Vitality County Championship 2024, Round 13, 9 Sept -12th Sept Live Cricket Streaming, Latest Scores, Match Reports – All Matches – Division 1 and 2

David Bedingham made his third Championship century of the season against Lancashire and also passed a thousand first-class runs for this campaign to help Durham take control of their Vitality County Championship match at Chester-le-Street.

Having restricted Lancashire to 228 all out in their first innings, the home side were 367 for four at the close, a lead of 139, with Bedingham on 177 not out and Colin Ackermann unbeaten on 111. The pair’s unbroken stand of 268 has already set a new fifth-wicket record for Durham in first-class cricket.  

The one positive aspect of the day’s play from a Lancastrian perspective was the bowling of the Trinidadian, Anderson Philip, who took two for 86 on his debut, but it now looks as though the visitors will face a battle to avoid a third Championship defeat in succession.

In the morning session, Lancashire’s last four wickets added a further 51 runs to their overnight total. Matty Hurst was run out for 90 after a mix-up with Tom Bailey and Ben Raine took his fifth wicket of the innings when he had Anderson Phillip, the Lancashire debutant, leg before wicket for two.

Raine finished with five for 44, his best return of the season, but crucially for their hopes of staying in Division One, Lancashire failed to earn a batting bonus point for the third successive match. 

Replying to the visitors’ modest 228, Durham’s batters encountered their own problems against the new Kookaburra ball. Ben McKinney gave Phillip his first wicket for his new county when he played on for eight and Scott Borthwick’s indeterminate waft at a ball from Bailey edged a catch to Hurst with the home skipper on nine.

Bedingham and Alex Lees took Durham to lunch on 46 for two and the pair batted serenely for nearly an hour after the resumption, at which point the home side were rocked by two lbw decisions in eight balls.

Lees fell to Phillip for 43 and then Ollie Robinson was trapped on the crease by Tom Aspinwall for four to leave Durham on 99 for four. Bedingham and Ackermann prevented Lancashire making any more breakthroughs and Durham reached tea on 178 for four, only 50 runs in arrears.

Shortly after the resumption, Bedingham reached his thousand first-class runs for the season with a single off Tom Hartley and it was noted that nearly a quarter of them had been taken off the Red Rose’s attack.

But worse was to follow for Keaton Jennings’ bowlers as Bedingham reached his sixth Championship century in just 15 innings this season when he stroked Hartley to long-on for another single. The South African had reached three figures off 143 balls with 11 fours and a six and there had hardly been a moment in his innings when he hadn’t looked in complete control.  

Nor was there any point in the evening session when Lancashire looked like taking a wicket. For long periods, Jennings posted five men in the deep and appeared content to cut off the boundaries. The fifth-wicket stand partnership passed 200 when Bedingham pulled a lifter from Aspinwall through midwicket for four.

While almost all other Championship games in the country were interrupted by rain, home supporters sat in the sun and waited to see if Ackermann would reach his century and if the Durham pair would eclipse the county’s record fifth-wicket partnership of 254 set by Ned Eckersley and Bedingham himself against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2021.   

They were not disappointed. Three overs from the close, Ackermann got to his hundred off 165 balls and a new fifth-wicket record was set when Bedingham stroked Bailey to deep square leg off the next delivery.

 

 

 

Michael Pepper continued a rich vein of form that has now brought him centuries in successive Vitality County Championship matches to sit alongside two T20 Blast centuries as he helped Essex tightened their stranglehold over Nottinghamshire.

  The wicketkeeper-batsman’s 115 from 147 balls eclipsed his previous best score against Worcestershire last week by three runs as he built on Tom Westley’s 122 to take Essex to a formidable 457 in their first innings.

  After putting on 69 with his captain, Pepper joined forces with Simon Harmer in a stand of 133 for the seventh wicket that threatened to pile further pressure on the relegation-haunted visitors. Pepper seasoned his innings with12 fours and a six while Harmer’s 51 was his highest score of the season.

  Nottinghamshire had reduced the deficit to 420 for the loss of captain Haseeb Hameed in the 10.5 overs possible before play on day two was curtailed by bad weather with the visitors on 37-1.

  At the start of the day, Rob Lord struck for his third wicket of the innings with the 19th delivery of the new-ball – but the Kookaburra was more than 30 overs old before the next wicket fell. The only success of the morning session was when the pace bowler got one to jump up at Westley who dragged on to his stumps to depart after more than five hours of patient accumulation in scoring 122 from 241 balls.

  Pepper continued to bat sensibly, a textbook straight-driven four a stand-out alongside an unorthodox forehand smash through mid-off. His alliance with Harmer saw off the new-ball and took Essex to a fourth batting point.

  Harmer had been struggling with the bat but reached his first fifty of the season – and only his second score above 19. A six over midwicket off Farhan Ahmed and a reverse-swept four off Liam Patterson-White had already indicated that confidence was returning.

  A quickly scampered single took Pepper to three-figures from 135 balls and earnt a warm embrace from a batting partner who would depart soon after. An attempt at another reverse sweep in Freddie McCann’s first over proved to be Harmer’s downfall as the misjudgement ended in him being bowled. His fifty included five fours and a six.

