 213-5, following on in their second innings - lost two wickets in the opening over on day four; Callum Parkinson and Alex Mellor both falling to Ravi Bopara (3-39) for ducks.
Charlie MacDonell (35no) and Matt Critchley (43) denied Essex for a further 72 runs in their eighth wicket stand before Graham Napier (4-50) cleaned up the tail, finishing with eight wickets in the match.
Owen Morgan hit a maiden first-class century as Glamorgan chased down Worcestershire's 277-run target on the final day of their clash at New Road.
Morgan (103no) brought up a richly-deserved century with a boundary to win the game when on 99 and with three runs required.
Glamorgan's run-chase had got off to the worst possible start at the back-end of day three as Joe Leach (3-66) dismissed opener Nicholas Selman for a duck in the first over.
But resuming the final day on 16-1, Morgan's efforts, and handy support acts from William Bragg (46) and Aneurin Donald (57) helped the visitors to reach their target.
Sussex made light work of wrapping up victory over Gloucestershire on day four at Hove, needing just 2.5 overs to take the final wicket they needed to secure an innings-and-two-run win.
Though Gloucestershire were 149-8 overnight - still trailing Sussex by 11 runs - the hosts only needed one wicket to win, due to Liam Norwell being unable to bat following injury in the first innings.
Jack Taylor (56) was the final wicket to fall, bowled by Steve Magoffin (2-18) as Sussex secured an emphatic win.
Northamptonshire and Leicestershire's match at the County Ground ended in a draw, with the hosts 118-1 in their second innings when the two skippers agreed to a stalemate.
Leicestershire started the day 49-0 in their second innings, and Paul Horton (99) and Angus Robson (84) lifted that score further as the pair put on 184 for the first wicket, though the former fell agonisingly short of a hundred.
Leicestershire ultimately declared on 292-6 with a lead of 415, but Northants safely negotiated 38 overs for the loss of only one wicket - double centurion in the first innings, Rob Newton (22), bowled by Ben Raine (1-25).
