Middlesex chase down 406

Division One

An electrifying opening stand of 264 between Ed Smith and Owais Shah helped Middlesex chase down 406 against Glamorgan on a belter of a pitch at Southgate. Smith struck 145 and Shah 155 after Mark Wallace declared following just 14 overs' play on the final day, with Glamorgan on 256 for 3. Jonathan Hughes made 100 not out, but Wallace called time on the innings before Sourav Ganguly had the chance to reach his century. Ganguly made 84 not out. Ben Hutton retired hurt when he had struck just 7, leaving Smith and Shah to carry on the assault. By tea, each had struck a century to take Middlesex to 234 without loss from just 48 overs - a run-rate of nearly 5 an over - with 172 left in the final session and every single wicket in hand. Robert Croft eventually removed both, but not before Shah had put on a further 92 for the second wicket with Ed Joyce. Middlesex lost just two more wickets in pursuit of their total. Smith, who had missed out on a century in the first innings, made no mistake in the second and his 145 came from 171 balls and included 20 fours. Shah's knock took 202 balls and he smote 12 fours with four sixes.

Murray Goodwin and Chris Adams each struck unbeaten centuries on the final day as Sussex and Nottinghamshire played out an inevitable draw at Arundel after rain scuppered the match in its early stages. Nottinghamshire resumed their first innings on 249 for 4 and lost their last six wickets for the addition of 111 runs with Jason Lewry taking 6 for 74. Goodwin struck 102 and Adams 128 in Sussex's reply - and both were unbeaten as the match petered out.

Division Two

Leicestershire pulled off an incredible victory at Grace Road as they defeated Worcestershire by 12 runs. Stuart Broad and Ottis Gibson took three wickets apiece as Worcestershire folded in pursuit of 141. Paul Nixon's topscore of 85 had seemed unlikely to save Leicestershire, but their bowlers rallied to gain the victory. Stephen Moore and Graeme Hick fell early on, but at that point Simon Davies was in control. Worcestershire were cruising at 95 for 4, with just 46 needed and six wickets remaining. But when Davies - who was leading the chase - fell on 49 there followed a collapse from which Worcestershire failed to recover and they crumbled to 128 all out.

Durham ran out of time to bowl out Northamptonshire at the County Ground. Dale Benkenstein and Gareth Breese clobbered 86 from the first 17 overs of the day - at 5 an over - before Benkenstein declared, with himself 17 short of a century. Breese was unbeaten on 69. The visitors set Northants a daunting 414 which they made no real effort to chase. Martin Love struck 62 from 124 balls and Bilal Shafayat added 38 from 68 to ensure the game was safe for Northants. Robert White made a stonewalling 11 from 59 balls before Breese removed him and then Usman Afzaal for a duck, but Durham had left it too late, and Riki Wessels made sure with an unbeaten half century.