  Neither Shane Snater nor Sam Cook lasted long, both going down the wicket to Ahmed (3-102) and being bowled and stumped respectively before Pepper was bowled by Patterson-White. The last four wickets went down for 27 runs in six overs.

  Nottinghamshire lost Hameed in the fourth over of their reply when he slashed Cook to point. However, his opening partner Michael Slater refused to be tied down, flicking three of his four boundaries off his legs in a 36-ball 26 before rain added to the gloom to curtail the day with 36 overs remaining.

Essex centurion, Michael Pepper said: “I guess it’s always good to score runs and contribute to the team. It was quite a while since I achieved my first one and then I got a century in the last match and now to get two in a row is a very good feeling.

  “Making the switch from the white-ball game, I wanted to make sure I kept on top of my technical work, to me red-ball cricket is very important, just as important as white-ball cricket. So I have to make sure I stay on top of all of that and try and take my chance whenever I get it.

  “You need to learn the red-ball game and make sure all your techniques are in the right place to make you an even better white ball player. There will be times when you play the shots but they don’t come off and it can be tricky but then you rely on your technique which obviously comes from your red-ball game.

  “It’s a good feeling at the moment with everything going in the right direction, putting in all the hard work in the winter is seeing the rewards now in these final weeks of the season is pretty good. My aim at the state of the season was to try and get the chance to keep wicket, obviously with keepers, there is always the chance of injuries, particularly finger injuries so I needed to make sure I was ready for the opportunity to keep wicket if and when it came.

  “The aim of every player is to play for your country and hopefully, that’s what I will aspire to one-day and hopefully, that will sort itself out if I do well enough and then, maybe I’ll get the chance.”

 

Nottinghamshire’s new boy Rob Lord took three Essex wickets and said: “Early doors there was a lot of excitement around the pitch being a little bit green, the conditions suited us and we won the toss and decided to bowl with the new-ball.  We did well to take wickets early to try get ourselves on the front foot. But that was countered by what was a good partnership and Tom Westley scored a good hundred.

  “Luckily, I think the conditions suited us best bowling first yesterday, especially early doors once the rain has past over. With the Kookaburra I thought we got as much out of it as we could, especially taking those few early wickets. But we found that the Kookaburra doesn’t tend to do as much as a Dukes would and play consistently. But getting those early wickets under out belts was key.

  “It’s good to be around such strong competition – the stronger the competition you play in the more you push yourself to play at their standard. Playing against people like Elgar, who played Test cricket, means you have to be switched on from ball one. As someone new to the professional set-up it’s a great experience but it also makes you a better player coming up against people like that.

  “There were a lot of nerves there, being only my second Championship game, but to get those first couple of overs done and get into a rhythm settles those nerves down. I just tried to use my strengths, run in, try and bowl quick, hit the pitch as hard as I could. Yesterday we were lucky with a bit of movement through the air and odd movement off the seam as well. It was a case of just backing myself and keeping the stumps in play and letting the ball do the work.”

 

Kent’s Division One status was dangling by a thread after a dismal second day against Hampshire in the Vitality County Championship at Canterbury.

The hosts slumped to 64 for five for in reply to Hampshire’s first innings total 403, Kyle Abbot claiming three for 23.

What had looked like an even contest at the end of day one tilted drastically in Hampshire’s favour during the morning session. Tom Prest hit a majestic 102 and Brad Wheal chipped in with his highest first class score of 61 as Hampshire were finally dismissed for 403. Kent could be relegated this week if they lose and results elsewhere go against them and they still trail by 339 at stumps.

The visitors began day two on 213 for seven and looked comfortable for the first hour until Joey Evison came on from the Nackington Road end and removed Abbott for 26, victim of a brilliant slip catch by Jack Leaning.

Prest, who only had 15 at the start of play, responded by dumping Matt Parkinson into the Old Dover Road hedges to bring up his fifty and he took 21 from the over.

He then reached his 100 from exactly 100 balls by dropping to one knee and smearing Charlie Stobo for six over deep midwicket before he finally fell to the same bowler after a juggling catch from Jas Singh on the deep midwicket boundary.

Even the last wicket pair put on 71. Wheal twisted the knife with an aggressive cameo that included a pulled six off Singh and it was 377 for nine when rain ushered in the lunch break.

Wheal was stuck on 49 for 15 balls before he nudged Parkinson for a single and he then clubbed Stobo for a six over square leg to take Hampshire past 400 before he was bowled playing on to Stobo.

Kent’s response was all too predictable. Muhammad Abbas, who also achieved a personal best of 13 not out, strangled Tawanda Muyeye, who was perhaps unfortunate to be given caught behind for five at the start of Kent’s sixth over.

Abbott then took three wickets in five balls. Daniel Bell-Drummond went first in the 11th over, caught for ten by Fletcha Middleton, a ball after he’d been dropped by Prest. Jack Leaning and Joe Denly then both went for a second-ball ducks, the former caught by Toby Albert, the latter lbw to a ball that hit him above the knee roll.

