Tongue and James put Notts in sight of victory amid showers
Rain and bad light stalked the Championship but the skies cleared just enough for Nottinghamshire to move towards victory at New Road and set up a tantalising match with the leaders, Surrey, next week.
Lyndon James (five for 35) and Josh Tongue (four for 52) whistled through Worcestershire. Tom Taylor then bowled Haseeb Hameed for nought for the second time, but Ben Slater and Freddie McCann reduced Notts’ target to 96.
Surrey, meanwhile, used their patches of clear sky wisely. Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes and Dan Lawrence added 95, to compile a lead of 274 over Warwickshire.
Matthew Potts, pulled out of the Ireland white-ball series by England to get some red-ball overs, picked up three wickets for Durham on a docile pitch against Essex at Chelmsford. “I think it is perfect to have a little run of red ball. I felt in good rhythm there and felt a bit more like myself and bowled nicely.”
Another charming century from Saif Zaib made him the first Northants batsman to hit six hundreds in a season since Lance Klusener in 2006. He shimmied 22 fours and two sixes to frustrate Glamorgan, before he was run out to a fumble-turned-direct-hit for 145.
Ekansh Singh’s 30 not out held the Kent innings together as they inched towards a defendable total. There were two more wickets for Lancashire’s Mitch Stanley.
Shan Masood duly eased to an elegant hundred on Championship debut at Grace Road, on an eventful day between the showers, which included a Leicestershire collapse of six for 22 and a blotter spraying debris all over Gloucestershire’s practice equipment. Leicestershire will confirm promotion with a draw on Thursday, if there is also a draw at Lord’s – which can only be avoided with some innovative number-crunching by Middlesex and Derbyshire. Just 10 overs were possible in north London, enough for Caleb Jewell to pass 1,000 Championship runs for the season and get out.
During the very brief spell of clear weather at Taunton, Somerset hurried towards a declaration against Yorkshire.
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The end of a soggy day. Grace Road is draped in covers and I’m heading home. Thanks for your company, have a lovely evening.
