County Championship round-up

Yorkshire leapfrog Somerset to go top

Cricinfo staff

June 9, 2008

First Division

Yorkshire overcame a fine century from Zander de Bruyn to record a 40-run win against Somerset at Taunton and leapfrog them to the top of the Championship. When Somerset fell to 54 for 4 early on the final day there appeared little chance of them approaching the target of 323. But Justin Langer has instilled resilience into the team, and de Bruyn set about a recovery alongside Ian Blackwell, who dominated a stand of 88 with a 72-ball 64. Matthew Hoggard made the breakthrough when Blackwell was caught behind, however Craig Kieswetter continued his productive match by adding 100 with de Bruyn. When Kieswetter was trapped lbw, Somerset needed 81. It was in the hands of de Bruyn and he reached his first Championship century off 214 balls. Partners came and went, heaping more pressure on his shoulders, and when he was bowled by Adil Rashid, Yorkshire sensed it was their game again. Tim Bresnan, impressive throughout the match, claimed the final wicket when he bowled Andy Caddick, sending Yorkshire into the big-money Twenty20 with a spring in their step.

Durham fell agonisingly short of pulling off a remarkable victory as a final-wicket stand of 57, between Steve Harmison and Mark Davies, carried them to with five runs of their target against Hampshire at Chester-le-Street. "This was a massive win for us," Hampshire captain Dimitri Mascarenhas, told the Press Association. "It would have been really tough to come back from losing that one." The last pair came together when Paul Wiseman fell to James Tomlinson and, given their respective batting averages of nine and 11, Hampshire's first Championship win of the season appeared a formality. But slowly and surely they chipped off the runs, going to lunch with 27 required, and it came down to single figures against Chris Tremlett and Shane Bond. However, in his last game for Hampshire, Bond had the final say, having Davies caught behind chasing a wide ball, to end with nine wickets in the match as Nic Pothas claimed his tenth catch. The home side's hopes at the start of the day appeared to rest with Dale Benkenstein, but he fell to Bond after reaching his half-century. The contest, though, was far from over.

Kent's match against Sussex at Canterbury had long since been consigned to a battle for bonus points, and Kent edged it 10 to nine despite a late declaration from the visitors to deny them a third bowling point. None of the Sussex batsmen really dominated, but half-centuries for Murray Goodwin (50) and Carl Hopkinson (69) steadied the innings from a rocky 136 for 5. There was a rare failure for Matt Prior, who has beaten by the spin of James Tredwell

Click here to read John Ward's report on the fourth day between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford.

Second Division

Warwickshire went top of the division with a five-wicket win over Glamorgan at Cardiff. It was a close-run thing as they only got home with 4.3 overs to spare and after a mid-innings wobble as they chased 183 in 50 overs. Ian Westwood laid the foundations with 58 before they lost three wickets in as many overs. Jim Troughton sealed the win with a six over midwicket. Chris Woakes had set them up with 5 for 59 as Glamorgan, who resumed on 221 for 4, appeared to be heading for an early defeat after losing three wickets in 24 balls. A ninth-wicket partnership of 97 between Jason Gillespie and Robert Croft gave their side a chance of salvaging a draw before Woakes returned to take his fourth and fifth wickets of the day.

Rob White's unbeaten 132 guided Northamptonshire to a six-wicket win over Gloucestershire at Wantage Road, a result which left the visitors bottom. The victory was set up by Northants' bowlers who took the last six Gloucestershire wickets for 27 in 12 overs. David Lucas did the bulk of the damage with career-best figures of 5 for 30. Chasing 289, White and Nicky Boje, who passed 500 runs for the season on his way to 59, added 146 for the fourth wicket, eased the nerves, and White raced from 50 to 100 in 34 balls as the attack tired.

Click here for Jamie Alter's take on the fourth day at Lord's between Middlesex and Essex.

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Stories

3rd day round-up

Matches

Durham v Hampshire at Chester-le-Street

Glamorgan v Warwickshire at Cardiff

Kent v Sussex at Canterbury

Northamptonshire v Gloucestershire at Northampton

Somerset v Yorkshire at Taunton

Players/Umpires

Ian Blackwell

Shane Bond

Mark Davies

Zander de Bruyn

Steve Harmison

Matthew Hoggard

Carl Hopkinson

Rob White

Chris Woakes

Series/Tournaments

County Championship Division One

County Championship Division Two

England Domestic Season

Teams

Durham

Glamorgan

Gloucestershire

Hampshire

Kent

Northamptonshire

Somerset

Sussex

Warwickshire

Yorkshire