Vitality County Championship 2024, Round 12, Day 3, 29th Aug -1st Sept Live Streaming, Latest Scores, Match Reports – All Matches – Division 1 and 2

Here are all the latest scores, match reports and news for the Vitality County Championship 2024, Round 12, Day 2, Division 1 and 2 - 29th Aug - 1st Sept

Round 12 Saturday 31st August

Division One

Essex vs Worcestershire,  The Cloud County Ground.

Fifties by Jake Libby, Brett D’Oliveira and Adam Hose ensured Worcestershire would make Essex bat again in their rollercoaster match at Chelmsford.

  When bad light took the players off the field with 20 over remaining on day three of the Vitality County Championship match, Worcestershire had turned a 138-run first-innings deficit into a 165-run lead.

  Libby laid the foundations for the recovery with a 112-ball 65 at the top of the order. But it was an 80-run stand for the sixth wicket between D’Oliveira (51 from 71 balls) and Hose (64 off 91) – the pair coming together with two runs still required to erase the arrears – that gave Worcestershire hope of securing a third successive victory to move clear of the relegation area.

  Simon Harmer spearheaded the mercurial Essex attack, sending down 26 overs in the foreshortened day and taking 3-110, including the wicket of Hose to an extraordinary delivery. Essex will be looking for a first victory in four games on the final day to maintain their fading interest in the title race. 

  Nightwatchman Joe Leach lasted just four balls on a grey, overcast morning before Sam Cook ended his 21-ball nought by inducing a thick edge through to the wicketkeeper. Gareth Roderick narrowly avoided a pair before he was turned around by Jamie Porter on six and nicked to second slip.

  Libby found good support from Kashif Ali in a 51-run third-wicket stand until Paul Walter was introduced and with his fourth ball had Ali following the ball across him through to slip.

  Libby survived a couple of scares but reached his fifty from the 90th ball faced, his eighth four helped on its way high over the wicketkeeper’s head. His latest partner Rob Jones took a liking to Harmer, hitting four successive boundaries, two of them identical shots on the sweep.

  However, the 55-run fourth-wicket stand was broken soon after lunch when Libby drove loosely at Cook and was caught low down at backward point. And six runs later, Jones went for another sweep against Harmer, this time more uppishly, and Dean Elgar completed the dismissal when running back from square leg.

  That left Worcestershire five down and still two runs short of making Essex bat again. That landmark was duly achieved and built on as Hose and D’Oliveira dug in obdurately initially to the extent that Porter came on for three overs and went off again without conceding a run. The first fifty of their partnership took 16 overs.

  The run-rate rose steeply with 31 runs added by the pair in the next four overs before Matt Critchley switched ends to give Harmer a rest and first ball had D’Oliveira fencing to second slip. Harmer’s rest spanned the tea break but his first ball after the interval brought the downfall of Hose, who padded up outside off-stump to a ball that turned prodigiously as it hit the crease to leave him bewildered to see the bails lying on the ground behind him.

  Harmer had a third wicket to his name when Ethan Brookes went to reverse-sweep, as he had successfully on several occasions in the first innings This time, however, the ball popped up off an edge to Robin Das diving full-length at short leg to cling on one-handed.

   With the floodlights on and the light deteriorating appreciably, Essex declined the option of taking the new-ball when it was due after 80 over, sticking with their spinners. The gesture proved in vain as the umpires deemed it too dark to continue an over later.

 

Worcestershire’s Adam Hose hit 64 and spoke about the extraordinary ball from Simon Harmer that bowled him:  “I couldn’t believe it when it bowled me, I didn’t really hear much and I watched it back on the replay and it just flicks the top of middle stump on the way through to Michael Pepper. I was in a bit of disbelief how it bowled me considering where it pitched.

  “It did turn a long way. I look back and maybe if I’m really critical I didn’t smother it. I defended it a bit squarer than maybe I did in the session before, but these are fine margins and I think it’s pitching on ninth or tenth stump and swung back and hit middle. You can’t do much about those, but I was happy to contribute today.

    “At the end of the day it’s not one I’ll look too much into. He’s bowled plenty of those throughout his career. But it was pretty solid delivery to be fair.

