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County Championship round-up: Surrey stay top of Division One after six-wicket win, while Kent beat defending champions Warwickshire

Surrey completed a 22-point triumph - their sixth win in 10 matches -  when they reached 162-4 to clinch a six-wicket victory over Essex on the final day of County Championship Division One match; Kyle Abbott hat-trick sparks Hampshire victory; Sam Northeast hits 308no for Glamorgan

Ollie Pope
Image: Ollie Pope completed a dominant win for Surrey

Surrey needed just 80 minutes to seal a six-wicket victory over Essex that keeps them on top of the LV= Insurance County Championship Division One standings.

Resuming their second innings on 85 for two, and still requiring 76 more runs, Surrey lost opener Ryan Patel and all-rounder Jamie Overton before clinching a 22-point triumph - their sixth win in 10 matches - when they reached 162-4.

Patel, on 22 overnight, took his near four-hour knock to 38 before playing back to off-spinner Simon Harmer and edging a ball that turned and bounced to keeper Adam Rossington.

Overton was then promoted up the order on Patel's dismissal in the day's 16th over, and responded by swinging Matt Critchley's leg breaks over mid-wicket for six.

Jamie Overton
Image: Jamie Overton added some crucial runs

The all-rounder also launched Critchley for another huge six over wide mid-wicket before being caught off the same bowler for 21, at long off, in trying to end the match with one more blow.

Nightwatchman Tom Lawes, who was dropped on one at third slip off Shane Snater in the fifth over of the morning, played some excellent strokes of his own to finish 32 not out from 54 balls.

Lawes, the 19-year-old all-rounder making just his fifth first-class appearance, clipped Snater through mid-wicket for four and then skipped down the pitch to drive Harmer straight for six to show his capability with bat in hand.

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Ollie Pope, who replaced Overton, reverse-swept the first ball he faced, from Harmer, for four to complete Surrey's victory on the final day.

Surrey now face defending champions Warwickshire at the Oval next week with only four games remaining as they look to land the trophy they last won in 2018.

Essex take five points from the game.

Abbott hat-trick sparks Hampshire to victory

Kyle Abbott took a hat-trick to propel title-chasing Hampshire to a six-wicket win over Gloucestershire in their Division One match at Cheltenham.

Bottom-of-the-table Gloucestershire were 216-5 in their second innings and making a decent attempt at frustrating Hampshire when the South African fast bowler made his decisive intervention either side of the lunch interval.

Rewarded for bowling straight, he ended Miles Hammond's marathon stint, dismissing the left-hander for a career-best 169, and then returned after the break to account for Zafar Gohar and Tom Price with consecutive deliveries.

Abbott claimed the last five wickets in 12 balls to finish with figures of 6-76, while Keith Barker took 4-65 as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 337 in their second innings.

Pursuing a modest 82 to win, Hampshire reached their target in 9.3 overs for the loss of four wickets. Skipper James Vince scored a quickfire 24 from 16 balls, Liam Dawson hit the winning runs and Ryan Higgins took 3-41 by way of consolation.

Under pressure to prevail after title rivals Surrey and Lancashire had both won, Hampshire took 23 points to maintain their grip on second place in the table, while Gloucestershire (two points) are still without a win in 10 Championship matches this summer.

Sundar stars as Lancashire topple Northamptonshire

Washington Sundar capped a memorable Lancashire debut, following up a five-wicket haul with a match-winning 34 not out as he helped steer the Red Rose to a four-wicket LV= County Championship victory over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

The India international combined in an excellent unbeaten partnership of 69 with nightwatchman Will Williams to take Lancashire to their target.

Lancashire had started the day needing 86 more runs to pull off a win to keep their Division One challenge alive with five wickets in hand.

Josh Bohannon fell early, shortly after reaching his century, a wicket that could have opened the door for the home side, but Washington and Williams - who finished unbeaten on 29 - kept their cool, increasing in confidence as they inched towards their target.

Northamptonshire, who had taken a late flurry of wickets the previous evening, were buzzing when they took the field and buoyed further when Jack White, who skittled Lancashire in their first innings, removed Bohannon early.

But it was to be their only breakthrough as Washington and Williams guided Lancashire to a win that leaves them 31points behind Surrey in the table with four games to play.

