Joyce hundred powers Middlesex

Yasir Arafat's three wickets gave Sussex the upper hand on the second day against Kent at Canterbury. Resuming on 355 for 8 Sussex's tail bashed their way to 399 before James Lewry trapped David Fulton with the first ball of Kent's reply. Kent soon stumbled to 34 for 3 before Matthew Walker (87) and Darren Stevens (118) rescued a sinking ship with a fine fourth-wicket partnership of 188. Arafat struck back, though, removing both batsmen and Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, to leave Kent still trailing by 160 runs.

Ed Joyce struck a magnificent unbeaten 158 for Middlesex who dominated the first day against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. However, the visitors were in early trouble when they lost Ed Smith (30) and Owais Shah (10) to leave them in the tricky position of 56 for 2. Enter Nick Compton with whom Joyce put on 71 vital runs for the third wicket. Though Compton fell for 52, Joyce found good support from Jamie Dalrymple (43) and David Nash (35*) as Middlesex closed on 344 for 5.

John Crawley and James Adams launched a firecracking assault on Nottinghamshire's bowlers at Trent Bridge, each striking unbeaten centuries to leave Hampshire on a majestic 303 for 1. Mike Carberry fell on Nelson, and was unlucky not to make his half-century. He was on 49 when Ryan Sidebottom induced his edge, but by that stage Hampshire were healthily set. Then Crawley joined Adams and together they put on 192 at just under three an over.

Anthony McGrath struck is third and highest century of the season to steer Yorkshire out of trouble against Durham at Chester-le-Street. After choosing to bat, Ottis Gibson and Mick Lewis reduced them to 186 for 7 despite a stand of 97 between McGrath and Darren Lehmann. But McGrath found solid support from Jason Gillespie, then Mitchell Claydon contributed a positive 38 in a ninth-wicket stand of 80. McGrath's ton came off 183 balls and Yorkshire's day ended on a fine note as Gillespie and Deon Kruis struck with the new ball.

Andy Flower was Essex's mainstay as they closed on 265 for 4 in reply to Gloucestershire's 394 at Bristol. He reached his century with a clip for four to the long-leg boundary as he ended on 114 not out to make a fine return to action following a recent back injury. Gloucestershire had earlier added 39 to their overnight score of 355 for 8 with Ian Fisher (45) and Jon Lewis (38) dispatching a flurry of boundaries at the start of the day. The home side narrowly missed out on their final batting point, however, as Lewis was first stumped by James Foster after advancing down the track to James Middlebrook before Fisher edged low to Ravinder Bopara at second slip off Andy Bichel.

Essex lost Varun Chopra early in their reply, caught nibbling behind. Mark Pettini (59) fared better but chipped to square leg after sharing a stand of 111 for the third wicket with Andy Flower. In-form captain Ronnie Irani laboured for 12 off 69 balls before giving a catch to short-leg as Fisher claimed his second wicket. Fisher, the slow left-armer, had less success against the Flower combination, however, as they took their side to the close with an unbeaten stand of 74 for the fifth-wicket with Grant Flower on 28 not out.

Ali Brown made another fine century to help Surrey make a solid 328 on the opening day against Northants at Northampton. Mark Ramprakash added yet more runs to a mighty first-class haul, with a half-century, and there were runs, too, for Rikki Clarke, who was out three short of his fifty. But Northants stuck to their task with Matthew Nicholson picking up 4 for 84 to dismiss them before the close. Bilal Shafayat fell for a duck early doors, bowled by Mohammad Akram (1 for 1), but that was the end of the drama for the day, with Northants closing on 27 for 1, still 301 runs behind.

Marcus North's exquisite century put Derbyshire in a strong position on the opening day at Taunton. They closed on 374 for 9 and were helped to that total by Chris Taylor; he added 145 runs with North for the third wicket to pick their team up from an early wobble at 30 for 2. Taylor eventually fell to Andrew Caddick, who bagged three wickets, while North was undone by Simon Francis, who also took three.

HD Ackerman led the way for Leicestershire with an unbeaten 177 as they recovered from a wobble to take the opening day honours against Glamorgan at Cardiff. Leicestershire lost wickets in clusters to find themselves on 178 for 5 midway through the afternoon. Ackerman and Paul Nixon then combined in a sixth-wicket stand of 160 to turn the innings around. Ackerman took 168 balls over his century, while Nixon showed all his fighting qualities during a 123-ball 60.