Joey Evison made 21 before Wheal had him caught behind but the hosts were spare further punishment when play was suspended at 4.34pm due to a combination of bad light and increasingly heavy rain, which persuaded the umpires there was no realistic chance of resuming.

Hampshire’s Brad Wheal said: “It was definitely a good day, we’re in a strong position in this game now, I think we’ve given ourselves a good opportunity to go ahead and hopefully bowl them out and get cracking in the second innings. We were 200-odd for seven last night so it was good to get some runs on the board and put them under pressure.

“We were really happy with the results we got (190 for the last three wickets). Presty batted brilliantly, he took the attack to them using the wind and the short boundary and really putting their bowlers under pressure, which I think was brilliant from him. I was just doing the best I could to stick with him and then I got a few away so I was pretty happy.

(On his maiden 50) “I was happy to get there, I’ve been close a few times but haven’t got over the line. That obviously wasn’t the worry as we were trying to get up to 400 and get those extra batting points but we managed to get there and in turn I managed to get my fifty so I’m pretty happy.

“It was nice hitting over to the short side. I was trying to put their bowlers under a bit of pressure, so the T20 batting practice worked.

“We know there’s still a lot to do and we don’t know what the weather’s going to do for the next couple of days so we’ve really got to be on it. Hopefully we can get those next five wickets and we can get cracking into the second innings but we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves.

“Abbo’s been bowling beautifully and it looked like he was going to get a wicket with almost every ball there. Him and Mo, their start was incredible. Hopefully Dawson can get settled in at one end and we’ll keep rotating the seamers from the other.”

 

Kent’s Joe Denly said: “It was pretty frustrating as a whole. We turned up this morning with real optimism, thinking we could get them out for 250 and that didn’t quite happen for us. We found ourselves with them getting to 400 and we weren’t able to cause them the trouble we would have liked. I think the pitch probably slowed up a bit for Park and look, take nothing away from Prest, he played a fantastic knock and he’s an impressive young player.

“Obviously we would have liked to have bowled them out a lot cheaper than that and with the bat we didn’t get off to the start we wanted. They took the momentum from their bowling into their batting and we know they’ve got a quality bowling attack. They really made the most of those new ball conditions. We’re well behind and in the next two days we got a lot of fighting to do. Hopefully we’ll scrap and get something out of the game.

“We’ve struggled to take 20 wickets in a game, that has been a pattern this year but I think it’s important not to dwell on that too much and always try to learn and get better. There’s a lot of frustration in the changing room, that’s for sure, there’s no hiding away from that, but like I say there’s still two days in the game and hopefully we can get something out of it.

“The attacks you come up against this year, regardless of whether it's a Dukes ball or a Kookaburra ball, they’re always going to challenge your forward defence and if you’re not right on it they’re going to find ways of getting you out. Hopefully we’ll learn from today and come up with a better plan tomorrow as a batting unit.

(On coming back from his injury lay-off) “It’s been disappointing because I started this season pretty well and was feeling pretty good about my batting and my game in general, so to have that knee injury and then a little calf injury as well when I was just getting to where I wanted to be, just put me back a little bit more. To miss two and half months of the season has been really frustrating but certainly I’m feeling fresh and looking forward to these remaining games.

“I don’t like to make excuses but we have had a lot of injuries, that’s for sure. It’s been tough, a lot of our bowlers have gone down, a couple of batters here and there as well, Jack missed a large chunk of the season as well with a hand injury so it has been tricky and with the schedule as well it’s hard to compete with some of the quads we come up against but the 11 players ou there are more than capable, so we’re always looking for positives.”

 

Ryan Patel led a solid Surrey batting effort to defy nearest challengers Somerset on the second day of the top-of-the-table Vitality County Championship First Division clash at Taunton.

The 26-year-old all-rounder was unbeaten on 61 in a first innings total of 169 for three when rain ended play for the day at 3pm, with a minimum of 26 overs remaining. Ben Geddes made 50, while all three wickets fell to 18-year-old off-spinner Archie Vaughan.

Surrey trailed by 148, but with seven wickets in hand will be confident of at least getting close to Somerset’s first innings total of 317, knowing that a draw will be sufficient to make them red hot title favourites with only two more games to play.

The visitors went into the match 24 points clear of their second placed opponents and, with both sides having so far taken three bonus points, the advantage remains the same.

The skies were heavily overcast as Surrey began their first innings at the start of the day. Somerset debutant Brett Randell opened up with a maiden from the River End and both the Kiwi seamer and Craig Overton beat the bat in their early overs.

Rory Burns and Dom Sibley survived to be confronted by spin from the eighth over when Jack Leach was introduced into the attack, soon to be followed by Vaughan, operating from the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion End.

Both were soon providing a tough examination for the Surrey openers, extracting turn from the second-day pitch. But Burns and Sibley proved up to the challenge and had put together a stand of 41 in 16.2 overs when they were parted.

Sibley, on 16, went to slog-sweep a delivery from Vaughan and failed to clear mid-wicket where Tom Abell took a smart two-handed catch above his head.

