County Championship Review. Surrey thwarted by Northamptonshire in Division One, as Middlesex close the gap in Division Two

Surrey’s chances of extending their lead at the top of Division One were hampered after failing to gain a victory against Northamptonshire at Northampton in the latest round of county championship matches.

Centuries from Hashim Amla and Tom Curran enabled Surrey to hold a first innings lead of 82 runs.

Northamptonshire were eventually dismissed in their second innings for 426 with Saif Zaib top scoring with 124 to leave Surrey an unrealistic target of 345 to win. The visitors ended up 48 for 1, with the match drawn and Surrey taking 16 points from the game to give them a lead of eight points over second placed Hampshire.

At Headingley Essex defeated Yorkshire by just one wicket to claim their sixth championship win of the season.

After bowling out Yorkshire second time around for 252 with Jamie Porter taking 4 for 64, leaving Essex 162 to win.

Despite losing Nick Browne early on, and at one stage slipping to 93 for 7, the visitors were rescued by an unbeaten 65 from Shane Snater to see them over the line by the closest of margins.

The relegation battle looks to be heading to the wire after Somerset drew their latest championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston after Warwickshire were left 364 to win, eventually ended up on 256 for 6 to move eight points clear of Warwickshire in the table.

 

In Division Two, Middlesex closed the gap on leaders Nottinghamshire to 27 points after beating Glamorgan at Lords by 10 wickets.

Middlesex held a very useful first innings lead of 176 after a century from Mark Stoneman helped the hosts to a total of 390.

Glamorgan were bowled out for 220 in their second innings, with Toby Rowland-Jones taking 5 for 61 to leave the home side the simple task of knocking of 45 runs to win, which they duly did after less than 30 minutes of the final days play.

At Leicester, Leicestershire slipped to their eight loss of the season after going down to Durham by seven wickets.

The hosts were dismissed for 198 in their second innings with Matthew Potts taking 7 for 49 to leave Durham 105 to win. A half century from Michael Jones saw Durham home for just their second win of the championship season.

In the only other match played in Division Two, the game between Sussex and Worcestershire ended in a draw.

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