  “All the conversation [between me and Brett] was about being positive. We knew that time  

wasn’t necessarily a big thing in the game, but runs were. We were looking to score, being really positive in everything we did: working on our defence and looking to score when the time arose. That was the really important thing. We just switched that momentum. We felt Essex fielders were getting quite frustrated and from put point of view that was a good sign.

  “The biggest facet for us as a group of players is how much character and fight we show. We know we’re behind in the game but that will never put us off those challenges. If we can keep creeping that total up towards 200 there are still balls out there with your name on it and we feel we’d be in with a good chance of winning the game.”

 

Essex’s Matt Critchley said. “It’s been a pretty frustrating day for us to be honest, they batted pretty well and we bowled pretty well but we were a bit disappointed  because we put a few chances down.  There were also a few half-chances throughout the day  that didn’t go to hand.

  “But we feel we are in a very good position going into tomorrow  and feel that we can come out on top in this game.

  “A few of our batters were disappointed at getting out during the middle overs of our innings because that period  does seem  the easier period to bat . The ball does a little bit early on , I wouldn’t say it always carries and then while the ball is hard, there is a little more bounce  and it spins a bit more. But as the innings progresses, the nicks don’t carry or just seem to evade  fielders.

  “They seemed to want to show a bit more aggression against me and ‘Harmy’ (Simon Harmer), maybe they had a plan. The job’s not done yet, they do bat down the order  but the second new ball is available immediately and hopefully we can take the remaining two wickets quickly.

  “Looking ahead, to our second innings it will be important to get through those first 15 or 20 overs and hopefully build on successfully after that.”

Lancashire vs Hampshire,  Emirates Old Trafford.

Hampshire’s cricketers enjoyed a Saturday to remember at Emirates Old Trafford when they defeated Lancashire by an innings and 37 runs with a day to spare in their Vitality County Championship match.

Having dismissed Lancashire for 200 in their first innings and enforced the follow-on, the visitors bowled Keaton Jennings’ side out a second time for 152. Liam Dawson took five for 52 to finish with match figures of 10 for 99 and Muhammad Abbas bagged three for 18. Luke Wells offered the only significant resistance for the home side with 53.

Hampshire gain 22 points whereas Lancashire collect just three. 

The victory is only Hampshire’s third by an innings in 158 matches against Lancashire, the complete sequence of games stretching back to 1870. The other two hammerings were achieved at Bournemouth in 1922 and Southport in 1973.

And following their loss at The Oval last week, this defeat marks the first time since 1907 that Lancashire have lost successive County Championship matches by an innings. 

More seriously for the Old Trafford side’s immediate future, the home defeat leaves them still ninth out of the ten teams in Division One and plainly in danger of being relegated to the second tier of English domestic cricket.

At the start of the day, it had taken Hampshire’s bowlers just nine balls to claim Lancashire’s last two first-innings wickets. George Bell was caught behind by Ben Brown off John Turner for 35 and Tom Aspinwall was leg before to Dawson for a five-ball duck, leaving the slow left-armer with season-best figures of five for 47 from 28.3 overs. 

Empowered by their 189-run first-innings lead and with thunderstorms possible on Sunday, Hampshire opted to enforce the follow-on and were almost immediately rewarded with two prime wickets.

Having been deterred from coming down the wicket by Brown standing up to the stumps, Jennings was pinned on the crease by Abbas and was lbw for one. Three overs later, Josh Bohannon was lbw to John Turner for a 12-ball nought and Lancashire were 12 for two.

Wells and Rocky Flintoff shepherded Lancashire to 34 for two after 25 overs at lunch, only for the home side to lose two wickets in just over half an hour of the afternoon session. Flintoff, having resisted for all but an hour, was caught by Brown off Abbas for eight, and five overs later Matty Hurst swiped at Dawson and was bowled for a 19-ball duck.

Bell and Wells then settled for the attritional approach, adding 44 runs and thereby doubling the score in 20 overs of dogged resistance before Bell was caught at short leg by Fletcha Middleton off James Fuller for 21 and Wells was bowled for 53, five balls after reaching his half-century, when he played a slower ball from Dawson down and into the stumps. 