Burns appeared to survive a chance to wicketkeeper James Rew off Vaughan when on 21. But it mattered little as the left-hander departed without addition, lbw trying to sweep a delivery from the same bowler, which straightened from around the wicket.

At 48 for two, Surrey were in a spot of bother. But the skies were clearing and Patel and Geddes rotated the strike intelligently while taking advantage of rare loose deliveries, particularly from Leach.

By lunch, they had taken the total to 91 for two from 37 overs, with Geddes unbeaten on 27 and Patel 19 not out. Vaughan had figures of two for 17 from 12 overs, having been a model of accuracy in only his second first class game and gone past the outside edge on several occasions.

A curtailed afternoon session saw Geddes bring up the half-century stand with a boundary off Vaughan, who bowled 19 overs unchanged either side of lunch before switching ends and sending down seven more.

Geddes, making his first Championship appearance for Surrey since 2022, went to an impressive 93-ball fifty, with 6 fours, but fell soon afterwards with the total on 128, miscuing a sweep off Vaughan and lofting a simple catch to Lewis Goldsworthy at short fine leg.

By then Patel was looking well set. He brought up his half-century having batted patiently for 130 balls and looked increasingly comfortable against the spinners. Ben Foakes was equally watchful as they strengthened Surrey’s position under darkening skies.

With the score 168 for three, the umpires ordered the floodlights to be turned on. But soon afterwards, with Goldsworthy preparing to bowl his first over of the match, the rain, which had been forecast, started falling and the players made for the pavilion.

It got heavier and persistent, leading to play being abandoned at just after 4.30pm.

Surrey’s Ben Geddes said: “It was a really enjoyable battle out there, with the pitch turning and two quality spinners operating together. I really relished the challenge.

“The ball spun big when they got it right. Archie Vaughan put us under pressure by not giving us many loose deliveries and, while we looked to put away his bad ball, it didn’t come very often.

“With the state of the pitch and the rough that was there, I tried to wait until a ball was really full before going after it. I didn’t want to get a nick and thankfully it paid off.

“We won’t be looking too far ahead in the game. The rain today has obviously delayed everything and tomorrow we will just look to bat for as long as possible.”

 

Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: “I’m not disappointed with the way bowled. We went past the bat on numerous occasions and on another day things could have been very different.

“Archie Vaughan has done brilliantly since coming into the team. I think his dad (former England Ashes winning captain Michael Vaughan) was here today, which must have made his wickets even more special.

“He acquitted himself brilliantly with the bat in our innings against some quality bowlers and today he showed how talented he is with the ball as well.

“Archie is an exceptional cricketer who has already demonstrated maturity this early in his career. The sky is the limit for him.

“We are delighted for Jack Leach that he has been called up for England’s tour to Pakistan. Some might say he has been a bit unlucky this year, but he has shown his class in recent weeks.”

Warwickshire captain Alex Davies became the first player to score 1,000 runs in Division One of the Vitality County Championship this summer on a severely truncated second day against local rivals Worcestershire at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

The 30-year-old began his innings needing a further 34 and turned Logan van Beek square of the wicket for a boundary to reach the milestone during the morning session.

Surrey batter Rory Burns started the day as Davies’ nearest challenger but he was dismissed for 21 against Somerset with his total on 974.

It was the second time Davies had completed 1,000 runs in a campaign after, in 2017, becoming the first Lancashire wicket-keeper to achieve the feat.

He moved to Warwickshire for the 2022 season and the first two years at Edgbaston produced first class returns of 649 at 28.21 and 437 at 25.70.

This summer he has struck four centuries and averages 56.88.

He eventually fell to Ethan Brookes who delivered an impressive nine over spell which yielded two wickets before bad light and rain ended play for the day at 2.15pm after 37 overs were possible.

Those spectators who waited until the play was officially called off were entertained via the club PA to a series of weather anthems including 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' and 'It's Raining Men.'

Warwickshire needed only four overs to polish off the Worcestershire first innings but not before the home side had secured a second batting point.

Jack Home, who was making his Championship debut, pulled Chris Rushworth for successive boundaries to bring up the 300.

But then Rushworth struck twice in the space of three balls.

He ended a stand of 65 between Tom Taylor and Home by trapping the latter lbw for 29 and then knocked out the off stump of on loan Surrey spinner Amar Virdi.

It left Taylor unbeaten on 36 from 49 balls.

Taylor then took the new ball but only five balls were possible before bad light stopped play with Warwickshire 6-0.

When play resumed after a short delay, Taylor made the first breakthrough when Rob Yates tried to work the ball on the leg side and was caught off a leading edge at mid on by Virdi.

Taylor bowled an excellent opening spell and constantly beat the bat.

Davies went to his four-figure milestone in spectacular fashion against Logan van Beek during his first over.

He twice hit the New Zealander for sixes backward of square and then a square drive to the boundary took him past 1,000 in an over costing 16 runs.

Davies completed a 59 ball half century with three sixes and six fours as Warwickshire reached 76-1 off 20 overs by lunch.

