Sussex skittle Lancashire to keep the pressure on Surrey

Sussex 385 and 383 for 7 dec. beat Lancashire by 377 and 139 by 252 runs
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He left it late, but Mushtaq Ahmed spun Sussex to another victory which puts them five points behind the leaders Surrey. Mushtaq took eleven wickets in the match as Lancashire crashed to 139 in just over 73 overs. Chris Adams declared on 383 for 7 twenty minutes before lunch after making 190. Billy Taylor was only playing because James Kirtley and Jason Lewry were not available, but he made his mark in style. He took the first four wickets, including Stuart Law (7) and Carl Hooper (1), as Lancashire spluttered to 64 for 4. Then the more well-known figure of Mushtaq added to his galaxy of wickets this season. Chris Schofield (18) and Warren Hegg (25) held up Sussex's charge, but Mushtaq twirled away the last four wickets for 11 runs with the last man, Hegg, falling with only ten balls remaining in the day.

Somerset 476 and 292 for 4 drew with Northamptonshire 681 for 5
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Somerset cruised to 292 for 4 on a lifeless pitch at Taunton as their game with Northants petered out to a bore draw. Only 19 wickets fell in all four days of the match, and Northants used ten bowlers, including Toby Bailey, the wicketkeeper, in Somerset's second innings. Matthew Wood scored 100, Jamie Cox 64 before he retired hurt, and Ian Blackwell smacked 38 from 35 balls.

Kent 477 and 96 for 2 beat Middlesex 407 and 165 by eight wickets at Lord's
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Muttiah Muralitharan spun Middlesex to their first defeat of the season, by picking three of their last four wickets to complete match figures of 9 for 141. Middlesex, who had resumed on 141 for 6, were bundled out for 165, with Jamie Dalrymple and Simon Cook falling in successive deliveries to the sweep shot. Kent needed just 96 in their second innings, and though David Fulton and Michael Carberry fell cheaply, Robert Key and Andrew Symonds breezed to victory inside 25 overs.

Nick Knight led Warwickshire to an emphatic eight-wicket win against Leicestershire at Edgbaston. He belted 20 boundaries in his 122 not out, and shared put on 140 with Jim Troughton, who smashed an unbeaten 55 off 44 balls, as Warwickshire cruised past their potentially tricky target of 265. Mark Wagh also chipped in with 58, and that was after he had wrapped up the Leicestershire tail to finish with 4 for 20. Resuming on 121 for 6, Leicestershire added 74 more runs, thanks mainly to a sensible 37 from Philip DeFreitas. Waqar Younis was also in the wickets, taking 4 for 37, to help set up Warwickshire's second win of the season.

Glamorgan 444 and 86 for 2 beat Durham 355 and 174 by eight wickets at Cardiff
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Glamorgan needed just 2.1 overs on the fourth morning to wrap up an eight-wicket win over Durham. Mike Kasprowicz had flagellated Durham's batsmen on the third afternoon with career-best figures of 9 for 36, and Glamorgan trailed by a mere 12 runs at stumps. It had been an even contest until Kasprowicz had embarked on his second spell on Friday afternoon. Bowling fast and full, he skittled Durham's last nine wickets for the addition of 55 runs, with all but two bowled or lbw.

England U19 229 v South Africa U19 48 for 1 at Chelmsford
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Francois du Plessis scored 177 and put South Africa firmly in control against England at Chelmsford. He hit 26 fours and three sixes and added 138 with East Springer, who scored 77. Daryn Smit (52) and Heinrich Le Roux (49) weighed in with some more runs down the order as South Africa finished a good day's work on 463 for 8 with a lead of 234 runs.