Cricket News

Matthew Carter returned the best figures by a debutant offspinner since 1938 as Nottinghamshire heaped more problems upon Somerset at Taunton

Like countless summer blockbusters, Chelmsford did not quite meet expectations, but there Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara provided some good moments along the way as Essex's batting finally stirred

Somerset left out two promising young bowlers and took a pounding against Brendon Taylor at Taunton as Nottinghamshire took command

Alastair Cook marked his first Championship appearance of the season with an unbeaten half-century as Essex took command against Derbyshire at Chelmsford.

Worcestershire have given themselves an opportunity to halt their poor run against Warwickshire after an opening day of entertaining cricket in which 14 wickets fell and 344 runs were scored,

Ian Cockbain stepped into the starring role after a first failure from Michael Klinger as Gloucestershire returned to winning ways with a 43-run victory over Middlesex in the NatWest T20 Blast at Richmond.

Yorkshire, one of the bookmakers' pre-tournament favourites, suffered their third successive defeat in the NatWest T20 Blast after Northamptonshire cruised to an eight-wicket victory in rain-hit conditions at Headingley.

Sussex's Natwest T20 Blast fixture with Surrey was abandoned after 18.4 overs following a collision between Surrey's Rory Burns and Moises Henriques when attempting to take a high catch

A brilliant unbeaten 84 from Somerset batsman Tom Cooper proved in vain as Glamorgan won their rain-curtailed NatWest T20 Blast match by two runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in Cardiff on Saturday

James Vince struck an unbeaten 99 to move Hampshire ahead of Kent at the top of South Group on a foggy night at Canterbury

From nowhere, Essex are a team on the charge, moving from the foot of South Group to second in the space of a week

Oliver Hannon-Dalby's best T20 bowling figures cheered a miserable Brummie night as Birmingham endured poor weather to move joint top with Durham in North Group

James Anderson has been appointed an OBE in the Queen's birthday honours list having become the first England bowler to take 400 Test wickets two weeks ago.

Saeed Ajmal's three wickets at Chester-Le-Street against T20 North Group leaders Durham led Worcestershire's captain Daryl Mitchell to proclaim: "The wizard is back"

Steven Croft's career best, backed up by a blitz from James Faulkner, was too much at Old Trafford for Derbyshire, who have now won only one of their first six matches

Bad light forced the umpires to call off a match shortened by rain to 11 overs a side before a positive result was possible at Grace Road, ruining anticipation of a clash between two Pakistan team-mates - Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal

ESPNcricinfo brings you the team news ahead of the third round of the NatWest T20 Blast

Northamptonshire claimed their opening win of the Natwest T20 Blast campaign with a comfortable six-wicket win over Derbyshire at Wantage Road