Related items

• Durham are Division Two champions after bowling out Worcestershire

  Durham clinched the LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two title after bowling out Worcestershire shortly before the close of a rain-affected third day at New Road.

  With promotion already secured last week without bowling a ball when Leicestershire failed to get a batting point against Sussex, Durham required a maximum of five points to clinch top spot.

  The three secured for dismissing Worcestershire for 313, plus the ones dropped by the home side for batting, ensured Durham finished in pole position to be back in Division One for the first time since 2016, when they were relegated over financial issues.

  Ben Raine and Bas de Leede finished with three wickets each, while captain Brett D’Oliveira was Worcestershire’s top scorer with 63 off 75 balls.

  At the Kia Oval, Ben Foakes and Jamie Overton led a fightback from Division One leaders Surrey against bottom-of-the table Northamptonshire on another rain-affected day.

  Title rivals Essex had cut into Surrey’s 18-point lead by taking two more bonus points against Hampshire.

  Northamptonshire – who will be relegated if either Middlesex or Kent win – put the pressure on as they reduced Surrey to 79 for six before a spirited response from Foakes and Overton, who made an unbeaten half-century, helped move them on to 158 when bad light and rain ended play early.

  Surrey still trail by 199, but a draw still looks the most likely outcome heading into the final day’s play.

  At Chelmsford, Hampshire batter Tom Prest scored his maiden Championship century to frustrate title hopefuls Essex despite a five-wicket haul for Simon Harmer.

  Prest scored an unbeaten 102 to guide Hampshire past the follow-on score with vital contributions from openers Toby Albert (39), Fletcha Middleton (47), James Vince (46) and Keith Barker (42).

  South African Harmer claimed five for 143, but Hampshire ended the day on 322 for eight, now 125 runs adrift and with potential to set up a result on the final day.

  Somerset’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore celebrated his England call-up with a savage assault on Kent’s injury-hit bowling attack on day three at Taunton.

  Kohler-Cadmore – set to feature in the one-day international series against Ireland – hit eight sixes in a rapid 68 as the hosts extended their first-innings total to 404 for four before rain washed out the last two sessions.

  Lewis Goldsworthy marked his first Championship appearance of the season with 122 and Andy Umeed contributed 49 as Somerset increased the pressure on relegation-threatened Kent, who have secured just one bonus point, before play was eventually abandoned at 4.50pm.

  At Lord’s, another half-century from Sam Robson helped keep alive relegation-battlers Middlesex’s hopes of a draw on a truncated day three against Warwickshire.

  Former England opener Robson made 51 not out as the hosts reached 96 for one in their second innings, still 98 short of making Warwickshire bat again.

  Earlier, Will Rhodes completed his ninth first-class hundred, but Danny Briggs fell one short as Warwickshire made a first innings total of 315. Tim Murtagh, in his final game at Lord’s, finished with six for 83.

  Lancashire made 225 for six against Nottinghamshire on a rain-shortened day at Emirates Old Trafford in a game steadily heading towards a draw having already lost two days to the weather.

  Steven Croft top-scored for the hosts with 45, while Matty Hurst, 20, made an assured unbeaten 35 on debut after openers Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells had posted 84 for the first wicket.

  Stephen Mullaney and Asitha Fernando both claimed two wickets apiece for the visitors.

  Elsewhere in Division Two, Harry Swindells kept alive Leicestershire’s promotion hopes, top-scoring with 73 in his first appearance of the year in the Foxes’ red-ball team, against Yorkshire at Grace Road.

  Swindells, who scored an unbeaten 117 in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup final win over Hampshire, shared a 10th-wicket partnership of 93 with Will Davis (44 not out) as the hosts recovered from 140 for nine to reach 233, a first-innings lead of 78.

  In reply, Yorkshire closed 35 runs in front on 113 for one with opener Adam Lyth 51 not out.

  Brooke Guest marked his 100th appearance as a wicketkeeper for Derbyshire by taking seven catches against Sussex to equal the county’s record dismissals in an innings.

  Sam Conners and Zak Chappell both took four wickets as Sussex were dismissed for 100 before the home side closed on 94 for one, with Luis Reece unbeaten on 50.

• Phil Salt knows there is plenty to play for ahead of the World Cup

  Phil Salt insists he would “be there in a heartbeat” if England needed him as a World Cup reserve in India.

  Jason Roy had been earmarked as the next man in should injury create a vacancy at the top of the order during the tournament, but the 33-year-old was stung by his last-minute omission from the squad and is currently on retirement watch after turning down a place in the Metro Bank Series against Ireland.

  That means there is plenty to play for those who will be involved on Saturday at Trent Bridge and Tuesday in Bristol, with players on the periphery jostling to catch the selectors’ eye.