George Balderson and Venkatesh Iyer adopted a more attacking approach either side of tea but Dawson struck back on the resumption when he dismissed Iyer for 36, the Indian chopping the ball into his stumps.

Next over, Balderson was caught at slip by Tom Prest off Abbas for seven and seven overs later Tom Hartley was bowled by Liam Dawson for 10. The match ended when Bailey skied Dawson to Abbott at midwicket to complete a remarkable game for the all-rounder, who had taken ten wicket and also scored a century, a feat he also achieved only last season against Middlesex.

 

Liam Dawson, Hampshire all-rounder, (10-99 and 108* in the match) said:

That was an outstanding win on a very friendly batting pitch. I don’t think Lancashire batted as well as they should have done on that pitch but the way Muhammad Abbas and Kyle Abbott started with the ball in Lancashire’s second innings was outstanding.

Lancashire didn’t go anywhere, the pressure built up and we got the rewards throughout the day. You have to find ways to get wickets and we managed to get the ball reversing. It showed how skilful our bowlers are.

I think we were always going to put them back in even if they got near the follow-on. We decided that was the best way to win the game and we’ve come away with a victory.

Mo Abbas bowled brilliantly but he’s used to bowling on those pitches in Pakistan and it’s nothing new to him. We knew Lancashire had a young team and we could pressure on them and we did that today.

There was enough spin there to help me and we earned the right to keep the field up. We all knew the evening session on day one wasn’t good enough but for the remainder of the game we managed to keep to the standards we know.  

Dale Benkenstein, Lancashire head coach, said:

“It’s very disappointing. The Surrey game you put down to playing the champions and a very good side. But in the First Division you are coming up against good sides every week.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity we are giving our players, and really there’s no excuses over the last three days. I think we had a fantastic pitch and a first day position where we could have got them 300 all out. That last wicket partnership really hurt us, mentally as well.

“Credit to them, their bowling was incredibly disciplined over a long period of time but I still think that the pitch was good enough for us to be able to combat that. We haven’t been good enough and that’s disappointing.

“We lack a bit of quality and experience and I think that one or two players does make a difference. You are hoping for people to step up and generally over time they will but no one is really putting in the performances having been given the opportunity.

“You are also expecting your senior players to perform and isn’t happening either so it’s a combination of where we are at the minute as a team. There’s a bit of a lack of performance which probably comes with  a lack of confidence.”

 

Nottinghamshire vs Surrey, Trent Bridge.

A maiden century in only his third first-class innings from the 19-year old, locally raised left-hander Freddie McCann helped take Nottinghamshire’s reply to 405 at Trent Bridge despite a caree-best seven for 129 from Surrey spinner Will Jacks. Batting again, Surrey ended the third day of their Vitality County Championship match 133 ahead on 13-1.

Play was soured in the afternoon, however, when Jacks, selected in both England’s white-ball squads for their games against Australia in September, smartly fielded a pull on the bounce at short mid-wicket and threw the ball hard and high towards the wicketkeeper causing McCann to take evasive action.

Umpires James Middlebrook and Paul Pollard immediately summoned Surrey skipper, Rory Burns, and applied five penalty runs under Law 42.3.1 for “throwing the ball at  a player in an inappropriate or dangerous manner”. The matter will also now be referred to Surrey for any futher disciplinary action they deem condign.

Half an hour later McCann became the fourth victim in the innings of Jacks’s off-spin, slog-sweeping to long-on for 154. And Jack Haynes soon went for 68 to the same all-rounder but the follow-on target of 376 was passed just after tea with six wickets down.

On 144-3 overnight after the nightwatchman had gone to what proved Friday’s final ball, the home side lost Joe Clarke in the morning’s fourth full over when, rashly, he advanced to launch a straight drive at Jacks only to be stumped as the ball spun sharply out of the rough trough thew gate. Clarke, gone for four, was Jacks’s third success in 11 balls after his breakthroughs the previous evening.

