Summary
Nottinghamshire’s Farhan Ahmed marked his maiden first-class match with a 10-wicket haul as spin bowling dominated the final day of the County Championship fixtures. Ahmed, who is just 16 and the younger brother of England bowler Rehan, returned match figures of 10-221 as Nottinghamshire thwarted table-topping Surrey at Trent Bridge, the players shaking hands for a draw at around 5pm.
Jack Leach took 12 wickets in Somerset’s 293-run win over Durham, which took them to within 24 points of Surrey at the top of Division One with three games to play.
Elsewhere in the top division, Worcestershire completed an unlikely win over Essex at Chelmsford, bowling the hosts out for 140, 43 runs short of their target. Worcestershire had been 10-4 on the first morning and trailed by 138 runs after the first innings but fought back remarkably.
In Division Two, Sussex’s Jack Carson was another finger spinner who completed a 10-for on Sunday, snaring 6-67 on the final day at Hove as Derbyshire were beaten by an innings and 59 runs.
Batters dominated at Headingley – where only 18 wickets fell in four days – as Yorkshire and Middlesex played out a bore draw, while Glamorgan were held up by Leicestershire’s Peter Handscomb, the Australian finishing unbeaten on 139 to secure a draw for the visitors in Cardiff.
Updated
Points-wise in Division One, Surrey are now on 193 and have a 24-point cushion to Somerset (169) in second. Hampshire are a little further back on 156 and, you’d say, out of the title race with three games remaining.
At the bottom, Kent (71) are gone; then an almighty scrap will ensue as teams fight to avoid being in that ninth slot. Nottinghamshire are 10 points ahead of Lancashire as it stands.
In Division Two, promotion is surely there for Sussex to take. They’re on 177 points, with Middlesex (158) and Yorkshire (157) fighting for second. Derbyshire are bottom on 104 and hoping somehow to avoid the wooden spoon.
That’s pretty much all from this county blog. Thanks very much for joining me. A summary of everything that’s happened today will appear in the post above.