  A modest total of just 14 ODI caps is still enough to make Salt the most experienced member of a second string with just 38 between them and a strong showing against the boys in green could help him inch one step closer to inking his name in as first-choice replacement.

  “We haven’t had that conversation as yet. I’d imagine if that was to happen, it would be a little bit further down the line, probably after this series,” he said.

  “But I know it’s an opportunity to stake a claim to a reserve spot and, obviously, if I got the call I’d be there in a heartbeat.

  “We’ve got a young group here but it’s an exciting group who have done very well, whether that’s playing for their counties or in opportunities in franchise cricket or the Hundred.

  “Coming into the dressing room and seeing how many proven performers we have sitting under the radar of the full-strength squad, I think it’s quite an exciting opportunity.”

  Salt’s aggressive ball-striking and ability to double up as a wicketkeeper has earned him plenty of interest on the franchise circuit and he has previously turned out in domestic competitions in India, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan and the West Indies.

  The vast sums available on the franchise scene is becoming a huge issue for boards to contend with as they seek to preserve the primacy of international cricket, with an avalanche of retirements expected to follow the completion of the World Cup.

  At 27, and with plenty of unfulfilled ambitions at the highest level, Salt insists he is not tempted by life as a global freelancer but accepts that the appeal will only go up as the years progress.

  “That’s probably quite a personal question for some people,” he said.

  “Some people are at the stage of career where they are prioritising, earning money and securing their future and their family’s future. I’m a bit luckier in the position that I’m in where I’ve got time to make these calls and declare what I want to do.

  “Right now, I just want to play as many games as I can for England. There’s a lot of franchise opportunities out there, but every game I can get in an England shirt, I want to take the opportunity with both hands.

  “But there’s no doubt if I play as long as I want to, there will be a time where, like with every other professional cricketer, you’ve got that challenge where you’ve got to make decisions for yourself. It’s a hell of a question isn’t it?”

• Wales prop Gareth Thomas eyeing World Cup quarter-final berth against Australia

  Gareth Thomas says it would be “an amazing feeling” if Wales beat Australia and book a Rugby World Cup quarter-final place one game inside the distance.

  Wales tackle the Wallabies in Lyon on Sunday knowing that victory would confirm one of the two qualifying spots from Pool C.

  England or Argentina are then likely last-eight opponents in Marseille next month, with Wales maintaining a 100 per cent record of reaching the knock-out phase under head coach Warren Gatland during four successive World Cup campaigns.

  Wales then have a break next week before completing their group schedule against Georgia in Nantes.

  “When we came here we always wanted to win all the games in the group and nothing has changed,” Wales prop Thomas said.

  “We’ve got the same mindset. We want to go out there and perform and get the win.

  “That would be an amazing feeling wouldn’t it, getting the third win? We don’t want anything but that. We are looking forward to this weekend and then we will have a couple of days to recover after that.”

  While Wales occupy the box-seat, Australia must win to have any chance of progressing from a pool that also includes Fiji, Georgia and Portugal.

  A 22-15 defeat to Fiji in Saint-Etienne last weekend has elevated the prospect of Australia not progressing to the quarter-finals, which has been their minimum achievement in all nine previous World Cup campaigns.

  Australia’s record in the tournament against Wales is a good one, though, having toppled them five times from seven attempts, but the latest meeting will undoubtedly see them weakened by injured forwards Taniela Tupou and Will Skelton missing out.

  Thomas added: “They are always going to be dangerous when you play against them.

  “We wanted to come here with the mindset of winning all the pool games, and nothing has changed for us. So whether they have won or lost, it doesn’t change anything for us.

  “We take a lot of confidence from the Fiji game and Portugal game and what we’ve done all summer, really, and feel like we can only get better as well.

  “We know it is going to be a big, physical contest and we are looking forward to getting out there.

  “It doesn’t really make any difference to me whether they (Tupou and Skelton) are in or not.

  “We’ve got our heavies behind us – Will (Rowlands) and Beardy (Adam Beard) and Daf (Dafydd Jenkins). They are all heavy boys and Christ (Tshiunza) as well. We’ve got plenty of power ourselves.”

  Thomas is among 16 Wales players involved in a first World Cup campaign and he is relishing the experience on and off the pitch.

  Wales assistant coach Alex King has compared the squad to a “band of brothers”, and Thomas said: “There is just something special about every game in the World Cup, so we are watching them and just enjoying them because there is a big buzz about everything.

  “We have fines committees. The (latest) sheet came out with all the fines on it and Nick Tompkins racked up a decent bill.

  “He wore the wrong T-shirt and he was a little bit late for monitoring after the Fiji game because his alarm didn’t go off. It’s all good fun.

  “I am on environment, so making sure everything is clean and taking the empty bottles, putting them in the bin. That’s my job, the guy who tells everyone to clean up their own stuff.”