Joe Root has often won games for Yorkshire with the bat, not so often with his golden arm. But it was spin twins Root (four for 49) and Dom Bess (four for 60) who did for Somerset, chasing 260 in front of a good bank holiday Monday crowd. George Hill, charging in with zip, bowled Archie Vaughan and Tom Lammonby cheaply, then Bess removed danger men James Rew, who had a rare bad match, and his great friend Tom Abell.
Root impishly polished off most of the tail. Thomas Rew got off the mark, and a pair, with a sweet cover driver for four and played nicely for his 30 before being removed caught Bairstow, bowled Root – surely a badge of honour in his first Championship game. Josh Thomas, centurion in the first innings, top-scored with 57, but it was a storming fightback for Yorkshire after a miserable first day.
Kent put a tricky start to the season behind them with a resounding victory over Derbyshire. It was free entry at Canterbury and those 600 spectators who turned up saw Matt Milnes pocket career-best figures of six for 12 as Derbyshire lost two wickets in the first two overs of the day and stumbled towards defeat. Last man out, Luis Reece, with 67, was the only player to pass 20.
Glamorgan celebrated their first Division One victory for 21 years, rolling over Hampshire by an innings, despite the best efforts of Ben Brown (96).
It is unusual for Surrey to have to wait until May for their first win of the season, and Sussex held them up as best they could. Charlie Tear (61), Jack Carson (48) and Ollie Robinson (42) were structural annoyances but were all out by tea. Surrey then lost two wickets in their pursuit of 14, but there is, at last, a tick in the box.
Nottinghamshire stormed to the top of Division One, wrapping up victory against Leicestershire. Liam Patterson White (five for 53) spun through the lower order, before Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater raced to victory, Slater smacking the last ball of the match for six.
Middlesex drew with Durham, Max Holden finishing the day unbeaten on 77.
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Taunton kept us guessing almost to the end. A great win for Yorkshire, and for Glamorgan, Notts, Surrey, Northants and, last but most memorably, Kent. Thanks for your company over the last four days. I’ll be back on Friday at Old Trafford, for the penultimate round of this spring block of games. Have a lovely bank holiday evening. Bye!