But former Warwickshire all-rounder Ethan Brookes struck with the first delivery after the resumption when Will Rhodes aimed to work to leg and inside edged through to keeper Gareth Roderick moving away to his right.

There was more joy for Brookes with the prized scalp of Davies (58) who went for a drive but took his one hand off the bat and inside-edged onto his stumps at 91-3.

Van Beek switched ends and claimed his first scalp when Sam Hain (11) tried to turn a delivery on the on-side and was bowled shortly before the players left the field for the final time.

 

Warwickshire captain Alex Davies, who became the first player to complete 1,000 Championship runs in Division One this season, said: “I would say the game is fairly evenly poised.

“I think we are a couple more wickets down than we would have liked to have been but if you do well, you can create some pressure and it can be quite hard to score.

“This game is going to be dictated by how well the bowlers bowl and you’ve got to ride those periods when it is tough and they bowl well and it is nipping around a bit and then cash in when they fall away or get a little bit tired.

“You don’t ever feel really ‘in’ or that it is a belter and you’ve got the bowler’s number. I thought Ethan Brookes bowled brilliantly today and credit to him.

“Very pleased to get to 1,000 runs. It was a target of mine at the beginning of the season. I always want more as a player and was a bit gutted when I got out today.

“A couple more games to go and hopefully I can push that tally up even further. It’s nice to get those runs but they only really count when you are contributing towards a winning position.”

 

 

Worcestershire all-rounder Ethan Brookes, who picked up two wickets, said: “Very pleased with the game situation considering we didn’t bowl our best in the morning session.

“Having a chat at lunch-time, you always get another chance to put it right and coming out afterwards to get a wicket first ball….and you saw my excitement levels at getting that wicket!

“It was brilliant we could get three good wickets after lunch. We obviously highlighted how difficult Ed Barnard was to face on that wicket and the boys said if I could get the ball in the right area and wobble it, then it would be tricky for batters. I felt in good rhythm bowling today.

“Alex Davies is the man in form, a 1,000 runs and the season is not even done yet, so that was a huge wicket. If you put the ball in the right areas, there is still plenty in the wicket.

“I’m not want to check in and look at the scores (around the country) but from what I hear we are in a pretty good position. You can’t look too far ahead, you’ve still got to play good cricket.

“We know we’ve still got to play good cricket to stay up but obviously the main goal is to finish the season in the top six. One big push for this game and the remaining games.”

 

Yorkshire remain on course for a victory that they believe may be enough to realise their promotion ambitions despite bad weather washing out more than half of the second day of their Vitality County Championship match at Leicester.

Leicestershire will resume on day three at 35 for two in their second innings, trailing by 246 after Yorkshire had posted 379 following an excellent 126 from captain Jonny Tattersall and a career-best 88 from pace bowler Matthew Fisher, who also claimed both Leicestershire wickets.

Rain forced the players off shortly before two o’clock and they were unable to return. It meant 57 scheduled overs were lost but with two full days still to come Yorkshire would be mightily disappointed should they fail to turn their strong position into a win.

Ahead of this fixture, head coach Ottis Gibson predicted that one win from his side’s final three Division Two matches would be enough to secure a top-two finish, even though they trailed second-placed Middlesex by a point going into this round.

In the play that was possible, Leicestershire’s hopes of limiting Yorkshire’s lead after they were dismissed for 98 on day one went unfulfilled in an opening session dominated by a 138-run ninth-wicket partnership between Tattersall and Fisher, who could not be parted for an hour and a half, and only when home skipper Lewis Hill had belatedly recalled Rehan Ahmed into the attack.

The England wrist spinner, who turned 20 last month and has been named in the squad to tour Pakistan next month, was successful with his fourth delivery (having struck with his second in his first spell on day one) as Tattersall’s fine innings ended with an edge to slip. He finished with three for 60.

The Yorkshire captain had completed his second hundred of the season in the sixth over of the morning from 170 balls. He celebrated with two lovely straight driven fours off Scott Currie and had raised his boundary count to 14 by the time he was out.

The pitch appeared to offer far less to the bowlers than it had 24 hours earlier, when the first dozen overs of the morning saw Leicestershire lose seven wickets for 15. The corresponding period this time resulted in Yorkshire adding 51 without loss as Fisher posted his maiden first-class half-century for the county.  Even the new ball, taken as soon as available nine overs into the day, had little effect.

More to the point, in the broader context, the shift in the balance of the contest had enabled Yorkshire to turn one batting bonus point overnight to three, which may be vital as they bid to seal their return to Division One, matching Middlesex’s haul against Gloucestershire. They were one short when Tattersall was out, but Fisher and Ben Coad added another 31 from just 26 balls before Ahmed dismissed Fisher, helped by a sharp catch snapped up at ankle height by wicketkeeper Ben Cox.

Seamer Tom Scriven, still searching for his first five-wicket bag in first-class cricket, finished with four for 103.

There was time for Leicestershire to face one nervy over before lunch, and though they survived that one, they slipped to 34 for two for two shortly before the rain arrived, Fisher continuing his productive day by taking both wickets.

