County Round-up

Full scorecards from all today's matches

Lancashire duly wrapped up an easy win over Leicestershire, as any hopes of prolonging the match quickly evaporated when Wells was dismissed without adding to his overnight score. He was caught by Ganguly off Chris Schofield, who took two more tail end wickets to go with his 66. Schofield finished with 4 for 82, and although expensive, he took risks in order to buy his wickets.

Glamorgan had a disastrous start to the day, as they failed to score the 15 runs required to save the follow-on. Steve James only added one more run to his overnight 165 before being caught off Ashley Giles, who also took the final wicket with just two runs needed. He finished with 5/89 from 42 overs, and Glamorgan had to bat again. James was soon out again, this time to Richardson, with his total for the day a solitary run for twice out, in contrast to his unbeaten 150 the previous day. Glamorgan were reduced to 95/5 at one point but then sensible half-centuries from Maynard and Shaw providing little entertainment for the crowd but allowed them to bat out the day for the draw

Middlesex surprisingly batted on the final day, despite already having a big lead, but declared after 11 overs, setting Northamptonshire 391 to win. This did allow Andrew Strauss to complete a maiden first-class century. This for a while seemed to have been a sensible decision from Langer as Rollins and Hayden showed little respect for the Middlesex attack, putting on 152 for the first wicket. Hayden fell in the nineties, and Loye retired hurt after being struck on the elbow facing one ball. Rollins also was dismissed just 4 runs short of completing his second century of the match, and the match drifted to a draw.

Nottinghamshire appeared to be heading for an easy win, when they took Essex's 8th and 9th wicket quickly, but they reckoned without an excellent 62 run defensive last wicket partnership between Cowan and Anderson. Cowan was unbeaten with 39 in nearly 3 hours at the wicket, and Nottinghamshire were set 198 to win. Notts' hope of a win took a further blow when both openers fell for 9 runs, and from a winning position overnight, they found themselves fighting a rear-guard action. Wickets continued to fall with Morris' 44 providing some resistance, but Tolley and Franks saw out the day for a draw with little trouble. Nottinghamshire will look back on a missed opportunity, but full credit to Essex, Cowan in particular for fighting hard.

Surrey gained revenge for their championship defeat at Riverside, making a solid 230, Stewart, recovered from his illness, and Ben Hollioake both contributing 40s. Thorpe made a duck, however, a poor omen if he hopes to regain an England spot this season. With western Australian Katich falling to Bicknell, and Tudor apparently back on top form, Durham fell well behind the run rate required, and tight bowling and fielding prevented any acceleration. Adam Hollioake made the most of his opportunities as Durham became desperate, and picked up 5 for 29.