English county round up

Surrey skipper Adam Hollioake expressed satisfaction with his side's performance on day one against Yorkshire on the first day of the Division One of County Championship at Scarborough yesterday.

Yorkshire, 18 points behind Surrey and needing a victory to keep their title hopes alive, played well to reduce Surrey to 197 for 7 at one stage. But Ian Salisbury (47 not out) and Alex Tudor (23 not out) took the Surrey score to 330 for eight in 104 overs.

Hollioake said: "To hold their attack at bay in the morning session was vital. We lost wickets between lunch and tea but we bat a long way down the order and Salisbury, Batty and Tudor proved the point."

The chief contributors for Surrey were Ian Ward (59), Jonathan Betty (47), Adam Hollioake (37), Nadeem Shahid (29) and Gary Butcher (27) who all are out along with the not out batsmen Salisbury (47) and Tudor (23).

Yorkshire were without their main players Craig White, Darren Gough, Michael Vaughan, Paul Hutchison and Ryan Sidebottom owing to injuries and national duties.

In division Two, toppers Northamptonshire reached 282 for 5 against Gloucestershire on day one at Northampton after choosing to bat first. Russell Warren (61) and Tony Penberthy (42 not out) put on 95 for the fifth wicket after David Sales (55), Adrian Rollins (49) and Matthew Hayden (41) made useful scores.

At Birmingham, second placed Worcestershire chose to bat first against Warwickshire and scored 263 in 89 overs. Vikram Solanki (71), David Leatherdale (42), Elliott Wilson (34), David Pipe (30) and Steve Rhodes (39 not out) were the main contributors. Allan Donald took 4 for 69 while Neil Smith took 3 for 51 for Warwickshire. In reply, Warwickshire made 28 for no loss in 13 overs.

Steve Watkin, Darren Thomas and Robert Croft all took three wickets each at Southend as third-placed Glamorgan bowled out fourth-placed Essex for 292. The total would have been smaller but for an 111-run fourth-wicket stand between Stuart Law (70) and Ronnie Irani (95). Glamorgan's reply reached 40 for one by stumps, with Steve James (30) being dismissed.

At Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire made 336 for 8 in 104 overs against Sussex. Opener Bicknell made 139 not out and along with Paul Reiffel (74) shared an eighth partnership of 143 after being 163 for 7. Lewry took 4 for 85 while Kirtley took 3 for 62 for Sussex.