Opener Rishi Patel, whose approach to his side’s 281-run first-innings deficit was to be ultra aggressive, profited only briefly from it before he was leg before playing a horrible hoick across the line. Partner Ian Holland was more cautious but departed quickly nonetheless, caught at first slip.  

Yorkshire captain Jonny Tattersall, who made 126, said:

“It’s always nice to get runs on the board but especially in the context of what’s at stake at this stage of the season.

“We knew it was hard out there at first but it seemed to die down a little bit when the ball got 20-25 overs old and I’ve cashed in a bit when the ball is not doing so much.

“Pressure situations kind of suit my game. I’ve always been more of a defensive player who looks to soak up the pressure but I’ve worked on my game to get into positions where I can score runs.

“Credit to the lads up top for trying to find the best way to get us into a position to try to win the match. We didn’t quite expect to get that many runs on the board but full credit to everyone who came in. They had their plans of what they wanted to do and went about it to get a great total on the board.

“Matthew Fisher was magnificent and we got a really good partnership together. We didn’t do anything silly, didn’t have to manufacture any shots and that made the partnership hard to break.

“Looking at the pitch on day one, we hadn’t thought we would get the batting points on the board that we did.

“With the heavy roller on it again tomorrow morning I expect it will be tough going at times for our bowlers but if we keep putting the ball in the right areas there is still plenty of grass on the pitch and hopefully we can take 10 chances and wrap up the win.”

Leicestershire’s Rehan Ahmed, who celebrated his latest England call-up with three for 60, said:

“We’re in a difficult position but I’m sure we can find a way to save the game, especially as the pitch gets flatter. The first thing will be to make sure we put them back into bat.

“There has always been plenty in the wicket. You have to give credit to Ben Coad for the way he bowled up top yesterday, Fisher bowled very well too. But we will just try to smack it tomorrow and get them back in again.

“We want to win as many games as we can and finish the season on a high.

“Obviously, I’m really pleased to get back in the England side again. I’ve worked hard on my bowling and all I can do is try as hard I can to be successful. I’ve had the experience of going there before.

“It’s good that Josh Hull is in the squad too. I’ve played with him quite a bit and once he gets comfortable he can do very well. They make newcomers very welcome and you soon feel like you’ve known everyone for many years.”

Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal claimed five wickets as Northamptonshire ran through Derbyshire’s batting line-up on a day dominated by spin at Wantage Road before Northamptonshire’s batters put the hosts in the ascendancy.

Chahal, veteran of 152 white ball internationals, finished with figures of five for 45, only his third career five-wicket haul, as Derbyshire lost their last six wickets for just 15 runs in 10.2 overs.

For most of the morning Chahal bowled in tandem with off-spinner Rob Keogh on a pitch offering plenty of turn and bounce with fielders stationed all around the bat. Keogh also took three wickets for 65 as Northamptonshire claimed a handy first inning lead of 54 on day two of this Vitality County Championship encounter.

Luis Reece had top scored for Derbyshire with 50 and while Wayne Masden (47) and Aneurin Donald (21) staged a fightback during a 51-run partnership, Chahal removed both batters in a lengthy spell which included a double wicket maiden.

In Northamptonshire’s second innings, teenage Derbyshire quick Harry Moore took two early wickets for just six runs, before youngsters Gus Miller (42) and James Sales (40) mounted a stand of 76. Rob Keogh hit a well-paced unbeaten 46 as Northamptonshire closed on 178 for five, leading by 232 when heavy rain and bad light stopped play.

Earlier Ben Sanderson made the initial breakthrough for Northamptonshire, knocking back Brooke Guest’s (28) off-stump, while Reece’s innings ended when he edged one from Keogh which spun away. Keogh struck again in his next over when David Lloyd was adjudged lbw as he attempted to sweep.

Masden refused to be bowled at, coming down the wicket to strike Keogh over midwicket, cutting and sweeping the spinners as he and Donald manoeuvred the ball into the gaps and kept the scoreboard ticking

Donald swept Chahal square for six when he tossed one up, but the bowler got his man when Donald swept a half-volley straight to Sales at square leg. Chahal almost had another wicket with his next ball but Sales, now at short leg, could not hold onto a sharp chance offered by Martin Andersson.

Masden was undone by one from Chahal that pitched middle and hit the top of off-stump, while Chappell, hero of the One Day Cup fixture here in July, fell two balls later when he chipped to Luke Procter who ran in to take a diving catch at mid-off. Keogh then removed Andersson thanks to an excellent sharp grab by Justin Broad at leg slip.

Chahal wrapped up the innings immediately after lunch, Alex Thomson top edging an attempted sweep, Prithvi Shaw running behind the stumps to take the catch. Chahal then bowled Jack Morley next ball to end the innings.

Debutant Moore had Shaw adjudged lbw in the second over of Northamptonshire’s innings, while Procter edged him to Masden at second slip, the Derbyshire man’s 250^th first-class catch for the county.

