Peters' ton boosts Northamptonshire

Warwickshire recovered from a top-order wobble to end the second day against Sussex in a commanding position at Edgbaston. Resuming on 5 for 1 after rain ruined the first day, Warwickshire slumped to 16 for 3 - Ian Bell making only 2 - before the innings was rescued by Jonathan Trott. He was the fulcrum around which the middle order batted, scoring 166 with 20 fours. He shared useful partnerships for each wicket from fourth to eighth and was the penultimate wicket to fall with the score 329. Warwickshire eventually declared on 349 for 9 with Yasir Arafat and Luke Wright taking three wickets apiece for Sussex.

A hundred from Stephen Peters and two half-centuries from lower-order batsmen powered Northamptonshire to 433 for 8 before they declared against Derbyshire in Northampton. Peters, who was unbeaten on 11 on a rain-shortened first day, carried on to score 175 with 22 fours and a six. The other top-order batsmen failed, though, and Northamptonshire were in trouble at 89 for 4 at one stage before the rest of the batsmen chipped in. Andrew Hall scored 52 off 64 balls and his South African team-mate Johan van der Wath blitzed 82 off 71 with half a dozen sixes. Nantie Hayward, another South African, was Derbyshire's most successful bowler, taking 4 for 99 while Jake Needham took 3 for 47. In reply, Derbyshire were 11 for no loss at stumps.

Glamorgan all but batted Essex out of the match at Chelmsford, reaching an imposing total of 515 for 9 before declaring. The game was evenly balanced at the start of the day with Glamorgan on 155 for 3 but the remaining batsmen performed solidly. All but one of their batsmen got into double figures with Mike Powell scoring 102 and Jamie Dalrymple and James Harris scoring 50 and 76 respectively. The others also contributed useful 30s and 40s to ensure that Essex's bowlers were always on the back foot. Essex's openers had progressed to 34 by the end of the day and were left with a massive task ahead of them on the third day.