He remained a threat at the end from which fellow off-spinner Fahran Ahmed had taken seven wickets on the opening two days. But, with Haynes surviving an early alarm when edging a Cam Steel leg-break between wicketkeeper and slip on three, resistance of some character brought lunch at 231-4.

The partnership had added 154 when McCann departed after 268 balls of high application straight after Haynes had posted a sixth fifty in his 15 innings since joining from Worcestershire. None of these though has passed 77 and the pattern continued when, glancing, his thin legside edge was taken behind.

Kyle Verreynne, the South Africa wicketkeeper in his maiden county innings after arriving as Nottinghamshire’s third overseas player this season, was joined by Lyndon James to see the innings to 369-4 at tea. But two overs after they had averted the follow-on, James, slicing a drive to backward point for 23, gave Steel his first success in completing 22 of the 110 overs.

With bonus points decided as five to Surrey, four to Notts, Liam Patterson-White was leg-before, one run later, giving Jacks his only six-wicket bag since his success at Rawalpindi in the first of his two Tests, against Pakistan in 2022. He had bowled a mere six championship overs hitherto this year.

Rob Lord, on debut, came and went for 10 to Steel and Ahmed to Jacks without score as the final four fell for 21 in 30 balls, leaving Verreyyne unbeaten on 50 from just 60 balls. Leading by 120 on first innings, Surrey then faced spin at both ends from the off.

It took Ahmed eight balls to add to his match tally when Dom Sibley clipped to mid-wicket but after seven overs bad light intervened with eleven of the day’s quota left unbowled. Surrey’s pursuit of an eighth win in nine games and a third successive championship title was put on hold for the night.

JADE DERNBACH, SURREY ASSISTANT COACH

“It wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about the incident. In terms of the pitch, there’s not really a lot of turn. You can really only find out of wide, small patches of rough. The middle area is not really responsive at all. There’s a lot of attritional work to be done

The fact that you can have fast bowlers of the quality of ours starting the day with no close catchers at all tells you all you need to know really. You’re right, it required improvisation with our field settings. It’s now down to our overnight pair to get themselves in in the morning and grab the chance to push forward if it comes. They’re experienced enough to decide that but we’ll certainly go for the win if we can. That’s always the Surrey way.

I thought Will Jacks was very impressive to come in and put in such a shift for the team after so little bowling this season. He stood in there, waited for his chances and got his just results in the end”

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 19-YEAR-OLD FREDDIE McCANN, MADE 154 IN HIS THIRD FIRST-CLASS INNINGS

“I knew that batting at number three is such an important position. You just do your best to create some runs and set a position from which the side can push on. I was very pleased with the reception I got and it’ll be great to see the family tonight

The dressing room has been so welcoming both in the winter and all this summer. Being local, this is where I’d come watching growing up. Everything has come off a bit quicker than I expected, to be honest, making my England U-19 debut and then my first one-day and championship games for Notts.

I imagine I may be bowling a bit tomorrow as we try to create as many wickets as possible. Fahran Ahmed (off-spinner who became the youngest English cricketer every to take a five-wkt bag in this, his cahmpionship debut) is an incredible talent. I’ve played with him for three or four years. We’ll all work to set up a chance on the last day.”

Somerset vs Durham, Cooper Associates County Ground

A Brydon Carse century on his return after suspension was not enough to prevent Durham slipping towards likely defeat on the third day of the Vitality County Championship Division One match with Somerset at Taunton.

The visitors began by adding 64 runs to their overnight first innings score of 272 for six before being bowled out for 336, Carse contributing a valiant 104 and Ben Raine making 62. Jack Leach finished with five for 124 off 41.1 overs.

That gave Somerset a first innings lead of 156. They declined to enforce the follow on and posted 263 for five in their second innings, Tom Abell leading the way with top score of 56.

After an hour’s delay for bad light, the home side declared, setting their opponents an unlikely victory target of 420 on pitch offering increasing assistance for the spinners. By stumps, they had stumbled to 15 for three and face a backs-to-the-wall final day.

Durham began the morning session needing 71 runs to avoid the prospect of following on, with Carse, in his first game back after serving a three-month ban for historic breaches of betting rules, unbeaten on 59 and Raine 51 not out.