Miller though started positively, driving Chappell through mid-on for four to get off the mark before Derbyshire turned to their own spin duo of Thomson and Morley who, while they created problems of their own, were inconsistent, failing to apply sustained pressure.

Miller cut Morley for four to take Northamptonshire’s lead into three figures, Sales steering the spinner square for four and flicking him through midwicket for another. Miller duly drove Thomson through cover to bring up the 50 partnership.

Miller though became the latest batter to perish playing the sweep, trapped lbw by Thomson shortly before tea, while Sales departed to seam shortly after the break, given out caught behind off Andersson.

Saif Zaib and Keogh shared a stand of 41 for the fifth wicket to push the Northamptonshire lead towards 200. Zaib picked up where he had left off in his first innings 90, playing some crisp drives against Andersson and reverse sweeping the spinners, but he departed in a rush of blood, bowled as he danced down the track to Morley.

Keogh profited from the reverse sweep in particular, deploying the shot to collect three consecutive boundaries off Thomson. He struck eight fours in total and despite the light worsening during the evening session, he helped Northamptonshire towards a daunting lead.

Ollie Price and the weather combined to frustrate promotion-chasing Middlesex on the second day of their Vitality County Championship Division Two clash at Lord’s.

Right-hander Price showed guts a-plenty to post 56 not out, his fifth score of 50 or more in the first-class game this season, as the visitors battled to 154-5, 223 in arrears of their hosts, on a day when only 41.4 overs were bowled due to bad light and rain.

Not many of the Durham University graduate’s 7 4s came off the middle of the bat as the home bowlers found plenty of movement through the air and off the pitch, the inside edge past leg-stump being a profitable source of runs.

However, Price’s grit came in the wake of Middlesex skipper Toby  Roland-Jones’ burst of 3-12 in 16 balls either side of lunch and served to take the men from the west country from 74-4 to calmer waters, albeit needing a further74 to save the follow-on. Roland-Jones had taken 3-56 and Ryan Higgins 2-47 when bad light, followed by rain, drove the players off for the second and final time at 3:15pm.

The bad light, accompanied by some light rain delayed the start by 40 minutes before under still largely leaden skies with the lights on batting proved a hazardous occupation from the off. The first ball of the day from Roland-Jones to Cameron Bancroft was edged between third slip and gully for three, so setting the tone.

Roland-Jones and Higgins constantly challenged both edges of the bat in ideal seam conditions, Ben Charlesworth edging the former just short of wicket-keeper Jack Davies when he’d made eight. He wouldn’t prosper for long, soon nicking a beauty from Higgins to Sam Robson at first slip.

For a while Bancroft rode his luck, the majority of his 25 coming behind the wicket, before he was undone by one from Roland-Jones which jagged back between bat and pad to trim the bails.

Bad light soon intervened again to drive the players off for an early lunch and when they returned Roland-Jones made whatever new batter Miles Hammond had consumed all-but indigestible by hitting him mid-ships first ball.

The batter continued after treatment, crashing one sumptuous four through cover only to then edge another snorter from Roland-Jones to Tom Helm at third slip.

When the veteran seamer, whose contract was extended for another year only yesterday, removed James Bracey caught behind two balls later, Gloucestershire were 74-4 and in peril.

Price dug in using all parts of the bat to survive, an authoritative on-drive off Helm the pick of his shots. 

Graeme Van Buren joined him in a stand of 50 from 67 balls broken by Higgins who trapped his man on the crease.

Price’s older brother Tom then joined him in the middle, surviving a blow on the head from a short one from Helm to keep vigil until the weather had the final word.

 

Middlesex all-rounder Ryan Higgins who took 2-47 said: "I think we are in a good position. 377 on the board and they are 220 behind. It would have been nice to play a bit more cricket today, but I think we did to get them five down.

"The ball now is at the stage where it has stopped doing as much so it will be important tomorrow morning or whenever we get out there to put pressure on them and make sure we make it count. 

"I felt like Ro-Jo (Roland-Jones) could have had four or five chop-ons. He is pretty good isn't he. Today he was amazing. When he bowls it just looks different off the wicket compared to everyone else. He gets more bounce, more nip - pretty much everything to be honest. 

"Looking around at other grounds the colour of the wickets have had to be really green to get the Kookaburra to do a lot. This is the first game where we have played on a pitch with an even battle between batters and bowlers. The other three games were probably just played on the wrong sort of wicket. You maybe need to leave a little bit more grass on so it carries. This wicket has been really good. When bowlers have missed it has been easy to score at the same time when bowlers have challenged the defence it's been the perfect wicket for the bat and ball battle. 

It looks like we are going to be playing a bit more with Kookaburras over the next few years so we have got to get used to it and work out what our best method is.

"Today it didn't feel that different bowling with a Kookaburra because there was some pace in the wicket. When the wicket is slow there is a massive difference because the ball doesn't react quickly off the wicket. For me individually it is about trying to up my pace to get the ball doing something. Over the years you might learn how to bowl with it. No-one here has really bowled with it so there is a lot of learning involved.

It feels like you are out there playing first-class cricket, but you've never played with that type of ball for your whole life so it's about learning how to do it."

