Surrey hold all the aces

Championship leaders Surrey were in a strong position at 193/3 against Derbyshire on the second morning at the Oval. Despite losing Nadeem Shahid for 17, Surrey strengthened their lead after having bowled out Derbyshire for 118 on the first day.

Meanwhile Yorkshire, who are in hot pursuit of Surrey at the top of the table, struggled to mop up a stubborn Leicestershire tail at Grace Road. Neil Burns and Carl Crowe ferried the hosts from an overnight score of 286/8 to 332/8 against a Yorkshire side bereft of their top stars.

At Old Trafford, Lancashire made a promising start on the first morning of their latest game against Kent, moving to 35/0 from 11 overs. Northamptonshire, the pacesetters in Division 2, conceded a 43- run first innings lead to Sussex at Eastbourne. They were already a wicket down in their second knock, having lost Adrian Rollins.

Gloucestershire stretched their first innings to 324 on the second morning against Essex at Colchester. Last man Ben Gannon was dismissed for 28 with Jeremy Snape running out of partners on 54.