Kent beat defending champions Warwickshire

Kent took a huge step away from the lower reaches of LV=Insurance County Championship Division One with a thumping 177-run victory over struggling champions Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The home side, resuming on 28-2 in pursuit of a target of 325, folded before lunch on the final day and were dismissed for 147.

Matt Milnes led the demolition with a destructive burst of 6.5-1-11-4 but Kent's quartet of seamers all played their part in building the pressure under which the Bears buckled.

The result leaves Warwickshire, who visit leaders Surrey next week, in real jeopardy of following their title triumph in 2021 with relegation in 2022.

Kent, meanwhile, climb into mid-table after an excellent performance by a team galvanised by the arrival of overseas pacemen Navdeep Saini and Matt Henry.

Their seam attack possessed the cutting edge that the depleted Bears, without the injured Liam Norwell, Olly Stone and Chris Woakes, sorely lacked.

Kent's bowlers were also supported by fine work in the field, led by captain and wicketkeeper Sam Billings who took 12 catches in the match, surpassing the previous Kent record of 10 (Fred Huish, 1911, and Jack Hubble, 1923).

Somerset's Bartlett denied century as rain stops play

Spectators were denied a potentially exciting finish when rain washed out the final day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Somerset and Yorkshire at Taunton.

Somerset were due to resume their second innings on 225-6, leading by 373, with George Bartlett unbeaten just 12 short of a century.

But the wet weather set in just before 11am and, although a 2.35pm start was planned following an early lunch, with 50 overs still possible, rain returned to frustrate all hopes of getting underway.

Umpires Hassan Adnan and Tom Lungley took the decision to abandon the match just after 3pm.

It was a disappointing end to a contest the home side had controlled from day two, but which might have seen Yorkshire take up the challenge of a last day run chase on a placid pitch.

Somerset took 15 points from the match and remain second from bottom of the First Division table, while Yorkshire's 12 saw them move up to fifth place.

Northeast unbeaten on 308 for Glamorgan

Sam Northeast notched the first double-century of his career and converted it to only the second triple-hundred in Glamorgan history as his side closed day three of their Division Two match on 563-5 in reply to Leicestershire's 584.

The 32-year-old eclipsed his previous best of 191 for Kent against Derbyshire in 2016 before finishing on 308 not out - just one short of matching Steve James' 309 not out against Sussex in 2000 as the highest first-class score by a Glamorgan player.

He shared a 306-run partnership for the third wicket with Colin Ingram, who made 139, comfortably beating the Glamorgan record against Leicestershire of 242 set by James and Matthew Maynard in 1995, before putting on an unbroken stand of 229 for the sixth with Chris Cooke (71 not out).

Frustration for Notts as they draw with Derbyshire

A combination of rain and determined batting denied Nottinghamshire victory on the final day of their match against Derbyshire at Derby.

The Division Two leaders needed 10 wickets but managed only four as Derbyshire ensured there would be no late drama, with openers Luis Reece and Harry Came scoring half-centuries.

Nottinghamshire's chances of taking another big step towards promotion were dealt a blow when rain prevented any play in the morning and took 21 overs out of the day's allocation.

Came and Reece then took their stand to 161, Derbyshire's first century opening partnership of the season and the highest against Nottinghamshire at Derby, with the former scoring his maiden first-class fifty.

Former Derbyshire player Ben Slater removed him for 70 before Reece went for 86 and, although Dane Paterson struck twice in the final session, the home side were 249-4 when the teams shook hands on a draw with 16 overs remaining.

Karvelas earns draw for Sussex

Debutant Sussex tailender Ari Karvelas thwarted Middlesex's hopes of victory with a defiant career-best half-century to secure a draw in their Division Two clash at Lord's despite Tom Helm's best efforts with the ball.

Karvelas, a Johannesburg-born Greece international, batted for more than two hours to blunt the Middlesex attack after Helm's morning burst - which earned him record match figures of 9-146 - had raised the prospects of a final-session run chase.

Helm picked up three wickets in 14 balls to reduce Sussex to 96-7, an overall lead of just 134, but a stubborn partnership of 47 between Karvelas and Archie Lenham steered the visitors towards safety.

The 28-year-old was eventually dismissed after top-scoring with 57, but by then his efforts had saved the game and the captains agreed on a draw with Sussex on 181-9 in their second innings.

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