The pair added 15, extending their seventh-wicket stand to 117, before Raine edged Leach into the bucket hands of Craig Overton, who claimed his fourth catch of the innings at slip.

Seamer Kasey Aldridge then took a hand, sending back George Drissell, who fended a steeply rising ball to short leg, and Daniel Hogg, caught by diving wicketkeeper James Rew, to leave Durham 305 for nine.

Carse had already cleared the ropes off Leach and went to his hundred with two more sixes off successive deliveries from Aldridge, having faced 161 balls and hit 11 fours and four maximums. It was a faultless knock by the England white ball international, but before he could face again, last man Callum Parkinson was caught at silly point off Leach to end the innings.

Somerset’s second innings plan appeared to be to bat aggressively while Lewis Goldsworthy played an anchor role. Fellow opener Andy Umeed made a rapid 28 off 31 balls before lofting a catch to long-off in the penultimate over before lunch, Drissell taking the chance off Parkinson. At the interval, Somerset were 41 for one, with a lead of 197, and poised for an afternoon assault.

Tom Lammonby launched it with 36 off 34 balls, looking in excellent touch until beaten by a perfectly pitched off-break from Drissell, which turned and clipped the left-hander’s off stump. Abell then added 36 with the patient Goldsworthy, whose 99-ball innings ended when he was caught behind, driving at Parkinson, having matched his first innings score of 38.

Tom Banton provided just the acceleration his team needed, smashing two sixes in a Drissell over and also clearing the ropes twice off Parkinson as he raced to 46 off 28 balls before miscuing a catch to mid-off to give Carse a wicket. By then Somerset were 353 ahead at 197 for four.

Abell was unbeaten on 45 at tea, which was taken at 209 for four. He reached a confident 69-ball half-century with an exquisite extra cover drive for four off Bas de Leede, but fell soon afterwards edging the same bowler through to wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson to make it 228 for five.

Rew and Archie Vaughan had added a further 35 to take the lead past 400 when, with the floodlights blazing brightly, the umpires decided the light was too poor to continue. An hour later play resumed at 6.05pm with the declaration made and Durham facing a maximum of 13 overs before the close.

They made a disastrous start against spin from both ends, Alex Lees calling for a quick single to cover off the first ball of the second over, bowled by Vaughan, and Ben McKinney unable to beat Abell’s throw to wicketkeeper Rew.

Overton’s close catching prowess was evident again when Lees edged Leach to leg slip and departed for six. Then Vaughan bowled Scott Borthwick, turning the ball past his outside edge, to leave Durham with two nightwatchmen at the wicket and facing a massive uphill battle.

Somerset batting coach Shane Burger said: “If we could have scripted the way the day was going to go, it would have been pretty much in that fashion.

“Brydon Carse batted really well for them, but for Jack Leach to get his second five-for in a row was great to see and Archie Vaughan has come in a provided us with an element of control in the absence of Shoaib Bashir.

“From a batting point of view, we knew we had to score quickly to set the game up and we did that, with Tom Abell again outstanding. Lewis Goldsworthy is in really good form having been away on loan and I’m happy that people are playing impactful knocks to put us in positions to win games.

“At the end of the day the umpires said it would be okay for us to bowl just spin. Durham had not been happy to do that, which is their prerogative. Now we have to bowl really well again tomorrow because they have some good players in the bank and the ball has not done as much when it has got older.”

 

Durham skipper Scott Borthwick said: “It wasn’t a great day for us. Losing those three wickets at the end was a massive blow, which has hurt us.

“I don’t want to stand here and moan, but it was pretty much pitch black out there at times. But Somerset have played really well over the course of three days.

“Once they got off to a good start in their second innings, it was always going to be difficult for us to control their run-rate and it was a challenging day for us.

“Our lads are never found wanting for effort and the innings from Brydon Carse was really special. He showed just what a cricketer he is, not just a bowler, but a proper all-rounder.

“I still believe we can take something from the game. Hopefully, the two batters now in can hang around tomorrow and we have some good ones like Ollie Robinson and Ash Turner still to come.

“We will keep believing, try to put some big partnerships together and see where it takes us.”

