County Championship Roundup. Surrey stay top in Division One, Notts set the pace in Division Two

Another round of County Championship matches was concluded on Sunday, with Surrey still maintaining their position at the top of Division One.

Their game with Gloucestershire at Bristol finished in a draw after the final day was washed out.

In a high scoring game that saw 1,046 runs scored for just 12 wickets falling, even without the bad weather on the final day, it always looked likely the game would end in a draw on a very flat Bristol surface.

Surrey made a massive 603, with Jamie Smith hitting an undefeated 234 and Jordan Clark making a fine 137. Gloucestershire put on 296 for the opening wicket before Marcus Harris fell for 124. Chris Dent remained unbeaten on 207 as Gloucestershire amassed 443-2.

At the Ageas Bowl, the weather on the final day ruined the possibility of a good finish where Hampshire were up against Lancashire. Like at Bristol, the rain had the last word with Lancashire on 9-0 chasing 351 to win.

Earlier in the match, Hampshire’s Nick Gubbins hit two centuries in the game, 101* and 130 with Lancashire’s Hasan Ali taking 5-45 and Hampshire’s Keith Barker also picking up a five for.

At Taunton, Somerset claimed their first victory in this year’s championship after an innings and 82 runs victory over Warwickshire.

Matt Renshaw posted a century as Somerset made 458 in their first innings. Warwickshire could only make 209 in reply and were asked to follow on. Second time around, they were dismissed for 167, with Jack Brooks picking up 4-44.

In the only other match played in Division one, bad light ruined a potentially good finish with Yorkshire requiring 115 runs to win after bowling Kent out for 393 with Ben Compton falling seven short of a century and Grant Stewart run out for 90.

Earlier in the match, Yorkshire had made an imposing 571, with Harry Brook hitting 194 and Dawid Malan 152 to rescue Yorkshire from 23-3.

After the conclusion of the latest round of Division One matches, Surrey remains on top with 67 points, with Hampshire on 53 and Lancashire at 50.

In Division Two, Middlesex picked up their first championship win by beating Leicestershire by ten wickets inside three days at Lords.

Leicestershire could only make 149 in their first innings, with Shah Afridi and Tom Helm picking up three wickets apiece. Middlesex responded with 370 with Mark Stoneman making 108 and John Simpson 71.

Despite Ben Mike being left stranded on 99, Leicestershire were bowled out for 272 to leave Middlesex the simple task of 52 to win.

Nottinghamshire made it three wins from four after a five-wicket victory over Worcestershire at Trent bridge.

Notts were set 233 to win with Ben Duckett hitting 78 and an undefeated half-century from Joe Clarke was enough to get the hosts over the line.

Worcestershire were undone in their first innings by Dane Paterson, who took 8-52 to dismiss the visitors for 159. The visitors batted better the second time around with Ed Barnard making an unbeaten 163 as Worcestershire were bowled out for 339.

The match between Sussex and Durham at Hove finished in a draw. After Durham had made 223 in their first innings, Sussex made 538 with the in-form Cheteshwar Pujara hitting a double century.

But an opening partnership of 313 between Alex Lees, 105, and Sean Dickson, 186, was enough to see Durham to safety.

There was a wonderful finish at Derby where Glamorgan were left a target of 331 runs to win after Derbyshire declared their second innings on 349-3 with Brooke Guest 138* and Wayne Madsen 135* sharing a third-wicket partnership of 276.

Glamorgan’s Marnus Labuschagne hit 85 to keep Glamorgan in touch. When the Australian lost his wicket, Glamorgan were 160-3. Sam Northeast took the visitors to within 31 runs of their target when he became the eighth wicket to fall.

It was down to tail-enders James Harris and Timm van der Gugten to hold off Derbyshire with the pair surviving ten balls to cling on to a draw in a game that could have gone either way.

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