The Cricketer rounds up the action from day one of the latest round of LV= Insurance County Championship fixtures
DIVISION ONE
Chelmsford (first day of four): Lancashire 131 & 25-6, Essex 107 - Lancashire lead by 49 runs with four second-innings wickets in hand
Simon Harmer's prodigal return from international duty with South Africa was undone by some decidedly shoddy batting and devastating bowling on a day of utter carnage when 26 wickets fell on a controversial pitch at Chelmsford.
The off-spinner claimed his sixth five-wicket haul of the summer to take his tally past fifty for the fifth time in six seasons. But while his 5 for 41 helped skittle Lancashire for 131, Essex struggled initially to capitalise in what is essentially the bronze-medal match to decide the finishing order in the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Lancashire seamer Tom Bailey matched Harmer's efforts by taking 5 for 36 as Essex were dismissed for 107. Only Sir Alastair Cook's resolute 40, the highest by anyone on an extraordinary day, prevented Lancashire eking out a bigger first-innings lead than the 24 runs they managed.
However, that was not the end of the strange affair and by the close, at 25 for 6, Lancashire's lead was a precarious 49.
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The Oval (first day of four): Surrey 292-6, Yorkshire
Ollie Pope hit his 15th first-class century, a memorable 136, to keep Surrey's County Championship title chase on course after they had initially looked to be struggling against Yorkshire's seamers at The Micky Stewart Oval.
Despite bad light ruling out the last 22.4 scheduled overs of the opening day, Surrey reached 292 for 6 by stumps with Jordan Clark unbeaten on 55, with a six and seven fours. It was quite a recovery after being 136 for 5 in mid-afternoon.
Pope hit two sixes and 16 fours in a brilliant 131-ball innings, and ten of his first-class hundreds have now come at the Oval, renamed for this match in honour of club legend Stewart's 90th birthday. He also averages just under 90 on this ground.
Leading second-placed Hampshire by eight points going into the penultimate round of Division One championship games, Surrey certainly needed Pope's vivid strokeplay against a Yorkshire seam attack in which Steven Patterson stood out with 4 for 52 from 18 overs and Ben Coad also demanded respect during 15 overs that brought him figures of 2 for 30.
Lancashire and Essex shared 26 wickets at Chelmsford [Alex Pantling/Getty Images]
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Southampton (first day of four): Kent 165 & 20-3, Hampshire 57 - Kent lead by 128 runs with seven second-innings wickets in hand
Hampshire were skittled for 57 in 87 minutes by Kent to douse their hopes of winning the County Championship title for the first time since 1973.
Matt Quinn claimed 6 for 23 to rout Hampshire for the lowest first-class score at the Ageas Bowl and their worst total since 1984 – where they were bowled out for 56 against Kent at Canterbury in a set-up match.
Hampshire's fast bowling trident of Mohammad Abbas, Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker had all combined to see off Kent for 165 on a green pitch which offered some, but not excessive, movement – but still conceded a 108-run first-innings deficit.
Kent reached 20 for 3 at close in their second innings as Hampshire, who started the round eight points adrift of leaders Surrey, saw their dream of a third pennant fade, despite gaining a point on Surrey during the day.
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Bristol (first day of four): Warwickshire 255-8, Gloucestershire
Indomitable Dom Sibley scored a character-filled hundred to provide relegation-threatened Warwickshire with a timely boost on the opening day of the County Championship Division One basement battle with Gloucestershire at Bristol's Seat Unique Stadium.
Under considerable duress at 138 for 6 midway through the afternoon session, the Midlands county was indebted to its former England opener, who scored a composed 105 not out and staged a restorative seventh-wicket stand of 108 with Danny Briggs, who made a season's best 65, to help Warwickshire reach the close on 255 for 8.
Tom Abell scored his fourth century fo the season [Harry Trump/Getty Images]
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Taunton (first day of four): Somerset 271-4, Northamptonshire
Tom Abell's fourth century of the season led a solid Somerset batting display against Northamptonshire at Taunton, on the day his club paid tribute to one of their most prolific ever run-scorers.
The lunch interval on the opening day of the County Championship game saw the unveiling of the James Hildreth Stand by the player himself, who recently announced his retirement. Hildreth hit more than 27,000 runs for Somerset, including 54 centuries, in over 700 appearances across all competitions, and ranks behind only Harold Gimblett and Marcus Trescothick in terms of first-class runs for his only county.
Skipper Abell marked the renaming of the River Stand at the Cooper Associate County Ground with a textbook innings of 111, which Hildreth would have taken pride in, as Somerset ran up 271 for 4 after winning the toss.
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DIVISION TWO
Leicester (first day of four): Middlesex 293-8, Leicestershire
Half-centuries from John Simpson, Stephen Eskinazi and Ryan Higgins combined to give Middlesex what they will regard as a satisfactory opening day's work position as they seek to clinch promotion from Division Two of the County Championship with two matches left.
Middlesex, who started the penultimate round on 188 points - 27 behind leaders Nottinghamshire but 12 ahead of third-placed Glamorgan, finished the day on 293 for 8 with Simpson falling for 92 after Eskinazi had scored 64 and Higgins 53.
Having chosen to put Middlesex in on a pitch that made batting tricky for much of the day, Leicestershire mostly bowled well as Michael Finan finished with 3 for 54, with Tom Scriven and Callum Parkinson taking two wickets each but paid dearly for some sloppy fielding, dropping Eskinazi on 11 and Simpson on 29.
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Chester-le-Street (first day of four): Sussex 162, Durham 54-1 - Durham trail by 108 runs with nine first-innings wickets in hand
Durham made the most of bowling friendly conditions at Seat Unique Riverside on day one as they bowled Sussex out for just 162.
After winning the toss and asking the visitors to bat, Matthew Potts and Ben Raine bowled a lengthy opening spell interspersed with a rain delay to leave Sussex 47 for 3 at the lunch interval.
Wickets continued to fall after the break, Paul Coughlin chipping in as Sussex's young batting lineup struggled to deal with the moving ball under the floodlights, before some lower-order resistance saw the visitors limp to 162.
Sean Hunt pinned Sean Dickson lbw for 14 as the light constantly threatened to take the players off and Durham closed on 54 for 1.
Matthew Potts picked up his 50th Championship wicket of the season [Stu Forster/Getty Images]
Worcester (first day of four): Worcestershire 297-7, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire's push to clinch promotion was held up by the Worcestershire sixth-wicket pair of Brett D’Oliveira and Gareth Roderick on the opening day of the County Championship match at New Road.
The visitors began the game needing a maximum of 10 points to secure promotion and 22 to clinch the Division Two title and had Worcestershire 99 for 5 after taking advantage of the seamer-friendly surface.
However, club captain D'Oliveira (85) and Roderick, unbeaten on 91, added 169 runs in 56 overs and Worcestershire recovered to 297 for 7 at close.
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Cardiff (first day of four): Glamorgan 380-3, Derbyshire
A career-best double century for Glamorgan captain David Lloyd put his side in the driving seat in this third versus fourth clash.
Glamorgan finished the first day on 380 for 3, gaining four batting bonus points, with Lloyd on 203 not out with his second century coming off just 101 balls as Derbyshire's bowlers toiled.
Glamorgan first-class debutant Tom Bevan offered good support with 48 in a century partnership which set the platform, while Billy Root made the most of a move up the order to No.5 by contributing 77 not out in a partnership of 197.
Derbyshire needed a win to overtake Glamorgan and stay in contention for promotion going into the final round of fixtures, but now find themselves with their backs against the wall with the Welsh County looking to push on to a huge first innings total.
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