Broad answers England omission

Stuart Broad responded to his omission from the Test at Edgbaston with three wickets for Nottinghamshire to help them dismiss Durham for 266 at Trent Bridge. He was the seventh bowler used after arriving from Birmingham, but soon struck to have Ben Harmison caught behind as the visitors struggled. Broad also removed top-scorer Will Smith, against his former club, for 85 and wrapped up the innings with the scalp of fellow England squad member Steve Harmison. Durham were once again indebted to Smith, who hit 13 boundaries in his 182-ball innings and the next-best score was Paul Wiseman's 32 which at least lifted the total over 250. Charlie Shreck ended with the best figures of 4 for 69, which included both openers in a testing first spell. Andre Adams stood in until Broad arrived at the ground and had time to claim the vital wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, with a thick inside edge into the stumps.

A solid performance form the Hampshire top order put them in control against Kent at Canterbury. Michael Carberry led the way with 92 against a home side perhaps suffering a hangover from their Twenty20 Cup final defeat on Saturday. Yasir Arafat made early inroads, but the other bowlers couldn't build on it in friendly batting conditions. Carberry and Michael Lumb added 181 before Ryan McLaren made a brace of breakthroughs to bring Kent back into the game at 208 for 4. However, Chris Benham and Nic Pothas settled into a solid stand until Arafat claimed his third to remove Benham one short of his fifty. However, 400 is still well within reach for Hampshire.

Five wickets for Yorkshire's Deon Kruis made it another familiarly miserable Championship day for Surrey and one victim Mark Ramprakash in particular whose struggles continued with 6. Stewart Walters was the top scorer with 40, while there was a brace each for Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid. To apply some more salt, Yorkshire eased to 50 without loss by stumps at Headingley.

Murray Goodwin's century helped Sussex end on 382 for 6 after batting against Somerset at Horsham. He cut and pulled well before eventually playing on to Andy Caddick for 137 with stumps looming. Chris Adams chipped in with his second fifty of the term, while Michael Yardy also made a half-century. Charl Willoughby returned three wickets: firstly yorking Chris Nash and then finding Luke Wright's edge but Yardy steadied with Goodwin. Yardy was caught off Caddick for 68 by Peter Trego at square leg, while Willoughby returned to claim Matt Prior who picked out Zander de Bruyn at midwicket.

Chris Wright's best first-class figures helped Essex to bowl out Glamorgan for a lowly 139 then draw level by stumps for the loss of 5 wickets. Seam bowlers and spinners alike got assistance from the wicket at Southend-on-Sea as few batsmen suggested much permanence. After Wright took consistent wickets in his first Championship match since May, Ravi Bopara hastened the end of the Glamorgan innings with 3 for 19 as his skiddy seamers accounted for the lower order. Adam Shantry was the pick of the Glamorgan bowlers on his Championship debut with 3 for 40 as he removed both openers and then returned to have nightwatchman David Masters caught behind in the last over of the day. Essex had moved into a commanding position just before close when they had reached 132 for 3 but the quick dismissals of Masters and Grant Flower left Mark Pettini and the lower order plenty to do in the morning.

While South Africa enjoyed a good Test day with the ball, a former international of theirs was happily carving out some fun with the bat. Lance Klusener made his 19th first-class hundred as Northamptonshire had the better of the opening day with 382 for 6 against Derbyshire at Chesterfield.. There was a half-century too for Riki Wessels, who made 79, while Robert White just missed out with 49. But late wickets will have encouraged the home side, Klusener finally falling for 135, bowled by Graham Wagg, who also picked off his countryman Nicky Boje for 4.

Another South African, HD Ackerman, also helped out his side, but as wickets fell around him he remains the key, his 173 not out the bulk of Leicestershire's 288 for 6 against Warwickshire at Grace Road. James Anyon had set them in early trouble, with the top two wickets, but Ackerman shared a half-century stand with Paul Nixon and then put on 139 for the fifth wicket with Joshua Cobb - Nixon and Cobb both ending with 35.

Kabir Ali's form with the ball continued as he picked up 6 for 94 as Worcestershire dismissed Gloucestershire for 283 at Cheltenham. Simon Jones returned to action after resting against Middlesex last week, and his 16 overs brought him a wicket for 45 runs. But the day belonged to Ali, whose haul included Hamish Marshall for a duck and Marcus North who, for the second week running, was out on 98. Imran Arif, meanwhile, nailed David Brown on 83 to end with two. Worcestershire lost Daryl Mitchell on what became the final ball of the day, Steve Kirby celebrating signing a new long-term contract with the club with his wicket.