COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO ROUNDUP: It was a good day for the division's two relegated sides as Lancashire's Australian opener became the county's sixth overseas debutant centurion and Kent finished the day needing three wickets for victory
Northampton (day two of four): Kent 231 & 171, Northamptonshire 143 & 107-7 - Northamptonshire require 153 runs to win with three wickets remaining
Kent's South African paceman Keith Dudgeon took four wickets to all but shatter Northamptonshire's hopes of chasing 260 on day two of this Rothesay County Championship match at Wantage Road.
On a day which encompassed parts of three innings and saw 20 wickets fall, Dudgeon claimed 4 for 32, including three in nine balls, as Northamptonshire stumbled to 107 for 7 at stumps, still requiring 153. Only George Bartlett's battling unbeaten 54 offers the hosts some faint hopes for tomorrow.
Earlier, young Northamptonshire quick Raphy Weatherall again spearheaded a spirited fightback, picking up three Kent wickets in 10 balls, including England opener Zak Crawley (31), who fell to another loose shot.
Crawley and Ben Compton made batting look straightforward in a half-century stand before lunch, but Weatherall had his tail up after the interval, and with the other bowlers keeping up the pressure, Kent lost 7 for 49 and rued several careless shots which went straight to fielders. Joey Evison mounted a determined fightback with 52.
Related: Tension gives way to expression as Caleb Jewell crowns Derbyshire's day against Gloucestershire
Derby (day two of four): Gloucestershire 222 & 128-3, Derbyshire 391 - Gloucestershire trail by 41 runs with seven wickets remaining
Derbyshire captain Wayne Madsen again left his mark on Gloucestershire with the 40th first-class century of his career on the second day of the Rothesay County Championship Division Two match at Derby.
The 41-year-old's hundred was his sixth against Gloucestershire and put his side in a commanding position with support from Harry Came, who scored 83 and shared a third wicket stand of 177.
Madsen also completed 16,000 first-class runs during his 118, and with Zak Chappell adding a breezy 61 from 67 balls, Derbyshire reached 391, with a lead of 169.
Marchant de Lange was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 31 for Gloucestershire, who closed on 128 for 3, still 41 runs behind, with Ben Charlesworth unbeaten on 77.
Related: Liam Guthrie impresses as host of naturalised Aussies do battle at Wantage Road
Harris was ably supported at Lord's by Keaton Jennings (55) (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Lord's (day two of four): Middlesex 260, Lancashire 353-9 – Lancashire lead by 93 runs with one wicket remaining
Marcus Harris's century on Red Rose debut helped Lancashire take charge on day two at Lord's.
The Australian Test opener, batting at four, survived an early scare to share a stand of 120 for the fifth wicket with Luke Wells (38). It was Harris's 30th first-class ton, and he became the sixth overseas player to make a hundred on his debut for the county, a trend started by his fellow Aussie, the late Andrew Symonds, in 2005.
Keaton Jennings earlier weighed in 55, enabling the visitors to reach the close on 353 for 9
The Middlesex bowlers toiled hard, with little luck, Zafar Gohar returning 3 for 77 on debut and Blake Cullen 2 for 70, the latter's first County Championship wickets since he dismissed Mohammed Rizwan at Hove in May 2022, such have been the young seamer's injury woes.
The alliance between Harris and Wells turned the tide of a day where Middlesex had initially held sway.
Cardiff (day two of four): Glamorgan 229, Leicestershire 426-8 - Leicestershire lead by 197 runs with two wickets remaining
Veteran bowler Chris Wright smashed an unbeaten 74 to accompany Lewis Hill's 96, Peter Handscomb's 63, Sol Budinger's 56 and Ben Cox's 51 not out to give Leicestershire a commanding lead over Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.
Former and current captains Hill and Handscomb combined for a 142-run partnership after weathering a storm from Asitha Fernando, who took a debut four-wicket haul for Glamorgan. Another debutant, Shoaib Bashir, went wicketless from his 22 overs.
After Hill was dubiously run out, wickets fell cheaply until a swashbuckling innings from 39-year-old Wright for his 15th first-class half-century took Leicestershire past four batting points during an unbeaten 102-run ninth-wicket partnership, with Rishi Patel, who suffered a hand injury yesterday, unable to bat.
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