Warwickshire vs Kent, Edgbaston.

Warwickshire banked their first Vitality Championship victory of the season in the most emphatic fashion, by an innings and 21 runs over struggling Kent, well inside three days at Edgbaston. 

Kent were bowled out in their second innings for 243 on the third morning as Warwickshire’s seamers completed the demolition job they start on their opponents on the first morning.

Bowled out for 156 first time round, Kent mustered little more at their second attempt even against the Kookaburra ball on an easing pitch as Oliver Hannon-Dalby took six for 43 (nine for 74 in the match). Only Joey Evison (65, 103 balls) offered prolonged resistance as the visitors’ dismal season delivered a sixth successive championship defeat and another shunt towards relegation.

Injuries to key pair Tawanda Muyeye and Grant Stewart only added to a grim three days in the West Midlands for Matt Walker’s side.

After Kent resumed on the third morning on 157 for three, they advanced comfortably enough to 171 before Hannon-Dalby hit them with a burst of three for six in 14 balls. Sharp in-duckers trapped Jack Leaning and Muyeye lbw and Charlie Stobo sent his first ball to Rob Yates at second slip.

Hannon-Dalby was six tenths of the way to an all-ten but that pathway was ended by Ed Barnard who trapped Grant Stewart lbw and followed up with the wicket of Matt Parkinson, who edged to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess.

Alfie Ogborne edged Michael Rae to slip before Evison, running out of partners, lifted Barnard for six to reach a 93-ball half-century. Evison batted impressively in both innings but when another attempt to clear the ropes, off Michael Booth, found only Alex Davies at long on, another championship ordeal for Kent was complete. Their championship Division One status will expire shortly but Warwickshire’s appears safe for another year after this victory as other teams in the bottom half of the table struggle in their games around the country.

Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson said:

"Obviously this was a game you target due to where they are in the league and we needed a win as well so it was something we went all out to get. We played really good cricket. 

"I've got a bit of empathy for Kent because they are in a difficult place and have lost a lot of players injured, they are probably the hardest-hit team in the country, but when a team is a little bit vulnerable like that you have got to go for the jugular and we have managed to do that.

"The first morning was key. To bundle them out for 150 really set the game for us and then it was all about being positive and trying to get a score and we did that around Will Rhodes' double century. He hadn't had a score for a few championship games and was itching to get one. He did some great work with Ian Westwood coming in to this game and really cashed in on what became a good batting wicket.

"Throughout the game we bowled really well as a unit. Olly Hannon-Dalby will get the headlines and rightly so but Michael Rea's spell this morning was really hostile and backed him up brilliantly."

 

Kent coach Matt Walker said:

“It’s the same problem unfortunately, we can’t get in games. First innings deficits are created by a lack of runs and then it's how we follow up with the bowling.

"Too often we’re out of the game very quickly and it’s happened again this week. They bowled pretty well but 156 was never going to be a score that would threaten them. Straight away after day one we were right on the back foot and by the end of day two we were having to try and survive again.”

“We weren’t able to match what they did with the ball and leaked too many runs. That’s the difference between good sides and those who are struggling, the ability to apply pressure over and over again and we just can’t do it."

Division Two

Glamorgan vs Leicestershire, Sophia Gardens.

Leicestershire’s international pair Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb battled hard to give their side a chance of saving the game, after Glamorgan’s Colin Ingram had continued his batting masterclass.

Rahane was 47 not out and Handscomb unbeaten on 33, Leicestershire 144-3, trailing by 155, when bad light stopped play with 21.2 scheduled overs remaining.

Both the Indian and Australian were dropped by Glamorgan leg spinner Mason Crane, two of his three dropped catches coming off his own bowling, in moments which may come back to haunt the home side as they chase victory on the final day.

That was after Glamorgan had declared on 550-9, with a lead of 299, Ingram unbeaten on a personal best 257, Crane getting his day off to a better start with 49 runs to his name.

Glamorgan started the day in a strong position and soon set about building on those solid foundations, with Colin Ingram carrying on as he had done over the previous two days.

