Frustration for Essex against Kent at Canterbury

Essex were frustrated by a spirited tail-end fightback and the weather as they looked to push on on day two against Kent at Canterbury.

The Specsavers County Championship leaders entered the day with their hosts on the ropes at 125 for six but a tenacious ninth-wicket stand worth 65 helped Kent to 226 all out as they secured a precious batting point, with Harry Podmore unbeaten on 54.

Essex reached 32 for one after 14.4 overs in response but only 41 overs were possible during the day as three heavy downpours led to another weather-interrupted day at the 168th Canterbury Cricket Week.

George Garrett claimed a wicket on his first-class debut as Warwickshire reduced Somerset to 167 for five.

Bowling from the Birmingham End, the former Shrewsbury school student bowled George Bartlett for 26 in the penultimate over of the day, piling more pressure on the visitors.

Having started the day looking to dismiss Warwickshire’s tail and engineer a positive result, Somerset find themselves 252 runs behind and will now be hoping to pass the follow-on total of 269.

Yorkshire dominated the second day against Nottinghamshire at Scarborough as they opened up a second-innings lead of 225.

Winless Nottinghamshire started the day on 41 without loss in reply to a first-innings 232 from their hosts but  lost all 10 wickets inside 44 overs to be bowled out for 184.

Opener Adam Lyth then led the way for Yorkshire with 81 off 143 balls in 177 for two from 50 overs, sharing 108 for the second wicket with Gary Ballance, who was 52 not out.

Hampshire’s seamers enjoyed themselves with bat and ball as the visitors edged ahead of hosts Surrey.

Ryan Stevenson scored a maiden first-class 50, adding 114 for the ninth wicket with Kyle Abbott – who top scored with 72 – as Hampshire rallied from their overnight score of 222 for seven to total 367 despite Rikki Clarke finishing with seven for 74.

On a day when 22 more overs were lost to the weather, Fidel Edwards took two wickets with the new ball in the final session to leave Surrey 109 for two, 258 runs behind.

In Division Two, Lancashire captain Dane Vilas hit a career-best 266 as the leaders seized control of their clash with Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay.

The Red Rose will resume their first innings on 544 for nine, with a lead of 287, after Keaton Jennings made 86 before Vilas took over with a blistering innings containing 35 fours and six sixes in just 240 balls.

It was his second century of the season – to go with six half-centuries – and moves the South African up to second in the list of run-scorers across both divisions, behind only Australia’s latest Ashes batsman Marnus Labuschagne.

Centuries from Chris Dent and Ryan Higgins put promotion-chasing Gloucestershire into a strong position on the second day against Derbyshire at Derby.

Dent scored 169, his fourth hundred of the season, and shared a Gloucestershire record sixth-wicket stand against Derbyshire of 221 with Higgins who made 101 as the visitors closed on 396 for seven, a lead of 196.

Centuries from Dwaine Pretorius and Alex Wakely and an irresistible new-ball spell from Ben Sanderson put Northamptonshire firmly on course for victory against Worcestershire at Wantage Road.

Pretorius made 111 on his Championship debut and Wakely 102 – his first hundred of the summer – to help the hosts take a first-innings lead of 190.

Sanderson then claimed four wickets for 13 runs in nine overs to leave Worcestershire 42 for four at the close.

Sussex took two crucial wickets in the final hour to strengthen their position against Middlesex at Hove.

Trailing by 234 after the first innings, Middlesex had reached 105 for two when they lost Dawid Malan for 19 and Paul Stirling for a second-ball duck in successive overs.

Their hopes of setting Sussex a testing target on a good pitch now largely rest with opener Sam Robson, who reached a 108-ball half-century and was 61 not out at stumps with his side 149 for four, still 85 behind.

Brydon Carse took three wickets to put Durham in a strong position against Leicestershire at Chester-le-Street.

The hosts were able to capitalise on their excellent performance from day one, recording their highest total of the campaign, 544 for nine. Former Leicestershire man Ned Eckersley scored an unbeaten half-century in his first game as captain before declaring.

Leicestershire’s openers Paul Horton and Hassan Azad provided resistance as both players notched half-centuries but Carse struck three times to reduce the visitors to 152 for four,  392 runs behind.