County Championship Cricket Review. Both Surrey and Hampshire win in Division One

After another round of county championship matches the battle to see who will be crowned county champions in Division One intensified with leaders Surrey maintaining their lead at the top after a thrilling finish to their match against Yorkshire at Scarborough.

Surrey were left to score 227 to win on the final afternoon after bowling out Yorkshire for 220 with Jamie Overton taking 6-61.

The visitors reached their target with four needed from the final over thanks to a boundary from Aaron Hardie to clinch their fifth win of the championship season and stretch their lead over second place Hampshire to 15 points.

At the Ageas Bowl Hampshire beat Warwickshire by eight wickets to keep the pressure on Surrey at the top.

The home side dismissed the visitors for 243 in their second innings to leave Hampshire the simple task of knocking of 91 to win. An unbeaten 41 from Felix Organ made sure their task was completed quickly as the hosts reached their target inside 17 overs.

Essex made it three championship wins in a row after a comprehensive nine wicket victory over Gloucestershire at Chelmsford.

The visitors never recovered from being dismissed for 136 in their first innings with Simon Harmer taking 5-44.

A sublime century from Sir Alastair Cook enabled Essex to post a total of 310. Gloucestershire batted better second time around with Zafar Gohar- who picked up five wickets in Essex’s first innings- leading the way with 81.

The hosts where then left the simple target of 79 to win, which they did and completed victory inside three days.

At Northampton, the home side picked up their first win in this season’s county championship after beating Kent by 203 runs.

Despite Kent having a slim first innings lead of 32 runs, Northants turned the game around after declaring their second innings on 396-8 with Ryan Rickleton hitting 133 and James Neesham 91, to leave Kent an imposing total of 365 to win.

They were never in the hunt and were dismissed for 161 with five wickets apiece from Simon Kerrigan and Rob Keogh.

In the only other match in division one in a high scoring encounter at Southport, Lancashire drew with Somerset.

In Division Two, Worcestershire moved up to fourth in the table after easing to a seven-wicket victory over Middlesex at Merchant Taylors School.

Worcestershire held a narrow three run lead after the first innings with Middlesex bowled out for 240 with Luke Hollman top scoring with 46 and debutant Umesh Yadav unbeaten on 44.

Worcestershire were left what appeared to be a tricky total of 238 to win. However, a magnificent 113 off just 77 balls proved decisive as the visitors costed to victory with over a day to spare for their third win of the championship season.

The three other matches in the division all ended in draws with Durham drawing with Derbyshire at Chester -le-Street. Durham were set 386 to win but settled for a draw after ending the final day on 221-7.

At Hove the bottom two sides in the division Sussex and Leicestershire shared a massive 1,564 runs between them with only 15 wickets falling over the four days and bottom side Leicestershire amassing an incredible 756 for 4 declared with double centuries from Colin Ackermann 277 not out and Wiaan Mulder unbeaten on 235.

Leaders Nottinghamshire’s match with Glamorgan also ended in the draw with the leaders batting through the final day to seal a draw and maintain their lead at the top over Middlesex to 21 points.

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