Surrey face a battle to save their perfect start to their LV= Insurance County Championship title defence after seeing Kent build a substantial lead on day two at Canterbury.
The champions were all out for 145 in their first innings, with Matt Quinn taking three for 22 and Wes Agar three for 32, while India’s Arshdeep Singh took his first Championship wickets.
Tawanda Muyeye then hit 79 and Daniel Bell-Drummond made 59 as Kent moved to 197 for six in their second innings, a lead of 353, but a productive evening session gave the visitors hope going into day three as Dan Worrall claimed three for 53.
Warwickshire, who occupy second place in Division One, have a firm grip at the halfway stage against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge and are poised to benefit if Surrey slip up.
By the time an approaching electrical storm had seen the players taken off just before 5pm, Nottinghamshire were in deep trouble at 82 for five in their first innings, still 489 runs behind after Warwickshire declared at 571 for nine.
Pakistan international Hasan Ali had taken two wickets in addition to his quickfire 54 with the bat, with wicketkeeper Michael Burgess grabbing two catches to go with his unbeaten 77 earlier.
Lancashire lead by 113 runs after two days of their match against Hampshire at Southport.
The visitors were indebted to a career-best six-wicket haul by Felix Organ after Phil Salt had struck his first century for Lancashire, with Daryl Mitchell and George Bell contributing significantly to the hosts’ first-innings 374 to give the home side a huge 232-run lead.
A determined unbeaten second-wicket partnership between Fletcha Middleton (44 not out) and Nick Gubbins (45 not out) then helped take 95 runs off that advantage as Hampshire closed on 119 for one in their second innings.
Simon Harmer claimed his first five-wicket haul of the season as Essex put themselves into a strong position against Somerset.
Harmer had taken 18 wickets in his first six Championship appearances of the season but tore through the Somerset lower order after Jamie Porter had dealt with the top order and seen the visitors slump to 10 for three.
Somerset were bowled out for 167 and trailed after the first innings by 295 runs, but Essex did not enforce the follow-on and ended the day on 15 for one – a lead of 310.
In Division Two, centuries from David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson provided the foundations as leaders Durham staged a fightback against Glamorgan.
The visitors reduced Durham to 119 for four to pile on the pressure, but Robinson and Bedingham responded with a stand of 171 for the fifth wicket and they finished the day on 411 for five.
Worcestershire opener Jake Libby was left needing just two more runs to complete back-to-back double hundreds against Sussex after dominating on the second day at Hove.
It looked like being a day of unrelenting toil for Sussex when Libby and Adam Hose passed their first-innings score of 348 during a fourth-wicket stand of 192 either side of tea, but Sussex fought back admirably in the final hour to take six wickets.
Libby, though, proved immovable and will resume on Tuesday on 198 out of a total of 410 for nine, a lead of 62.
A brilliant exhibition of counter-attacking batting by Leus du Plooy and Haider Ali halted Yorkshire’s victory charge in its tracks and rescued Derbyshire at Chesterfield.
Derbyshire’s decision to move Ali down the order proved to be inspired as the Pakistani opener scored his first century for the county and shared an unbroken record-breaking fifth-wicket stand with Du Plooy of 231 from 311 balls.
They had come together with Derbyshire heading for defeat at 17 for four after Dawid Malan’s 106 guided Yorkshire to 353 and a lead of 242 with spinner Mark Watt taking a career-best five for 83.
But Du Plooy’s 96 and Ali’s 129 lifted the home side to 248 for four and a lead of six when bad light, followed by an electrical storm, ended play with 10 overs left in the day.
Yorkshire had looked set for an even bigger lead until the dismissal of Malan sparked a collapse that saw the last five wickets fall for 28 runs.
Ollie Price celebrated his 22nd birthday with a career-best first class score as Gloucestershire fought back strongly against Leicestershire in Bristol.
Struggling at 118 for five early in the morning session, the hosts battled hard to post a first-innings total of 368, Price contributing 85 off 172 balls, with 12 fours.
There was also a career-best 52 from Ajeet Dale, sharing a ninth-wicket stand of 111 with Danny Lamb, who marked his Championship debut for Gloucestershire with a battling 70, including three sixes.
By the close, Leicestershire had responded with 23 for no wicket from five overs.
Inglis hails 'hard to stop' Stoinis after ruthless knock
Josh Inglis lauded "hard to stop" Marcus Stoinis as Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan in style, claiming a whitewash.