Having already notched his first ever double century, the fastest Glamorgan player to 1,000 runs in a season, he notched his first ever 250, confidently progressing in serene fashion.

He had good support from Mason Crane who was one short of a well deserved half century when he was dismissed in one of the most unfortunate ways possible.

Ingram hit the ball firmly back down the ground, bowler Rehan Ahmed got a fingertip to the ball which went on to hit the stumps at the bowler’s end before Crane could regain his ground.

New Zealander Fraser Sheat hit a breezy 34 while Ingram mainly watched on, Ned Leonard had one nice boundary before the declaration came just before lunch with Glamorgan nine down, 299 runs ahead on the first innings scores.

Ingram was 257 not out, having been on the field for all but one ball of the match, batting just three minutes short of ten hours, as Glamorgan added 119 runs to their total during the morning.

Leicestershire had a mountain to climb when they came out to bat, with their opening bowler, Ian Holland, also opening the batting.

Both sides needed patience and Rishi Patel and Holland withstood an impressive opening salvo from Timm van der Gugten and Fraser Sheat.

It was Dan Douthwaite who made the breakthrough, nipping one back to trap Patel LBW. Ned Leonard got the ball to nip back even more sharply to bowl Leicestershire captain Lewis Hill.

Van der Gugten got in on the act with one which lifted outside off stump and Holland tamely lobbed it to point where Billy Root to the catch.

That brought Indian Ajinkya Rahane and Australian Peter Handscomb together, who were always likely to form the nub of the resistance.

Glamorgan had their chances as Rahane gave two caught and bowled opportunities to Mason Crane when on 32, but the leg spinner put them both down, the first low to his left and the second sharp to his right.

Handscomb was on 26 when he pulled Sheat firmly in the air to midwicket where once again it was the unfortunate Crane who spilled the chance.

There was confusion over bad light at the end of the day, but the early finish was inevitable after the umpires tried to come back on for 10 balls only to be forced to call events off in the growing gloom.

Leicestershire batsman Peter Handscomb: “We stuck at it and tried to give ourselves a chance to save this game. They are bowling well, putting the ball in the right areas, they are moving it, they are asking good questions of us and tomorrow we have to answer those as best we can and hopefully we can walk away with a draw.”

Glamorgan bowler Ned Leonard: “We have hammered away at a good length, the pitch is doing enough, there is still a bit happening, so we are happy. Hopefully we can grab some more tomorrow and get a win. Watching Colin batting was amazing, he is a special cricketer and hopefully we have enough runs not to have to bat again and bowl them out tomorrow.”

Sussex vs Derbyshire, 1st Central County Ground.

Yorkshire vs Middlesex, Headingley.

Centurion Ryan Higgins became this summer’s second batter to reach 1,000 runs in the Vitality County Championship as Middlesex batted themselves to an almost certain draw against Yorkshire on day three at Headingley.

Unbeaten all-rounder Higgins, who followed Glamorgan batter Colin Ingram’s lead after he achieved the feat on day two, top-scored with 117 off 210 balls in Middlesex’s 441 for five as they replied to Yorkshire’s first-innings 601 for six declared.

Higgins posted his fifth hundred of the ongoing Division Two campaign, in his 10th appearance, and was joined in posting a century by opener Sam Robson with 108 off 219 balls.

Higgins was slightly more aggressive against an accurate spin-led Yorkshire attack, as reaching his hundred with a six suggests, while Robson’s innings came on the ground where he scored his only Test century for England 10 years ago. 

Another ex-England player, Dom Bess, claimed four for 168 in 64 overs of off-spin. 

Robson started day three 65 not out, with Middlesex 141 for one, and he went on to record the 35th first-class century of an impressive career including seven Test appearances in 2014.

Having been trapped lbw defending against Bess, before lunch, Robson then watched Higgins build on his good work and see his side to the verge of the 452 follow-on target late in the day.  

Robson’s England century - 127 - came in the first innings at Headingley against Sri Lanka, a Test the visitors won in June 2014. It was the now 35-year-old’s second of seven home appearances before being discarded.

Jonathan Trott acted as a locum opener alongside Sir Alastair Cook for a West Indies tour in early 2015 before Adam Lyth took over for that summer’s home series against New Zealand and then Australia.

