Champions Yorkshire in strong position

Whisper it quietly, but reigning champions Yorkshire have got themselves into a good position in search of their first championship win of this season against Warwickshire at Headingley. With 75 from Darren Lehmann and 50 from Chris Taylor, they reached 304 for nine by the close of the second day - a lead of 71.

Fifties from Matthew Wood and Peter Bowler helped Somerset to 227 all out against Kent at Canterbury, while Richard Johnson was 49 not out. There were five wickets from the Dane, Amjad Khan, as Kent secured a first innings lead of 44. The home side then extended that lead to 220 by the close with Ed Smith 54 not out.

In Division Two, Derbyshire were bowled out for 301 to take a first innings lead of 33 against Essex. Chris Bassano was the mainstay of the Derbyshire innings with 152, sharing a sixth wicket partnership of 125 with Luke Sutton, who made 58. Off-spinner James Middlebrook took four wickets. Essex managed wipe off the arrears and take a lead of 42 by the close, but they did lose two wickets in the process.

Ben Hutton and Owais Shah continued to pile on the runs for Middlesex against Northamptonshire at Lord's. In the 40 overs possible on the second day, Hutton went on to 116, while Shah was not out on 148 at the close when Middlesex were 360 for three.

Glamorgan's Michael Powell was 94 not out when the rain came to Cardiff causing the abandonment of the day's play against Gloucestershire. At that point Glamorgan were 189 for three - still 207 runs behind.

In the matches starting today, leaders Surrey were bowled out for 193 by Sussex at Hove. Ali Brown with 49 was top scorer while Kevin Innes took four wickets for Sussex. Then the home batsmen fared even worse as Test discard Alex Tudor proved his fitness by taking three wickets. At the close, Sussex were 139 for seven, still 54 in arrears.

It was a similar sort of story at Old Trafford where only Alec Swann provided an innings of Substance for Lancashire. He scored over half their runs - 86 out of 163 all out as Chris Tremlett took five for 57. But then there were three wickets apiece for Glen Chapple and James Anderson as Hampshire were reduced to 84 for seven by the close.

Nottinghamshire got an immediate return from their new overseas player, Stuart MacGill. The Australian leg-spinner took five wickets as Worcestershire were bowled out for 201 at New Road with top scorer being Anurag Singh with 57. Nottinghamshire were five for one at stumps.