 

Gloucestershire batter Ollie Price said: "We are a little bit behind on the scoreboard, but we got through the new ball which seems to be the most threatening on this wicket and then it gets a little bit soft, so hopefully we can put a couple of partnerships together before the second new ball and see where the game is at. I think it is in a fairly neutral position at the moment. 

"I think it is more the ball (than the pitch). It was same with both innings. They played really well to get through that and cash in when it was flatter and hopefully we do the same thing. I'm not sure the pitch has changed a great deal. We felt like there was good life in it when they were bowling with the new ball and it got a bit slower and softer as the innings went on. 

"It is a lot of fun playing here. It was great to get a start and hopefully tomorrow we can go and make it a big one. It is a pretty special week being at Lord's.

"It's nice batting out there with someone you know so well and whose game you know so well. I like batting with him and he's playing really well at the moment so hopefully we can kick on tomorrow." 

 

Skipper John Simpson became the first Sussex batter for ten years to score five Vitality County Championship hundreds in a season as the second division leaders took charge against Glamorgan at Hove.

Simpson also passed 1,000 runs in his unbeaten 112 as Sussex responded to Glamorgan’s under-par 186 with 407 for 5, a lead of 221.

With promotion rivals Yorkshire and Middlesex in position to win their games it is crucial that Sussex do the same and apart from a careless hour before lunch, when they lost four wickets for 25, they were in control at the 1st Central County Ground.

Simpson has so far added 194 for the fifth wicket with Tom Clark, who played his part with an unbeaten 73, and just before bad light intervened at 4.20pm the pair took 19 off ten balls to ensure Sussex collected a fourth batting point.

Ed Joyce – who also left Middlesex to move to the south coast – was the last batter as prolific as Simpson has been in what is his first year with Sussex, and not for the first time this season he made sure his team didn’t squander a good position.

At the start of the day Daniel Hughes and nightwatchman Henry Crocombe extended their second-wicket stand to 78 and their only alarm came when Dan Douthwaite put down a tough chance at midwicket when Crocombe was on 25.

Hughes looked on course for back-to-back hundreds but on 83 (14 fours) he chipped a straightforward catch to midwicket off Douthwaite, who was Glamorgan’s best bowler on a tough day. Crocombe forced Douthwaite through the covers for his seventh boundary to bring up a maiden first-class fifty before he was taken at short leg attacking off-spinner Ben Kellaway.

The ambidextrous Kellaway, who later in the day switched briefly to bowling left-arm spin, had Tom Alsop caught at slip pushing forward and James Coles, the only right-hander in Sussex’s top seven, wafted at a ball he could have ignored in the last over before lunch to give Douthwaite his second wicket.

Clark’s fifty was only his third of a difficult season and here he was tied down early on by Kellaway in particular. He didn’t score a boundary until his 58th ball when he cut Kellaway through backward point but with Simpson counter-attacking at the other end Clark grew in confidence and Sussex assumed control.

Glamorgan only bowled eight overs of seam with the new ball before Kellaway was back on again at the sea end and the 20-year-old from Newport, who is playing only his fourth first-class match, impressed with his control on a surface offering some turn.

But as the sixth-wicket stand prospered the only question was how many batting bonus points Sussex could secure in 110 overs. Simpson took two boundaries off Kellaway, the second of which took the left-hander to his 15th first-class hundred, as ten came off the 109th over and a pulled six off Ned Leonard from the first delivery of the next followed by three singles took them to a fourth point with two balls to spare.

By then the light was fading and shortly afterwards umpires Nigel Llong and Sue Redfern took the players off but with two days left and a good forecast Sussex will feel they have enough time to press home their advantage and secure a seventh win of the season.

Glamorgan off-spinner Ben Kellaway said, "It's been quite a challenging day with a few ups and downs. There was a spell in the middle of the day when we dragged ourselves back into the game with those four wickets but then they got away from us a little bit. I think we've been a bit unlucky. We have created a few chances and had luck gone our way we could have been in a different position. The lads stuck at it really well. The pitch really suited me. It spun a bit not just out of the footholds but off the straight too which was really promising. Obviously, we're going to have to bat really well in the second innings but we have got players who can dig in, and they've done it at this ground as well."

 

Sussex skipper John Simpson, who scored his fifth hundred of the season, said: "I feel like I'm in a good space. Taking on the captaincy has given me a bit of a spur but I'm just trying to cash in on the good form I'm in and be a bit ruthless to try and drive this team forward. I'm 36 and might not have too much longer in the game so it's important to just enjoy it as well. 

"I got a pair against Glamorgan earlier in the season which was the first in my career but I had to put that as far back into my mind as I could and just be positive.

"Clarky (Tom Clark) has struggled a bit this season so full credit to him. He has worked his socks off so he deserves the rewards he's getting in this game. He is a talented kid with a big future. The fourth batting bonus point was a real coup and that could be valuable at the end of the season. We are in a really strong position and it's about building the lead as much as we can and getting the ball in hand. There is a bit of spin and it's a bit two-paced, so there is something in it for the bowlers."

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