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• James Vince and Liam Dawson do the damage in Hampshire’s rout of Essex

  Skipper James Vince and Liam Dawson starred as Hampshire trounced Essex by 118 runs in the Vitality Blast.

  Vince needed just 48 balls to amass 103, hitting eight sixes and the same number of fours, in a total of 214 for eight before Dawson took four for 21 as the home side collapsed to 96 all out in 14.1 overs at Chelmsford.

  Tom Kohler-Cadmore plundered an unbeaten 64 to help Somerset strengthen their position at the top of the South Group with a nine-wicket demolition of struggling Middlesex.

  Kohler-Cadmore, who hit four sixes – the last of them to win the match – and seven fours, and Tom Abell with 25 not out eased the home side over the finishing line with 39 balls to spare at Taunton after the visitors were bowled out for just 136 in 18.4 overs.

  Tom Smith dispatched the first ball of the final over for four as Gloucestershire edged to a two-wicket victory over high-flying Surrey in a low-scoring thriller at Bristol.

  Only opener Grant Roelofsen, Oliver Price and James Bracey made it past 20 on a difficult pitch, but the hosts, who needed two off the last over, managed to chase down the visitors’ 124 for nine despite England seamer Sam Curran’s three for 20.

  David Payne and Matt Taylor had both earlier taken three wickets with Jamie Smith’s knock of 29 the biggest batting contribution in the match.

  Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke staged an unbeaten stand of 109 to ease Glamorgan to a seven-wicket win over Kent inside 17 overs.

  The pair came together in the ninth over with the score on 82 for three in response to Kent’s 189 for six – due in large part to Tawanda Muyeye’s 62 – and were still there at the finish, Ingram making a 32-ball 63, including 10 fours and a six, and Cooke 46.

  Michael Bracewell and Adam Hose both hit half-centuries as Worcestershire blew away Nottinghamshire by 56 runs to go top of the North Group.

  Bracewell, who put on 98 with skipper Brett D’Oliveira for the first wicket, made 55 and Hose an unbeaten 51 in an impressive 226 for five.

  Alex Hales led a Notts charge with 71 from 35 balls, but largely without support as D’Oliveira ripped the heart out of their reply with four for 11 in his two overs and Pat Brown took four for 25 as they were dismissed for 170.

  Wayne Madsen’s unbeaten 71 laid the foundation for Derbyshire to see off previous leaders Birmingham Bears by 17 runs.

  Madsen hit 12 fours with Tom Wood adding a quick-fire 39 from 19 balls in a total of 174 for five, and they were backed up by bowlers Zaman Khan and Zak Chappell, who finished with three for 34 and three for 32 respectively as the visitors reached 157 for nine.

  Chris Lynn smashed an unbeaten century as Northamptonshire beat Leicestershire by eight wickets in the battle of the bottom two.

  Lynn thumped five sixes and 13 fours on his way to 110 from 68 balls to see his side to victory on 168 for two with seven deliveries to spare.

  Leicestershire had posted 164 for eight with Ben Sanderson and Andrew Tye helping themselves to three wickets each.

  A third-wicket partnership of 54 between Michael Jones and Ollie Robinson provided the backbone for Durham as they completed a comfortable six-wicket win over Lancashire at Chester-le-Street.

  Jones’ 43 and 39 for Robinson set up Ashton Turner and Wayne Parnell to see the home side over the line with 10 balls remaining after Parnell, Bas de Leede, Ben Raine and Nathan Sowter had taken two wickets each to help restrict Lancashire to 152 for nine.

• Ollie Pope says entertainment matters as England close in on win against Ireland

  Double centurion Ollie Pope was delighted with his “special” innings and played down concerns over England’s under-cooked middle-order after they closed in on victory against Ireland.

  Pope smashed 22 boundaries and three sixes in a sparkling knock of 205 from 208 balls and shared a 252-run partnership for the second wicket with opener Ben Duckett, who hit a superb 182 on day two at Lord’s.

  Pope’s double century was the quickest ever registered in a Test match in England but his dismissal after tea brought about an early declaration from Ben Stokes with England on 524 for four, holding a lead of 352.

  Ireland look destined to suffer an innings defeat in this one-off Test despite closing on 97 for three, meaning Harry Brook, Stokes and Jonny Bairstow would go into the Ashes opener on June 16 with minimal time at the crease.

  But Pope countered: “What we’re about as a side is entertaining so we wanted to let the crowd watch us have a whack for a few overs and then watch us with the new ball.

  “That’s what a full crowd at Lord’s probably wants to see as well so that was partially why we did that (declaration). I guess Jonny didn’t bat but he’s played a lot of county cricket.

  “The way cricket is now, there is not always that feeling of you need a load of innings before a series.

  “Jonny is in a really good place, his batting is in a really good place and you want to just be as fresh and confident as you can. Hopefully all the boys are feeling like that.”

  Pope was more than happy to get some time in the middle himself before the battle with Australia begins at Edgbaston and especially at Lords, where he had only passed 50 once in seven previous Test innings.

  Reflecting on going on the honours board, he admitted: “It’s very special.

