CHAMPIONSHIP DIGEST: Catch up with Monday's action from around the country

DIVISION ONE

Guildford (day one of four): Somerset 344, Surrey 0-0

George Bartlett made the most of being dropped first ball to score a career-best 137 as Somerset fought back against Surrey at Guildford.

Bartlett was put down by Rikki Clarke at slip off Matt Dunn and made Surrey pay as Somerset, who will return to the top of the first division if they win, were bowled out for 344. Surrey openers Rory Burns and Mark Stoneman negotiated two overs before stumps and will resume on 0 for 0. 

It was Bartlett’s second hundred of the season after he scored 133 against Nottinghamshire and was made in front of ECB’s Technical Director Andy Flower, the former England coach.

Somerset had struggled against the new ball and would have been 35 for 4 had Clarke clung onto the chance to remove Bartlett straight away.

Instead, he shared stands of 95 with Tom Banton and Steve Davies and 73 with Craig Overton before Morne Morkell, armed with the new ball, had him caught behind in the 84th over.

It was an outstanding effort by the 23-year-old, who was born a few miles from Guildford in Frimley, as Somerset once again showed the battling qualities which have already earned them three Championship wins this season.

Edgbaston (day one of four): Warwickshire 181-3

Warwickshire spent the first day of their Specsavers County Championship match with Nottinghamshire very much in the slow lane on a day for the purists as the hosts scored 181 for 3 from 93 overs.

In a tussle between Division One's bottom two teams, not losing is a high priority and the home side, having chosen to bat, deployed enormous caution, most of all in an afternoon session which brought 39 runs in 35 overs.

Dominic Sibley batted throughout the day in search of his seventh century in nine first-class matches. The former Surrey opener ended it just 19 short, unbeaten on 81 from 264 balls with six fours.

Only 15 boundaries were hit all day as Nottinghamshire bowled with admirable persistence and discipline on a slow pitch.

Nineteen-year-old Rob Yates was greeted by an aggressive spell from Stuart Broad but survived to help Sibley add 49 from 25 overs. Yates reached a career-best 24 (83 balls, two fours) before Broad knocked out his off-stump just after lunch.

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Headingley (day one of four): Yorkshire 289-6

Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore narrowly missed out on centuries as Essex fought back strongly after tea to blunt Yorkshire’s early dominance on day one of the Specsavers County Championship clash at Emerald Headingley.

Third-wicket pair Lyth and Kohler-Cadmore shared 127 inside 39 overs from late morning to early evening as Yorkshire reached 224 for two, only to fall for 95 and 83 as the score slipped to 247 for five.

Essex struck four times in all after tea as Yorkshire closed on 289 for six from 96 overs. 

While Kohler-Cadmore missed out on his second first-class century of the season, opener Lyth would have celebrated only his second first-class century in the last two years. 

He initially shared 77 for the first wicket with Will Fraine, preferred to out of form Harry Brook and making his first-class debut for Yorkshire following his move back to his home county from Notts in the winter.

It was Yorkshire’s highest opening stand since the 77 shared between Lyth and Jonny Bairstow in the second innings of the win over Essex at Chelmsford last May when the visitors famously recovered from being bowled out for 50 in the first innings.

DIVISION TWO

Lord's (day two of four): Middlesex 138 & 9-0, Sussex 481-9

Stiaan van Zyl’s marathon hundred set Sussex on course for a maximum-points win over Middlesex on day two at Lord’s.

The left-hander batted for just over seven and a half hours for his 173 and with wicketkeeper Ben Brown weighing in with 107, Sussex, who bowled out the hosts for 138 on the opening day, piled up 481 for 9.

It was a race between the two batsmen as to who could get to three figures first. In the event van Zyl just prevailed, reaching the landmark from 233 balls with 12 fours.

Not long afterwards it was Brown’s turn, 16 boundaries getting him to the century almost 100 balls quicker than his teammate. His second fifty came up in 41 balls in a passage of play which saw 81 runs in the 55 minutes after lunch.

Middlesex, for whom James Harris returned figures of 4 for 98, survived four overs before stumps reaching 9-0, but they face the prospect of having to bat out almost all of the remaining two days to salvage a draw.

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Northampton (day two of four): Northamptonshire 209, Glamorgan 452-9

Billy Root made the highest score by a Glamorgan batsman against Northamptonshire to put his side in complete command at Wantage Road. Root’s career-best 229 helped his side recover from 120 for 5 to close the second day 452 for 9, leading by 243.

Badly dropped by Ricardo Vasconcelos at second slip on naught - a chance that would have left Glamorgan 21 for 4 - Root took full advantage, hitting 30 fours and a six in his third innings over a hundred in the County Championship and second against Northants this season after his 126 in Cardiff back in April.

He played a number of eye-catching cuts and drives, the pick of which was crashed through cover point off Nathan Buck, and ran superbly between the wickets with one exception - a sharp single attempted to Buck at mid-on would have seen Root run out for 90 had Buck thrown down the stumps, but the fielder failed to gather.

It allowed Root to go through to a fourth first-class hundred in 121 balls with 16 fours and after tea he extended it to a double century in 230 deliveries with 26 fours and scooped six over backward-square off Ben Sanderson.

He initially battled Glamorgan away from danger in a stand of 83 with Charlie Hemphrey that took up most of the morning session before adding another 87 for the sixth wicket in the afternoon put Glamorgan in the lead.

Chester-le-Street (day one of four): Durham 254-8

Alex Lees and Jack Burnham scored half-centuries to lead a solid effort with the bat for Durham on day one of their Division Two clash against Derbyshire.

The home side were put under pressure by fine bowling from Ravi Rampaul, who claimed figures of 4 for 56 for Derbyshire, producing impressive spells with the new ball in hand.

However, Lees and Burnham played the patient knocks that were demanded by head coach James Franklin in the aftermath of the club's defeat to Gloucestershire last time out. Although neither batsmen was able to make three figures, Durham ended the first day in a decent position at 254 for 8. 

Aigburth (day one of four): Lancashire 347-7

Lancashire’s Liam Livingstone’s seventh first-class century put the Division Two leaders in a commanding position at the end of the first day of the Red Rose’s clash with Leicestershire at Aigburth.

Lancashire closed on 347 for 7 on a day which was dominated by a sixth wicket stand of 136 between Liam Livingstone and Stephen Croft which saw the hosts recover from a poor first session which left them 102 for 4 at the lunch break. 

Livingstone who took the lead, eventually scoring 114 runs from 171 balls in an innings that included 14 fours and two sixes and one extraordinary shot off Klein which saw the batsman execute a forearm smash to an accidental looping beamer that bounced once before reaching the point boundary. 

The 25-year-old all-rounder also reached the milestone of 2,500 first-class runs, before he was dropped by Callum Parkinson off Colin Ackermann's first delivery just before tea with the carnage continuing after the break until he holed out to Mark Cosgrove at mid on off Neil Dexter.