Find out what happened across the LV= Insurance County Championship on the second day of the new season
Division One
Chelmsford (second day of four): Essex 514, Kent 122-1 - Kent trail by 392 runs with nine wickets in hand
Matt Critchley marked his Essex debut with a century that went up through the gears and heaped more misery on a Kent side kept in the field for five sessions at Chelmsford.
The close-season signing from Derbyshire was finally last man out for 132 as Essex built on the first-wicket platform of 220 established between first-day centurions Sir Alastair Cook and Nick Browne to plunder 514 from an ailing Kent attack.
Critchley was finally beaten by an off-break from 21-year-old rookie Tawanda Muyeye after an innings of sublime timing that went off at a careful rate of one run every other ball to hitting nearly a run a ball by the time it ended four and a half hours later. In the process he shared stands of 94 with Adam Wheater and 65 with another debutant Adam Rossington.
Kent's top order was shorn of the likes of Zak Crawley, Jack Leaning, Sam Billings and George Linde for various reasons, but Nick Compton eked out a patient 47 in negotiating 33 overs in the evening and reducing Essex's lead by 122 runs for the loss of Daniel Bell-Drummond.
Southampton (second day of four): Somerset 180 & 15-0, Hampshire 428 - Somerset trail by 333 runs with 10 wickets in hand
Joe Weatherley masterfully scored his highest LV= Insurance County Championship knock as Hampshire racked up a massive first-innings lead on Somerset.
Opening batter Weatherley had only previously scored one first-class century, a 126 not out against Lancashire in 2018, but waltzed to a brilliant 168.
Ian Holland and the typically stylish James Vince notched half-centuries as Hampshire rode to 428 and into a first-innings advantage of 248 runs.
Ben Green, after taking 3 for 31, and Tom Lammonby weathered six overs under the lights to end the day 15 without loss.
Matt Critchley scored a century on debut for Essex [Jacques Feeney/Getty Images]
Northampton (second day of four): Gloucestershire 233 & 5-1, Northamptonshire 288 - Gloucestershire trail by 60 runs with nine wickets in hand
Rob Keogh and Gareth Berg rescued Northamptonshire with a century stand for the eighth wicket to give their side the edge against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.
The pair came together with Northants stumbling towards a sizeable first-innings deficit after James Bracey's hundred had engineered the visitors' recovery to 223 all out.
Wicketkeeper Bracey showcased his all-round skills with five dismissals as Gloucestershire reduced their fellow LV= Insurance County Championship Division One newcomers to 129 for 7 in reply.
But Keogh, who compiled his 12th first-class ton before falling for 113, shared a partnership of 137 with Berg (66) to guide Northamptonshire to 288 – and there was still time to make inroads second time around, with the West Country side closing on 5 for 1, a deficit of 60.
Edgbaston (second day of four): Surrey 428-8d, Warwickshire 16-2 - Warwickshire trail by 412 runs with eight wickets in hand
Ben Foakes underlined his intention to nail down the England wicketkeeper's spot long-term with a high-class century for Surrey against Warwickshire on the second day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Edgbaston.
Foakes struck a composed unbeaten 132 (263 balls, 18 fours, one six) to provide the backbone as Surrey kept the champions in the field for almost two days on the way to an imposing 428 for 8 declared.
It was not a flawless knock, he was dropped in the slips on 37 and 54, but those were rare aberrations in over six hours of impressive concentration and resolve from the 29-year-old.
With support from Ollie Pope (58 off 85 balls) and Jordan Clark (50 off 91 balls), Foakes lifted Surrey to a total with which they will aim to put their hosts under serious pressure. In 12 overs before the close, Warwickshire faltered to 16 for 2 in reply, having lost Dom Sibley for a first-baller and skipper Will Rhodes.
Ben Foakes was among the runs for Surrey [Matthew Lewis/Getty Images]
Division Two
Cardiff (second day of four): Glamorgan 234, Durham 5-0 - Durham trail by 229 runs with 10 wickets in hand
Another afternoon filled with poor weather meant just 26.5 overs were bowled on day two of the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Glamorgan and Durham in Cardiff.
The morning session saw Glamorgan bowled out for 234 as six wickets fell for 41 runs with the dismissals shared around by the Durham seamers.
There was time for one over of the Durham first innings before the lunch break but that was where the play finished for the day, with the visitors on 5 without loss, 229 runs behind on first innings.
Leicester (second day of four): Worcestershire 348, Leicestershire 42-3 - Leicestershire trail by 306 runs with seven wickets in hand
An unbeaten century by Brett D'Oliveira in his first match as club captain put Worcestershire in a strong position after two days of their opening LV= County Championship match against Leicestershire.
The 30-year-old all-rounder, handed the job after Joe Leach stepped down at the end of last season, compiled a fine, measured innings to finish on 118 not out as the visitors to the Uptonsteel County Ground posted a first-innings total of 348.
At the close, Leicestershire were 42 for 3 in reply, having been 6 for 3 after Leach and Charlie Morris took early wickets with the new ball.
D'Oliveira had survived a difficult chance at third slip on three on the first evening but otherwise played superbly, backed up by half-centuries from Leach (70) and Ed Barnard (57). His innings spanned almost six hours.
Steven Finn celebrates dismissing Joe Clarke [Warren Little/Getty Images]
Lord's (second day of four): Middlesex 401, Derbyshire 177-4 - Derbyshire trail by 224 runs with six wickets in hand
Day two of the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Middlesex and Derbyshire confirmed there are in fact three certainties in life – death, taxes and Tim Murtagh taking wickets from the Nursery End at Lord's.
At 3:36pm on an increasingly sunny spring afternoon the Seaxes' acting skipper thudded a ball into Billy Godleman's off-stump via an inside-edge to claim the 900th first-class wicket of his career some 7,961 days after snaring his first in the year 2000, when current teammate Josh De Caires wasn't even a twinkle in the eye of his father and former England captain Michael Atherton.
Murtagh's historic achievement though shouldn't overshadow Shan Masood's 91 for Derbyshire, comfortably the highest-ever score by a debutant for the county against Middlesex at Lord's. His 220-minute vigil allowed the visitors to reply with 177 for 4 after bowling out the hosts for 401 on the stroke of lunch, Alex Thomson returning 4 for 103 his best figures in County Championship cricket.
Hove (second day of four): Sussex 375, Nottinghamshire 214-5 - Nottinghamshire trail by 161 runs with five wickets in hand
Steven Finn rolled back the years on his Sussex debut, picking up three wickets including England hopeful Haseeb Hameed for five, to leave their match against Nottinghamshire nicely poised.
In only his sixth LV= Insurance County Championship match since June 2019, the former England seamer removed Hameed and Joe Clarke in a superb new-ball spell of 2 for 19 from seven overs as Nottinghamshire slumped to 52 for 4 replying to Sussex' 375, which included a maiden hundred by Tom Clark.
Finn returned after tea to end a fifth wicket stand of 108 between Lyndon James (63) and Steven Mullaney, but Mullaney was 79 not out at stumps with Nottinghamshire 214 for 5, trailing by 161.
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