  “Lord’s is not somewhere I’ve done that well over the years, I think I got 70-odd against South Africa but other than that I’ve hardly scored a run here.

  “So, it’s nice to get that one off my back, especially leading into a big summer.

  “There’s no denying that Australia’s attack is stronger than Ireland’s but scoring runs at Lord’s and scoring runs in Test matches is a habit, a good habit to get into early.”

  After Pope, who had struggled during the first hour, hit his fourth Test hundred, England debutant Josh Tongue stole the show in the evening session.

  The Worcestershire seamer impressed in the enforcer role on day one and clocked 91mph, but had Peter Moor lbw and bounced out Paul Stirling on his way to three for 27 from a fine eight-over spell.

  “For him to dive into that role he did this evening…the way he did that was perfect,” Pope admitted.

  “He has been awesome this week, he looks the part and has been great around the changing room too. I don’t think you would know it’s his debut.”

  Meanwhile, Duckett’s extraordinary new lease of life in Test cricket shows no signs of slowing.

  In his first Test innings on home soil, the Nottinghamshire batter breezed to 150 off the same number of balls to snatch the record for quickest Test 150 at Lord’s off Australian great Don Bradman before his fun ended on 182, which came at a strike rate of 102.84.

  Duckett, recalled this winter six years after his last appearance, told BBC Today at the Test: “It’s been a crazy six months and to start the summer like that and make a century at Lord’s was something I dreamt of as a kid.

  “Even 12 months ago I thought I’d never play Test cricket for England again.

  “With other captains I probably wouldn’t have, but Stokesy and Baz (Brendon McCullum) wanted me to open the batting and play the way I’ve played throughout my career and a lot of thanks to them.”

  Ireland face an uphill battle to take only their seventh Test into a fourth day and batting coach Gary Wilson was unsure if opener James McCollum would bat again after he twisted his ankle and retired hurt on Friday evening.

  Wilson said: “He has gone to hospital for scans and we don’t have a further update.

  “I went to see him in the ambulance and he was very keen to go on, felt like he was in good touch, so he’s very disappointed, but he might be back tomorrow. We don’t know yet.”

• Ben Duckett leads the way with record hundred as England turn screw on Ireland

  Ben Duckett marked his first Test innings on home soil with a chanceless and record-breaking 150 to help England reach lunch on day two on 325 for one with total control of the one-off Test with Ireland.

  Duckett had closed the opening day on 60 not out but raced through to his milestone with a succession of drives to bring up his second red-ball century for his country from 106 deliveries.

  In his 10th Test since his debut in Bangladesh in 2016, opener Duckett showed why he is the perfect fit for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ aggressive ‘Bazball’ style to reach his 150 off the same amount of balls and in the process beat Australian great Don Bradman’s record for the quickest 150 at Lord’s.

  Duckett walked off at lunch unbeaten on 161 with a strike rate of 100.62 alongside Ollie Pope, who had not been at his fluent best but played his part with 97 not out in an unbroken 216-run partnership for the second wicket and will eye his own place on the Lord’s honours board in the afternoon session.

  Day one of this Ashes summer started “almost perfectly” in the words of Stuart Broad, whose five-wicket haul helped bowl Ireland out quickly after tea and saw England almost into a lead by the close.

  England barely needed 15 minutes to move beyond the tourists’ total on the second day with Duckett, who had been watchful following Zak Crawley’s dismissal on Thursday night, again in fine touch.

  Duckett cut the first ball of the day to the boundary and a drive straight down the ground off Graham Hume nudged England into a lead after 29.2 overs, 27 fewer than it had taken red-ball novices Ireland to reach 172.

  Another drive saw Duckett move into the eighties and within sight of a second century at Lord’s this season after he hit 177 here for Nottinghamshire in April.

  With Mark Adair struggling with his line and length, Duckett raced onto 99 with a cover drive and flick off his pads down to the fine leg boundary in a 35th over that brought up the hundred partnership with Pope.

  The next over produced further milestones with Duckett able to celebrate three figures after he nudged into the leg side for a single to short midwicket.

  Duckett held his arms aloft after he made it to a hundred from 106 deliveries, having hit 14 boundaries in a chanceless innings where the only hint of danger occurred when he raced down the wicket for a quick single before he equally rapidly turned back off Adair’s second over of the day.

  With Duckett’s name on the Lord’s honours board, Pope set about joining him and reached fifty in the same over.

  Pope had looked at his effortless best at the end of day one, hitting five fours to close on 29 not out off 35 balls, but was more frenetic during the first hour with the occasional play and miss married with the odd boundary down to third man that did not always look completely controlled.

  Despite that, England were still rattling along at more than six runs an over with Ireland lacking the X-factor of rested seamer Josh Little following his Indian Premier League exploits.

  Off-spinner Andrew McBrine and debutant Fionn Hand were tasked with stemming the flow of runs after the drinks break and while they momentarily did, Pope survived a review for lbw to close in on his own century.

  The session belonged to Duckett though, who started to bring out the sweep shot and two off Hand helped him beat Bradman’s previous record of 150 off 163 deliveries during the 1930 Ashes.