Jaques double ton gives Worcestershire upperhand
The latest from this week's County Championship matches
Division One
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Callum Thorp took six sharp wickets and Phillip Mustard six keen catches to bring Durham right back into their match against Hampshire at Southampton. This was Thorp's second six-for in a week, after he wrecked Scotland in the C&G match on Sunday and it was a timely one, too, after his side had been dismissed for 234 in the first innings. Hampshire had looked threatening, their openers putting on 59 for the first wicket, but after that things swung Durham's way. Their own openers, John Lewis and Jimmy Maher, soon erased the first-innings deficit of 22 and by the close Durham had made a solid 165 for 3 on a pitch that was beginning to show signs of wear.
Matthew Walker and Neil Dexter joined Martin van Jaarsveld as centurions as Kent passed 600 for only the second time at Canterbury - the first time was against Somerset in 1996. Dexter's maiden Championship hundred was well made but he survived a run-out appeal when he appeared well short, but the umpire was unsighted. Nottinghamshire began their reply well, losing just Jason Gallian for 7 before stumps, as Darren Bicknell (44*) and David Alleyne (27*) took them to 79 for 1.
Day 1
Sussex's decision to put Yorkshire in on a bowler-friendly pitch was rewarded when the visitors were nipped out for 238 at Arundel. Jason Lewry bowled well - he jagged one back between bat and pad to bowl Michael Vaughan, one of four scalps for him. But Craig White and Richard Dawson led a counterattack to lift Yorkshire from 101 for 6 to 200 for 7. The pitch did a bit early on, but flattened out during the afternoon as White, who was the last man out, and Dawson put on 99 between them. After Dawson fell, though, the momentum fell away, too. Sussex had reached 55 for 2 by the close.
Full a full report of Middlesex's first day against Lancashire click here.
Division Two
Day 1
The unstoppable Phil Jaques struck a splendid double-hundred to give Worcestershire the upperhand against Northamptonshire at New Road. He was joined by fellow run-machine Graeme Hick with Worcestershire 139 for 3 and together they put on 245, gunning down Northants' bowlers on a day of toil for them. Of the four wickets to fall all day two of those were run outs, which put paid to Stephen Moore and Ben Smith in their twenties. Matthew Nicholson and Monty Panesar picked up the only bowlers' wickets, Nicholson removing Vikram Solanki for 23 and Panesar finally prising out Jaques. If Hick, 93 not out overnight, complete his century. it would be his 100th for Worcestershire and his 130th in all, taking him past Len Hutton's first-class total.
Day 2
Varun Chopra continued to show what he's made of, striking his fourth half-century for Essex in his first seven innings at a cold and windy Derby. Chopra, who is keeping Grant Flower out of the first team, just keeps blossoming and today, on his 19th birthday, he put on 92 with Mark Pettini for the first wicket until Graham Wagg broke their partnership to remove Pettini for 30. Chopra finally fell for 65, removed by Mohammad Sheikh, but by the time Ravinder Bopara (50) and Andy Flower (84*) had also made fifties, Essex had made decent inroads into Derbyshire's 312, reaching 271 for 4 before bad light stopped play. Travis Birt had added nine more runs to his overnight score of 121 before falling to Andy Bichel, which brought Derbyshire's innings to an end.
Glamorgan squeezed into a slender first-innings lead against Surrey at Sophia Gardens. While three Glamorgan players made fifty - Mark Cosgrove, Nicky Peng and Alex Wharf - none of them were allowed to progress from there; they were each out shortly after bringing up the milestone. But Robert Croft remains unbeaten on 48 by the close, with Glamorgan leading by 15, with just one wicket remaining. Ian Salisbury struck a flighty 42 from No 9 to add some spice to Surrey's tail - they added 32 in the morning before he was finally removed.
A frustrating day for Gloucestershire's batsmen at Grace Road, as most of them made starts, but none failed to go on to fifty. Stuart Broad did the bulk of the damage for Leicestershire, grabbing the last four wickets in 24 balls to claim a career best 5for 83. Gloucestershire declared on 282 for 9, giving Leicestershire a lead which they had extended to 105 runs by stumps, with just one wicket down.
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