Ironically, Lyth is playing in this game for Yorkshire and bowled at Robson late on day one. 

Lyth also played seven home summer Tests before discarded, and his only century came at Headingley.

Robson was expertly watchful against the rare bursts of seam but mainly spin in the form of Bess, Lyth and Dan Moriarty, and he worked well off his legs. 

Having shared 61 for the first wicket with Mark Stoneman either side of tea on day two, he completed a second-wicket 121 with Max Holden this morning.

Left-handed Holden made 51 before feathering behind off Bess, leaving Middlesex at 182 for two in the 64th over. 

Robson was trapped lbw playing forwards at Bess with the score on 207 in the 76th, a key time with the new ball around the corner. 

Leus du Plooy and Higgins negated that threat, utilised by the spinners, as they added a fourth-wicket 57 either side of lunch, where Middlesex reached at 248 for three.

Du Plooy was ousted early in the afternoon for 33, caught at short cover off a low full toss from new ball seamer Ben Coad, who was bowling only his seventh over of the innings - 263 for four in the 93rd.

While determined Middlesex will be delighted to achieve their mid-match goal of avoiding defeat, this wasn’t a day they dominated.

They weren’t able to break free and achieve a sizeable haul of batting bonus points as Bess and Moriarty have bowled 116 overs between them in the innings. 

Upon reaching 321 for four after 110 overs, they claimed two batting points to Yorkshire’s one for bowling. In the match overall, Yorkshire have edged that battle five to three. 

Should this contest finish in a draw, as expected, second-placed Middlesex would be one point clear of Yorkshire in third with three matches remaining in the promotion race.

Fifth wicket pair Higgins and wicketkeeper-batter Jack Davies shared 128 either side of tea, the latter adding 61 before edging a low catch to slip off Bess - 391 for five in the 133rd.

Excellent Higgins, who swept and reverse swept well, reached 1,000 Championship runs for the season upon getting to 92 and brought up his latest century with a six over long-on against Moriarty’s left-arm spin.

He got there off 185 balls amidst an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 50 with Luke Hollman, 21 not out.

Yorkshire all-rounder Dom Bess said 

“I got one to go through the gate against Higgins second ball, and it hit the bail but the bail didn’t come off. If that had gone our way, you’re right in. 

“We heard a massive noise and didn’t realise it had clipped the top of the bail.

“Higgins has scored 1,000 runs this year, and he’s a great player. Once someone gets in like that, on a wicket like that, it’s hard to get them out.

“There were real positives from our side. It’s now 1,040 runs for 11 wickets in the game, so we’ve done well to keep them just under three runs an over. It’s been a tough day.

“Jonny Bairstow spoke to the group really well about character this morning, and days like today show your character more than anything. If it happens, it happens. But that showed we’ll keep coming.

“It sounds stupid, but it was a great effort for Coady to get a wicket. There is literally nothing there in the pitch. 

“I don’t think we could have tried any more. Moz (Dan Moriarty) was really unlucky. That was a good test for him, bowling 50 overs for no reward. To keep coming was testament to him.”

 

Middlesex opening batter Sam Robson said 

“Any time the opposition gets 600, you’re under the cosh. We still have a bit of work to do with the follow-on. But, barring something crazy, it’s been a great day. 

“It’s been an exhausting couple of days for both teams, to be fair. It’s a flat, slow wicket. It has turned, albeit slowly. 

“We’re very pleased. Higgo again was outstanding, and we’re in a good position - providing we can bat well in the morning. 

“Bess bowled 60-odd overs, which is incredible, and he was threatening. 

“If you concede 600 in the first innings, I think winning’s virtually impossible. For us, it was about trying to draw the game from yesterday onwards.

“Happy memories, obviously, getting my Test hundred here. When you turn up, there’s a bit of extra confidence before you get out there. It’s been pleasing to help put the team in a relatively good position.

“Higgo has been amazing for two seasons now, really. This year, he’s turned his scores into hundreds. Last year, I think he got eight, nine or 10 fifties and one hundred. But that was his fifth hundred this year.”

 

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