Two weeks after being humbled by Middlesex, Yorkshire stormed back to make mincemeat of previous league leaders, Warwickshire, in under three days. While Root, Ballance and Bairstow all played, it was Liam Plunkett who top-scored with a biff-bang 86, much of it as part of a ninth-wicket century partnership with Patterson. Top bowler, though, was Jack Brooks.
With such a tight division, Warwickshire slumped to fifth as the teams below scooped plenty of points. Sussex stayed second but could only draw as the runs flowed too freely. Luke Wright celebrated being dropped from England's T20 outfit by plundering 189 in his county's first innings. He and Ben Brown broke the Sussex sixth wicket record with a mighty 335. Durham's effort was led by Kumar Sangakkara. While his Sri Lanka team mates were suffering in a rain-affected one-dayer at Chelmsford, Sanga enjoyed some useful first-class batting practice scoring 159.
Middlesex stand third after bowling Lancashire out twice for under 300. Neil Dexter and Tim Murtagh each claimed six-fors and Eoin Morgan produced a rare Championship century while Jos Buttler's two fifties provided some compensation for Chapple's side and, longer term, England, too. Despite losing the first day's play to the weather, Nottinghamshire completed an innings defeat of bottom county Northamptonshire. Peter Siddle and Ajmal Shahzad claimed fifteen wickets between them but without Riki Wessels' 158 in 152 balls, the declaration may not have been so ultimately effective. With fewer Championship fixtuires next week it's not impossible for Somerset to leap from sixth to first if they beat Durham. Not impossible, but not terribly likely either!
In Division Two, Surrey finally won a four-day match after almost two seasons! After three low-scoring innings, it took skipper Graeme Smith's 103 in 112 balls to turn the match against Gloucestershire their way. With no Meaker or Dernbach in the attack, Matt Dunn's first innings 5-48 and Chris Tremlett's 6-59 in the second were undoubtedly welcome. The visitors' New Zealand quick James Fuller did even better by taking 6-47, but Smith and Stephen Davies were too good when it mattered.
With Worcestershire occupied only by a university game, Hampshire easily overcame close rivals Glamorgan at the Rose Bowl to take the top poistion. Their impressive batting line-up was simply more consistent than Glamorgan's, Michael Carberry and James Vince each passing 60 first time out. Little more than a day's play was possible at Derby. This was enough for Kent's Doug Bollinger and Darren Stevens to wreck Derbyshire's first innings, and Brendan Nash to strike another big score (95 not out) this afternoon. Moore and Borrington saw the home team to safety and enough points to climb level with Gloucestershire at the foot of the table.
Nevertheless, Michael Klinger's men are bound to advance whatever the result of next week's fixture at home to Kent. Hampshire must be fancied to beat Leicestershire but Worcestershire are waiting to pounce and overtake them by getting the better of Essex.
Before then, there's the small matter of the launch of county cricket's new NatWest T20 Blast competition on Friday. With a promising weather forecast, the beer is expected to flow along with the sixes, especially at Bristol where neighbours Somerset provide the opposition. Champions Northants travel to Yorkshire while recent one-day kings Hampshire entertain Glamorgan. Am I going to predict a competition winner? Of course not; any of the eighteen counties have a decent chance. It's that sort of cricket!
