Liam Dawson staked his claim for an Ashes call with a century and six wickets as Hampshire took command against Middlesex in their LV= Insurance County Championship clash.
After amassing 141 with the bat, Dawson tore through Middlesex with his left-arm spin to claim six for 38 – and leave Middlesex 142 for eight at the close.
Earlier, Hampshire had been bowled out for 419 with Josh de Caires picking up career-best figures of seven for 144.
Leaders Surrey wrested control against Lancashire at the Kia Oval thanks to a last-wicket stand of 130 between Sean Abbott and Dan Worrall.
Abbott and Worrall both made entertaining half-centuries as Surrey scored 360 to establish a first-innings lead of 86.
The pair then struck in successive overs as Lancashire lost three wickets clearing their arrears. They reached stumps on 113 for four, a lead of 26.
Daniel Bell-Drummond hit a career-best 271 not out and Tawanda Muyeye also weighed in with a century as Kent moved into a strong position to pile more woe on Division One’s bottom club Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.
Bell-Drummond’s masterful knock eclipsed his previous best of 206 seven years ago, and also set a record for a Kent batter at Wantage Road, beating Frank Woolley’s 217 from 1926.
The pair added 318 for the second wicket as the visitors piled up 550 for five by stumps, a lead of 313.
Somerset stormed back into contention on the second day against Nottinghamshire at Taunton thanks to Matt Henry’s six-wicket haul and an eighth first-class century from George Bartlett.
Henry took four from 26 in a superb seven-over spell as the visitors collapsed from an overnight 145 for four to 186 all out.
Henry finished with six for 59 to leave Nottinghamshire with a first-innings lead of just 23, before Bartlett’s unbeaten 109 helped Somerset close on 268 for four, 245 in front.
Simon Harmer continued to do the damage as Essex moved closer to an emphatic win over Warwickshire at Chelmsford.
Harmer took five for 65 in the first innings as the visitors were dismissed for 158 and forced to follow on 299 runs in arrears.
Harmer added another wicket in the 24 overs of Warwickshire’s second innings, as an unbroken second-wicket stand of 66 edged the visitors to 71 for one at close.
A century by Colin Ackermann kept Leicestershire in with a chance against Division Two leaders Durham, who declared at 517 for six on day two.
Ollie Robinson’s career-best unbeaten 167 had put the visitors in command but Ackermann – who will join Durham at the end of the season – replied with an unbeaten 104 as his current side responded well to reach 335 for four at stumps.
Wayne Madsen and captain Leus du Plooy rewrote the record books as Derbyshire moved into a position of considerable strength on day two against Worcestershire at New Road.
The duo scored centuries and broke a 31-year-old landmark in establishing a new Derbyshire record of 267 from 70 overs for the fourth wicket against the home side.
Derbyshire will begin day three with a lead of 137 and five wickets in hand and Du Plooy unbeaten on 159.
Matthew Revis hit an unbeaten 104 off 163 balls as Yorkshire posted an emphatic 550 for nine declared against Gloucestershire at Headingley.
Revis was the third rising Yorkshire star to make three figures after openers Fin Bean and George Hill on day one, and set up an action-packed reply from the visitors who reached 232 for five off 57 overs, with Miles Hammond reaching an unbeaten 84.
Australian leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson took the final two wickets in two balls as Glamorgan dismissed Sussex for 203 on day two at Cardiff.
The Welsh county then built on their first-innings lead of 39 as openers Zain-ul-Hassan and Andrew Salter ended the day on 46 without loss – a lead of 85.
IPL: KKR ease past SRH into IPL final
Kolkata Knight Riders are through to the Indian Premier League final after cruising to victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.
A dominant KKR eased to an eight-wicket win with 38 balls remaining, with Mitchell Starc inspiring the victory.
The Sunrisers chose to bat first but were in unfamiliar territory at 13-2 inside two overs as Starc bowled Travis Head, who did not get a single run, before Andre Russell caught Abhishek Sharma.
Starc took two more wickets in his second over, finishing with 3-34 as the pick of KKR’s bowlers.
Pat Cummings ensured SRH did not finish with a sub-140 total, knocking 30 before being caught by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, as they set a target of 160.
Cummings then conceded 20 runs in his first over but eventually bounced out Sunil Narine for 21 after Gurbaz was caught for 23.
