County Championship Review. Both leaders in Division One and Two denied wins

Another round of County Championship matches has concluded before the final two Blast group games and next week’s quarter-finals begin.

In Division One, Hampshire were looking to keep up the pressure on leaders Surrey at the top of the table with victory over Essex at Chelmsford.

In a match dominated by Essex’s Simon Harmer, Hampshire were left 299 to win after Essex had been bowled out for 233 with half centuries for Harmer and Adam Rossington, with spinner Liam Dawson taking 7-68.

Felix Organ led the way at the top of the order with 65, before wickets steadily started to fall. At 213-8, Essex were strong favourites, but a superb 42 from Keith Barker almost got Hampshire over the line, until he became the seventh victim for Harmer with Essex just getting home by 12 runs.

Harmer completed an outstanding match with both bat and ball, finishing with match figures of 15-207, after taking 8-46 in the first innings.

Top of the table Surrey remained on top after their match against Kent at the Kia Oval finished in a draw.

Surrey amassed a massive 673-7 declared in their first innings- which was two more than the total they got against Kent at Beckenham earlier in the season.

There was centuries for Hashim Amla, Ben Geddes- on his championship debut, Will Jacks and 126 from Sam Curran- the first time he has got to three figures in any form of cricket.

Despite a 102 from Daniel Bell-Drummond, Kent were dismissed for 331 with youngster Tom Lawes on his championship debut taking 4-51.

Surrey decided to enforce the follow on and once again it was Bell-Drummond who thwarted the home side with an unbeaten knock of 107 to see Kent home to a draw.

Both other games in Division One finished in draws. With both Northamptonshire and Warwickshire hitting over 400 in their first innings.

At Bristol the game between Gloucestershire and Lancashire also ended in a draw with rain having the final say in the match.

In Division Two the game featuring the top two in the division ended in a draw. Notts declared their first innings on 551-8 with centuries from Haseeb Hameed and Lyndon James. Middlesex replied with 376, John Simpson top scoring with 92.

Notts elected to put the visitors back in but were denied victory after hundreds from Mark Stoneman and Sam Robson saw Middlesex to safety and the draw.

At Worcester, Glamorgan beat the home side by three wickets for their fourth win of the season.

The visitors were left 332 to win after conceding a first innings deficit of 132 runs after being dismissed for 139, with Joe Leach taking 6-44.

The visitors reached their target thanks to 102 from Colin Ingram and an unbeaten 99 from Billy Root.

At Hove, Sussex beat Derbyshire by ….  Wickets to pick up their first championship win of the season.

Derbyshire declared their second innings on 127-7 to leave Sussex 342 to win. A knock of 141 from Ali Orr set the hosts on their way, with an impressive innings of  76 not out from Mohammad Rizwan was enough to get the home side over the line in a very tight finish.

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