Championship Digest: Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Find out what happened across the LV= Insurance County Championship as the 10th round of the 2021 competition continues

Group 1

Warwickshire v Durham

Edgbaston (third day of four): Warwickshire 237, Durham 173-5

Scorecard

Another day of heavy showers and attritional cricket at Edgbaston shunted the LV=Insurance County Championship tussle between Warwickshire and Durham further towards a draw. 

Durham will resume on the final morning on 173 for 5 in their first innings in reply to the home side's 237 all out. 

After the first day washout, frequent interruptions on days two and three have prevented a potentially intriguing match, between two of the strongest teams in Group A, from taking flight.

The third day saw Durham grind forward from their overnight 20 for 1 against a heavily depleted bowling attack further hit by the loss of Danny Briggs to England duty. 

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Group 2

Hampshire v Surrey

Southampton (third day of four): Hampshire 488, Surrey 72 & 6-2

Scorecard

Hampshire will hope rain can stay away from the Ageas Bowl on day four of the LV = County Championship clash as they push for a crucial victory over Surrey.

Showers over Southampton kept the players off the field until 5pm, but Surrey, who resumed on 42 for 4, ended a truncated day on 6 for 2 - having followed on after being bundled out for 72. in response to Hampshire's 488.

The visitors trail by 410 runs after the Hampshire bowlers ran amok with Brad Wheal striking with the last ball of the day to dismiss England opener Rory Burns for a duck after Keith Barker had dismissed Mark Stoneman - leaving nightwatchman Amar Virdi at the crease when play resumes on Wednesday.

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Somerset v Leicestershire

Taunton (third day of four): Somerset 461-9d, Leicestershire 390-7

Scorecard

Harry Swindells hit a career-best 119 not out as Leicestershire frustrated a depleted Somerset bowling attack on the third day of the LV=County Championship match at Taunton. 

Setting out on 95 for three in their first innings in reply to 461, the visitors posted 390 for seven, 22-year-old Swindells leading the way with his second first-class century. 

Skipper Colin Ackerman contributed 67, Ben Mike 40 and Ed Barnes a career-best 54 not out before bad light ended play 15 overs early. 

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Gloucestershire v Middlesex

Cheltenham (second day of four): Gloucestershire 248 & 198-6, Middlesex 101

Scorecard

Middlesex have endured some tough days this season but their collapse of eight for 25 on day two at Cheltenham must rank as the most desperate as Gloucestershire took a lead of 345.

Bottom of Group Two with only one win and a litany of batting failures so far this season, they were steady at 76 for 2 replying to 248 just before lunch.

But in 10.2 overs they tumbled wildly like cheese rollers down Cooper’s Hill to be bowled out just 101 before Gloucestershire went to the close 198 for 6 in their second innings, with James Bracey making 88.

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Group 3

Lancashire v Kent

Manchester (third day of four): Kent 74, Lancashire 259-9

Scorecard

A precious unbeaten half-century from Lancashire all-rounder Luke Wood set up a potentially match-winning total at Emirates Old Trafford with Kent going into the final day of a rain-affected match trailing by 185 runs after the hosts closed on 259 for 9. 

Wood batted superbly throughout the majority of a third day which saw 51 overs sent down by an increasingly frustrated bowling attack that were unable to take advantage of the home side’s precarious position at the start of play.

Both teams were forced to make changes following the overnight news that England’s entire ODI squad was to be replaced with Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson and Kent’s Zak Crawley both heading south to Bristol.

No play was possible until deep into the afternoon and it was 3pm when Steven Croft and Rob Jones strode out with Lancashire 108 for 5 and clutching a slender lead of 34 runs.

^{Cameron Bancroft held firm with 34 from 102 balls for Durham}

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Sussex v Glamorgan

Hove (third day of four): Sussex 226 & 111-4, Glamorgan 215

Scorecard

Opener Ali Orr made an unbeaten half-century in only his second first-class match to supervise Sussex’s recovery on the third day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Glamorgan at Hove. 

After they had conceded a first-innings deficit of just 11 runs, Glamorgan seamers Timm van der Gugten and Mick Hogan reduced Sussex to 19 for 3 when play got underway at 4pm.

Hogan picked up fellow Australian Travis Head in a miserly new-ball spell of 9-4-8-1 while van der Gugten removed Aaron Thomason and Stiaan van Zyl.

But Orr and debutant Oli Carter relieved the pressure in a stand of 43 and Orr then added 49 with skipper Ben Brown (25*) to take Sussex to 111 for 4, a lead of 122.