Venkatesh Iyer finished with an unbeaten 51 alongside Shreyas Iyer, who top-scored with a 24-ball 58 to comfortably help KKR reach 164-2.
SRH will have another chance to make it to the final in the second qualifier where they will face either the Rajasthan Royals or Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday.
Data Debrief: Playoff partners
The Iyers' 97 not out off 44 balls is the second-highest scoring partnership for KKR in the playoffs.
Cummins and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth's 33-run partnership is SRH's highest for the 10th wicket in IPL, breaking the record of 22 between Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar, but it was not enough to trouble KKR.
"Couldn’t be scripted better": King honoured to lead West Indies for the first time
Opener Brandon King will captain the West Indies for the first time when they take on South Africa in three T20Is from May 23-26 at Sabina Park in Kingston.
The 29-year-old has scored 1150 runs in 47 T20Is at an average of 28.04 since his debut against Afghanistan in Lucknow in 2019.
Captaincy is not new for King as he most recently captained the Jamaica Scorpions in the West Indies Championship after leading the Jamaica Tallawahs in last season’s Caribbean Premier League.
“Definitely,” was King’s response when asked about whether or not it is an honor to lead the regional side for the first time.
“It couldn’t be scripted better. It’s an honour to lead the West Indies in any capacity and even more to do it at home so I’m very happy,” he added.
In addition to leading the Windies for the first time, King also expressed joy at getting to do it in his home country Jamaica.
“Obviously, extremely happy. I’m always excited to play at home. It’s good that we get some cricket in especially leading up to the world cup. It brings some excitement to the fans so I’m happy about it,” he said.
The squad recently had a training camp and King is looking forward to the squad getting an opportunity to get some match practice ahead of the world cup set for June 1-29.
“Match practice is something that you can’t replicate in training. We’re coming from a training camp and this is our opportunity to put those plans and skills in place so we’re very much looking forward to it,” he said.
Despite some regular squad members being missing from the squad due to the IPL playoffs, King says the players present are looking to implement some of the plans that many hope will lead to West Indian success at the world cup.
“A few of the guys aren’t here as yet but I think the communication has been clear with the whole group. We know how we want to play and the guys that are here, we’re looking to implement that in this series and see how it goes,” he said.
No place like home: Simmons anticipates return to T&T as part of Papua New Guinea's staff for T20 World Cup
Former West Indies head coach Phil Simmons says he is looking forward to being back in his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago while assisting Papua New Guinea through their ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign in which they will rub shoulders with West Indies.
Simmons, 61, joins Oceania side as a specialist coach, and he will provide Papua New Guinea's head coach Tatenda Taibu with some added experience and knowledge of playing in Caribbean conditions during the June 1-29 showpiece, which will also see games being played in United States.
“My role here is as a consultant coach and how I put across my experience, not just playing in World Cups, but playing in the Caribbean and the things that we should be looking at to make sure we do it right in the Caribbean and especially the venues that we play at,” Simmons shared.
Having built a strong reputation working with international sides such as Zimbabwe, Ireland, and Afghanistan, Simmons, who has played the sport for 14 years and coached for a further 18 years, was pressed for time to spend in the Caribbean and, as such, welcomed the opportunity to spend some time in the twin island republic.
“It’s been a long time in the game. It’s always brilliant to come home, always brilliant to come back to any part of the West Indies you know how beautiful it is here. I’m looking forward to getting home, which is Trinidad. Having people come here, me getting back here, it’s always a great thing, it’s always something to look forward to," he declared.
Simmons, who recently joined the Papua New Guinea squad in their pre-World Cup training camp in St Kitts, expressed pleasure with what he has seen so far.
“Their energy is unbelievable. Their warm-ups alone, got me tired. The guys look like they have settled in really well. In training, we started to get out in the middle of their game, so they started on some of the things they have to do here in the Caribbean, and it’s nice to see the energy that’s among this squad," Simmons said.
“I’ve known the head coach [Taibu] for a long time, and he’s always been energetic. There is always a lot of energy, but the players seem to be pushing him where that is concerned, and so I like that atmosphere in the team, I like the liveliness in the team," he added.
Papua New Guinea will contest Group C alongside West Indies, Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Uganada. They will open against the Caribbean side on June 2, at the National Cricket Stadium in Guyana.
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