The hosts raced to a seven-wicket victory with almost nine overs remaining in Monday's third match.
After Australia's bowlers had limited Pakistan to just 117 runs, Stoinis ensured they signed off their final white-ball assignment in style, with his unbeaten 61 doing the damage.
Only twice has he bettered that knock in T20Is – versus New Zealand in 2021 (78) and against Oman at the World Cup earlier this year (67*).
"It's been a great week. We've had a lot of fun as a group," Inglis said. "It's been really nice.
"When Stoinis is going like that, he is really hard to stop. One of those sixes was probably the biggest I've ever seen!"
Stoinis, who was named player of the match, added: "Nice to score some runs on a beautiful wicket but credit to the bowlers who kept the total down.
"Yeah, I actually told [Haris] Rauf that this is the first time any of us got the better of him! No, he's a brilliant bowler, bowled well this series."
During their white-ball tour, Pakistan won the ODI series, their first time doing so in Australia in 22 years, but got whitewashed in the T20Is.
Despite the heavy loss, captain Agha Salman chose to focus on the positive effect the experience will have on their young players.
"I think in the middle overs, we didn't capitalise on the start," he said. "But lots of positives.
"The way Usman [Khan] batted, the way Jahandad [Khan] bowled. These youngsters will come good.
"It's obviously a big achievement winning the ODI series, but we could have done much better in the T20Is."
Salt century gives England winning start to West Indies T20 series
Phil Salt hit a superb century as England drew first blood in their T20 series against West Indies, with a commanding eight-wicket victory at the Kensington Oval.
Salt's unbeaten 103 off 54 balls was the highlight for the tourists, who successfully chased down their target of 183 with 19 balls to spare.
The West Indies endured a difficult start and were reduced to 18-3 and later 117-8, with Saqib Mahmood (4-34) and Adil Rashid (3-32) doing the damage.
However, the hosts managed 65 runs in the last 5.2 overs to finish at 182-8, with Gukadesh Motie knocking 33 off 14 balls along the way.
Salt kick-started England's chase with 50 off just 25 deliveries taking them to 73-1 after six overs, with Will Jacks (17) dismissed with the final ball of the powerplay.
Jos Buttler's first match after four months out lasted just three minutes, as the skipper was caught by Motie for a golden duck.
However, it proved a false dawn for West Indies, with Salt and Jacob Bethall (58 from 36 balls) safely steering England to victory.
Data Debrief: Salt completes hat-trick of hundreds as Bethell makes historic half-century
England put their disappointing ODI series behind them, making history with the highest T20 chase at the Kensington Oval.
Salt was the hero with his third T20I century, all of which have come against West Indies in the past 12 months.
Bethell also made history on Saturday. Aged 21 years and 17 days, he become the youngest England player to score a 50 in a T20I.
Asalanka leads Sri Lanka to ODI series win over West Indies
Sri Lanka wrapped up the ODI series against the West Indies with a five-wicket victory in Pallekele.
The hosts successfully chased down their opponents' total of 189, giving them an unassailable 2-0 in the three-match series.
Sri Lanka controlled the early powerplay - Asitha Fernando (3-35) and Maheesh Theekshana (3-25) took two wickets apiece to leave the tourists at 31-4 in the ninth over.
Wanindu Hasaranga (4-40) then claimed three of his four wickets as Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh and Alzarri Joseph were all dismissed in the space of 14 balls.
However, Sherfane Rutherford (80 off 82 balls) and Gudakesh Motie (50 not out) steadied the ship to take the Windies from 58-8 to 189.
Although Joseph claimed Avishka Fernando (9) in the fourth over, Nishan Madushka and Sadeera Samarawickrama both chipped in with contributions of 38 to get the hosts to 112-4.
Skipper Charith Asalanka (62 not out) led the charge thereon, while Kamindu Mendis (11) comfortably got them over the line with 34 balls remaining.
Data Debrief: Rutherford-Motie historic stand proves academic for tourists
West Indies were looking to level the series, but their hopes were not aided by Sri Lanka's impressive bowling.
Rutherford and Motie did their best. Their partnership brought 119 runs, which is their nation's highest ninth-wicket stand in ODI history, breaking the previous record of 85 between Yannic Cariah and Alzarri Joseph.
However, it ultimately proved in vain as the hosts secured the series with a game to spare.
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