Title chasers ease pressure on Worcestershire

It may have been having a bleak day of its own in its County Championship game at Northampton but Worcestershire's aspirations of winning this season's National League title took a massive boost today as nearest rivals Somerset and Leicestershire both tumbled to defeat in matches they were expected to win.

For Somerset - which had begun the day only needing a win over Yorkshire at home at Taunton to pass the Royals at the top of the Division One table - the disastrous result came in the form of a thirty-two run defeat.

On a flat, straw-coloured pitch, Yorkshire established dominance from close to the outset; Anthony McGrath (85* from 77 balls), Gavin Hamilton (43*), Simon Widdup (38), Darren Lehmann (38) and Vic Craven (24) all contributing well as the score raced to 249/3 at the end of its allotted overs.

Each member of Somerset's top order made his way into double figures, but only Rob Turner (44) and Peter Bowler (40) managed to go on with the job to any great extent. As a consequence, wickets fell too regularly for the locals to ever find themselves in a position to challenge their target. Paceman Matthew Hoggard (3/32) and left arm spinner Ian Fisher (3/53) each claimed three wickets for Yorkshire.

At Canterbury, Leicestershire's target was significantly smaller yet its margin of victory even greater. On a pitch which showed increasing signs of being two-paced, an extraordinary assault from Kent number nine, Martin McCague (56 from 25 balls with eight fours and three sixes) proved the difference between the teams. His late defiance brought with it three significant benefits: it provided some much-needed support to James Hockley (44); dramatically accelerated a previously flagging run rate; and, lifted Kent's score to 214 when a score of anything approaching two hundred had hitherto looked a pipe dream.

From there, Kent's bowlers found that they had more than enough runs to defend. Although Ben Smith (38) and Aftab Habib (24) made a good fist of the early part of the chase, the visitors' decline proved a steady and predictable one as soon as those two were parted with the score at 80. The eventual margin of defeat was 75 runs; Matthew Fleming (3/7) and Martin Saggers (3/26) the chief destroyers.

In Division Two, Surrey's irresistible form continued - and with it, its very real hopes of claiming twin Championship and League titles were boosted - as it hammered Middlesex by five wickets at Lord's.

The hosts never really gave themselves a chance with their meagre total of 167/8; again only Mark Ramprakash (53) looking convincing against a well balanced attack. This reality was confirmed as Nadeem Shahid (50*) and Adam Hollioake (47) piloted the visitors to their success with more than six overs to spare. As if its twelve point lead was not already convincing enough, the result also significantly boosted Surrey's net run rate.

The most exciting finish of the day came at Cardiff, where Glamorgan turned its disappointing Championship form against Gloucestershire around with a thrilling three wicket victory over Durham.

With a vital contribution that lifted the home team past Durham's score of 202/5, Adrian Dale (76*) was the hero of a victory which came from the penultimate delivery of the match. The batting of Mike Powell (48) and captain Matthew Maynard (37) also assumed crucial importance.

Earlier, Simon Katich (70) and Paul Collingwood (66) had been the key figures around whom Durham had been able to post its competitive total.

In the final National League contest of the day, Derbyshire's predicament at the very bottom of the Division Two table went from bad to worse with its thirty-six run defeat at the hands of Hampshire.

In truth, it was never in the game once the swashbuckling Will Kendall (73* from 42 balls) and Robin Smith (61*) built on the efforts of Derek Kenway (53) to lift Hampshire to the excellent score of 233/3.

A fine opening stand of 87 in quick time between Michael Di Venuto (47) and Matthew Cassar (44) threatened to have the match heading for a tight finish but the medium pace of John Stephenson (4/40) soon had things back on the keel of inevitability. Only three other batsmen exceeded a score of seven as the now almost certain wooden-spooners plunged to a final tally of 197. Kenway enjoyed his afternoon behind the stumps with five dismissals.