Goodwin flays Kent

Yasir Arafat took five wickets as Sussex wrapped up Kent's first innings, dismissing them for 336, on the third day at Hove. In reply, Sussex motored to 368 for 3 after the two openers, Carl Hopkinson (57) and Richard Montgomerie (69), had put on 129 for the first wicket. But the rest of the day belonged to Murray Goodwin and Matt Prior who flayed the Kent attack; Goodwin was particularly savage in his 103-ball 111 as the pair gave the home side a 431-run lead.

Ed Joyce returned to form in great style with a beautifully crafted 211 - far and away his side's highest score - as Middlesex were finally dismissed for 446 on the second day at Edgbaston against Warwickshire. David Nash struck a patient 68 but Middlesex's last four batsmen only contributed 11. In reply, Warwickshire moved to 215 for 4 with Mark Wagh going to stumps on an unbeaten 89, and Tim Ambrose also playing nicely for his 58. Warwickshire trail by 231.

Hampshire strengthened their position against Nottinghamshire, making a huge 573 for 3 declared, then reducing the home side to 173 for 5 at stumps. The run-fest at Trent Bridgecontinued for James Adams and John Crawley, who took their stand of 192 to 276 before it was broken by Mark Ealham's dismissal of Crawley, for 148. Adams moved on to 262 and was still there when Shane Warne called his batsmen in. He put on a century stand with Chris Benham to set a daunting task for Notss. Their reply started well enough, Jason Gallian and Darren Bicknell putting on 57, before Gallian was bowled by Warne. Then David Alleyne fell the very next ball, run out off his first delivery. Notts recovered through a third-wicket stand of 94 between Bicknell and Stephen Fleming, who made 52 not out. But when Bicknell fell for 77, David Hussey fell soon after, for 4, and Ryan Sidebottom made just 3, to leave Notts with plenty of work to do.

Yorkshire took a firm grip on their clash against Durham at Chester-le-Street with Tim Bresnan's first five-wicket haul of the season central to their impressive performance. Durham were heading towards first-innings parity with Dale Benkenstein and Ottis Gibson producing a fine stand of 121 for the seventh wicket to carry the innings forward from a precarious 132 for 6. However, Bresnan removed both and Yorkshire built on their lead of 81 through a century opening stand between Craig White and Joe Sayers.

Andy Flower built on his century made on day two to finish on 190 as Essex gained a 154-run lead on the first innings against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Flower was eventually out caught behind attempting to sweep Alex Gidman after a 358-ball vigil. He shared stands of 141 with Grant Flower (58) and 81 with James Middlebrook (73 not out) as Essex piled on the runs.

Darren Gough sped the visitors to 548 with a quickfire 37 before Steve Kirby removed his former Yorkshire team-mate to claim his fourth wicket. Craig Spearman (43 not out) and Kadeer Ali (22 not out) reduced the arrears by 70 without loss by the close.

Surrey galvanised a solid position on the second day against Northamptonshire, dismissing them for 300 and then coursing to a lead of 103 by stumps, for the loss of just one wicket. Wickets tumbled steadily throughout the day at Northampton as Surrey's bowlers worked their way through the home side's line-up; Sourav Ganguly managed just 6. Several of the batsmen made starts, but only Usman Ufzaal could make his fifty - which he then converted to a century before running out of partners to end unbeaten on 136. Surrey lost Scott Newman for 8 as they set about building on a slight lead, but Mark Ramprakash and Jonathan Batty were in strong groove and had shared a fifty partnership by the end of play.

A quickfire hundred from Peter Trego rescued Somerset's first innings at Taunton. After slumping to 149 for 6, Somerset were lifted by a seventh-wicket stand of 143 between Trego and Carl Gazzard, who contributed 19 and was content to play the anchor as Trego whipped up 135 from 166 balls. In the end the home side were all out for 340, just 56 adrift of Derbyshire's first-innings efforts.

HD Ackerman turned his already impressive 177 into a career-best 309 as Leicestershire piled up a huge 560 against Glamorgan at Cardiff. Claude Henderson provided great support in a seventh-wicket stand of 112 and then David Masters and Stuart Broad contributed towards further useful stands. Ackerman struck 39 boundaries and six in his mammoth 446-ball effort, while Robert Croft sent down 55 overs. Glamorgan's top order made a confident start in reply as Brendan McCullum raced to 80 off 84 balls.