Key events<\/p>\n
The sun is out, there\u2019s a ruffling wind, and Ben Aitchison has the ball from the racecourse end. Praise be, we have play around all the grounds.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.02 EDT<\/p>\n And hello Tim Maitland!<\/p>\n \u201cI have nothing intelligent to offer today (plus ca change?), but I can warn you that the Met Office radar forecast <\/a>is showing possible rain during the afternoon session in (surprise) Manchester, Leicester, Taunton and Southampton. Unusually it\u2019s spreading from due north Up North and from the more usual west to east in the South.<\/p>\n \u201dDerby, Cheltenham, The Oval and Riyadh (or wherever that desert is that Middlesex and Kent are playing on) should be fine. Leeds should cop some too, but not enough to affect the seemingly inevitable result.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Good morning Mike Daniels in the Grace Road scorebox:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Glamorgan players in very high spirits during their football warm-up, and why shouldn\u2019t they be? Leicestershire<\/a> are in a heap of trouble and need to dig deep to stay in the game, which could be a microcosm of their season, with the admirable exception of the One-Day Cup. They\u2019ll probably need their Mexican signing \u201cEl Nino\u201d to deliver in buckets over the next few days to avoid another home defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Lots to read from the Test yesterday, including Taha\u2019s piece on Jordan Cox, who entertained CC Live! with 204 against Leicestershire<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Round-up: Thomas hits hundred as Somerset make hay against Essex<\/p>\n After weeks of drought, the rain arrived, like a tolling bell, just in time for the County Championship<\/a> restart.<\/p>\n Josh Thomas hit the only century of the day on a bonny day for title chasers Somerset. Thomas\u2019s sprightly second first-class hundred, together with 96 on debut from New Zealand\u2019s Henry Nicholls, left Taunton merry after being inserted by Essex on a surface friendlier than it looked.<\/p>\n England\u2019s forgotten man Zak Crawley gambolled to his highest score of the season as Kent rattled along against Middlesex on the corn-coloured grassland of Merchant Taylor\u2019s School. Crawley played with discipline and flair before wafting Ryan Higgins to second slip for 81. Sam Northeast collected 87 against his favourite opposition. The excellent Toby Roland-Jones grabbed three wickets.<\/p>\n Liam Patterson-White saved Nottinghamshire\u2019s bacon with 76 not out in the battle of the big dogs at the Oval. Surrey, lying in an unfamiliar seventh place, had reduced Notts to 104 for eight. Tom Lawes grabbed five wickets.<\/p>\n Fourteen wickets fell in the relegation ding-dong at Southampton. Kyle Abbot\u2019s four for 17 felled Yorkshire, who limped to 173 courtesy of an unbeaten 40 from Dom Bess. George Hill then returned the favour with three for four to leave Hampshire 60 for four.<\/p>\n Durham have the upper hand in the Division Two promotion race, but didn\u2019t get much chance to show their wares on a day of thunder, rain and bad light against Derbyshire. Alex Lees nurdled his way to an unbeaten fifty in front of some doughty spectators.<\/p>\n On the parched grass of Cheltenham, Worcestershire\u2019s Ben Allison whistled up three quick wickets There was just time for 21-year-old Tommy Boorman reach his first Championship fifty in the town when he was born before the heavens opened. An overnight hosing left Old Trafford saturated, though the Manchester grey was brightened when Marcus Harris was awarded his county cap. A Lancashire attack shorn of Jimmy Anderson (calf injury) struggled for accuracy but there was a maiden first-class wicket for Ben Walkden.<\/p>\n Glamorgan\u2019s bowlers picked apart struggling Leicestershire, leaving them 113 for seven. The top scorer was Sheridon Gumbs, who was run out for 22 after flaying between the wickets like a man stuck in a washing machine.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Scores on the doors<\/p>\n Southampton: Hampshire 60-4 v Yorkshire<\/a> 171<\/p>\n Grace Road: Leicestershire<\/a> 113-7 v Glamorgan<\/p>\n Taunton: Somerset<\/a> 348-5 v Essex<\/p>\n The Oval: Surrey 13-1 v Nottinghamshire<\/a> 184<\/p>\n Edgbaston: Warwickshire<\/a> v Sussex 99-3<\/p>\n DIVISION TWO<\/p>\n Derby: Derbyshire<\/a> v Durham 102-2<\/p>\n Cheltenham: Gloucestershire<\/a> 107-5 v Worcestershire<\/p>\n Old Trafford: Lancashire v Northamptonshire<\/a> 56-2<\/p>\n Merchant Taylors\u2019 School: Middlesex<\/a> v Kent 299-6<\/p>\n
Warwickshire and Sussex eyed each other warily over the Edgbaston covers, the visitors inching to 99 for three. Chris Woakes tempted Daniel Hughes into slashing a catch to gully in his second over. The Toms Haines and Clark then added 69, to an accompanying goose flyover.<\/p>\n