Murali spins Lancashire to victory

Lancashire 196 and 377 (Flintoff 83, Law 83, Cork 57, Mason 4-107) defeated Worcestershire 306 and 191 (Hick 57, Solanki 52, Cork 4-51) by 76 runs
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Muttiah Muralitharan spun Lancashire to a 76-run victory against Worcestershire at New Road after Andrew Flintoff had led their superb fightback on the third day. It was Lancashire's first victory since their fourth Championship match of last season at Old Trafford, which was also against Worcestershire. At the start of the final day, the match hung in the balance, Worcestershire needing a further 210 runs with eight wickets in hand. Graeme Hick and Vikram Solanki took them within sight of the total, each striking half-centuries but ultimately it was not enough. Both of their innings were boundary-crammed; Hick's 57 comprising 11 fours and one six, while Vikram Solanki cracked nine fours in his 52. Dominic Cork turned the match by removing Hick, Ben Smith and then Chaminda Vaas in quick succession to bring his haul to 4 for 51. Muralitharan then mopped up with three wickets as Lancashire recorded their first victory of the season.*

*David Wigley did not bat for Worcestershire in their second innings: he was absent hurt with a broken hand; the result of an accidental beamer from James Anderson.

Derbyshire 241 (Louw 6-71) and 119 for 0 (Stubbings 58*, di Venuto 55*) drew with Northamptonshire 451 for 7 dec (Love 168, Shafayat 161)
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Derbyshire and Northamptonshire shared the points at the County Ground after rain forced the match to be abandoned on the final day. Northants were strongly positioned having forced Derbyshire to follow on. The home side were still 91 runs behind when the rains came - although they did have ten wickets in hand, with the openers Steve Stubbings (58 not out) and Michael di Venuto (55 not out). The match was finally abandoned at 2pm without a ball being bowled on the last day.

Essex 427 for 8 dec and 78 for 1 defeated Somerset 190 and 313 (Francis 64, Turner 68*, McLean 40) by nine wickets
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A last-wicket stand of 70 between Robert Turner and Nixon McLean was not enough to save Somerset they slumped to a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Essex. The visitors had not been expecting to bat again after reducing Somerset to 170 for 8, which was still some 67 runs behind. But Somerset's last two partnerships produced a combined total of 143, forcing Essex to take to the crease again. When they did, Will Jefferson, Ravinder Bopara and Alistair Cook knocked off the runs comfortably, losing just one wicket in pursuit of 76.