Tanya Aldred's county report
It took Surrey just 15 minutes to draw a line through Warwickshire and cement their place as sparkling favourites for the Championship title.
“Our desire is certainly there in our dressing room,” said Rory Burns, 22 points fresh in the captain’s pocket. “We love playing four-day cricket for Surrey.” That won’t have come as a surprise to Warwickshire, whose batting was decimated in what was a must-win game for them to stay in the running. Dan Worrall snaffled two more wickets to add to Monday’s haul to finish with five for 25, eight for 59 in the match.
At a parched Chelmsford, Surrey’s nearest rivals Essex also made hay. Josh de Caires had time to pick up a career-best eighth wicket before Jamie Porter tightened the laces on his boots and set off. At 25 for four, Middlesex’s innings resembled congealed scrambled egg, but Max Holden and Ryan Higgins restored some sensibility. Porter finished with six for 34, his third five-fer in a row, collecting 50 wickets for the year. There was just the one wicket for Simon Harmer. Sir Alastair Cook then stroked Essex to a useful lead.
Leicestershire, for so long the butt of the joke, kept up their push for promotion after beating Gloucestershire by eight wickets, thanks to a calm partnership of 161 between Colin Ackermann and Lewis Hill. Worcestershire comfortably beat the promotion challengers Glamorgan, despite the best efforts of Billy Root (84).
With the sniff of Division One in their nostrils, Durham took the extra half-hour to try to wheedle out Sussex, but couldn’t quite finish the job. Bas de Leede threw in three wickets to go alongside his maiden first-class century, with Matthew Potts and Matt Parkinson also gathering three apiece. There were three Sussex half centuries – Ollie Carter, Chesteshwar Pujara and Fynn Hudson-Prentice – as they tackled their forlorn task.
Good night!
Durham can’t quite clinch victory, so events at The Riverside go into day four. Some big wins today, for Surrey in Div one, and Leics and Worcestershire in the party place. Thanks for all your messages, we’ll be back tomorrow – good night!
