Bad light and determined resistance by Lewis McManus frustrated Sussex's bid to pull off an unlikely victory over Northamptonshire on Monday's fourth and final day at Hove.

McManus batted for an hour as four partners came and went and Northants crawled  to 170-9 before the umpires called an end to proceedings with Northants ahead by 63.

The loss of more than 100 overs eventually proved decisive but Sussex will have drawn a lot of encouragement after making most of the running, especially on the last two days. They took 15 points and Northants 13.

Having established a first-innings lead of 107, they reduced Northants to 57 for 4. Skipper Luke Procter (41) settled the nerves before left-arm spinner James Coles revived Sussex hopes with three of the four wickets that fell in 7.1 overs after tea that left them 152 for 8.

McManus and Ben Sanderson resisted for eight overs until the light improved sufficiently to enable Sussex skipper John Simpson to bring back his quicks Jayden Seales and Ollie Robinson for two overs each.

Robinson responded with an unplayable yorker to uproot Sanderson's middle stump, a fitting way to celebrate his 400th first-class wicket. Spinners Coles and Jack Carson returned but the light didn't improve and the players shook hands shortly after 6pm.

Sussex had declared their first innings on 478 for 9 after adding 127 in 20 overs to collect maximum batting points. Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Danny Lamb extended their seventh wicket stand to 99 from just 14.1 overs with Lamb contributing 41 before Chris Tremain held an excellent low catch at midwicket off Sanderson.

Hudson-Prentice, who made nine Championship fifties last season, demonstrated his effectiveness again with 73 from 60 balls and it took a clever piece of bowling by Tremain to remove him when he held one back and Hudson-Prentice drove to long-on.

Even the normally frugal Sanderson suffered when Carson hit him for three sixes in a lively 61 from 53 balls. Aiming to clear midwicket again he was bowled to give left-arm spinner Zaib his fourth wicket.

Robinson and Seales plundered 30 runs from ten balls before the declaration left Northants with four overs before lunch which they couldn't negotiate unscathed as Seales produced a lovely away-swinger which Justin Broad edged to third slip.

Sussex gained further encouragement with three wickets in ten overs after lunch. Emilio Gay (20) lost his off stump to give Seales his sixth wicket of the match and Karun Nair edged Robinson to third slip with Coles taking a superb catch low to his left.

George Bartlett drove off spinner Carson onto the roof of the South Stand only to perish two balls later before a stand of 73 between Procter and Rob Keogh steered Northants into calmer waters, for a while at least.

Coles added to his three first-innings wickets with three more after tea. Zaib was well caught at slip trying to guide the ball to third man; Keogh was lbw to a quicker ball for a well-made 55; and Michael Finan taken at second slip on the drive. Carson sparked the collapse when he went around the wicket to have Procter leg before as he aimed through midwicket.

Robinson finished with 2 for 19 from ten overs in three spells and bowled at a good pace throughout. He will have been pleased to get through 32 overs in what was only his second first-class match since July 2023.

Full Scores: Northamptonshire 371 (Luke Procter 92, Karun Nair 57, Jayden Seales 4-86) and 170 for 9 (Rob Keogh 55) drew with Sussex 478 for 9 declared (Tom Haines 133, James Coles 78, Fynn Hudson-Prentice 73, Jack Carson 61, Saif Zaib 4-84)

Northamptonshire reached 292-7 off 102.3 overs at stumps on day two of their rain-affected game against Sussex to kick off their County Championship Division Two season at Hove on Saturday.

Captain Luke Procter led the way with 92 while Indian Karun Nair contributed 57.

Procter’s knock lasted 225 balls and included eight fours and one six while Nair faced 104 balls and hit seven fours and one six.

West Indian pacer Jayden Seales, in his first appearance in the County Championship, has, so far, taken 3-64 in his 20 overs.

The 22-year-old removed openers Emilio Gay (5) and Justin Broad (27) before removing middle order batsman George Bartlett for 27 in the 82^nd over.

James Coles has provided good support for Seales with 2-19 from 8.3 overs.

Essex’s lingering hopes of winning the LV= Insurance County Championship Division One title were dealt a huge blow by Ben Sanderson’s bowling for Northamptonshire.

Essex need at least 400 but Sanderson claimed three for 15 with the wickets of Alastair Cook, Nick Browne and Dan Lawrence in a devastating nine-over spell, conceding just 14 runs.

They were 125 for four by close of play, still trailing by 244 runs but their slight hopes are still alive following Surrey’s collapse at the Ageas Bowl.

Liam Dawson claimed his fourth five-wicket haul of the season for Hampshire to make Surrey suffer, but the visitors only need a draw to seal top spot.

Left-arm spinner Dawson moved to 45 wickets for the season and his five for 44 kept Surrey, who needed to post 300 for the title, waiting.

Joe Denly smashed an unbeaten century to help relegation-threatened Kent to 345 for four on day two against Lancashire at Canterbury.

Kent were in pursuit of 327 and Ben Compton anchored their innings but fell five short of a century.

Denly then played a more flamboyant 105 not out, from 149 balls with 11 fours and a six, to record his first red-ball century of the season as Kent closed with two potentially crucial batting points and a lead of 18.

Neil Wagner registered a career-best 72 for Somerset but weather played spoilsport once again in their meeting with Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

There were 35 overs lost on day one and another 36 were wiped out on day two, which ended with Warwickshire on 112 for three in reply to the visitors’ 215.

Ryan Higgins became only Middlesex’s second player to make a County Championship century to give the relegation threatened side a chance of victory against Nottinghamshire.

Higgins held Middlesex’s first innings together with 137 – his first hundred for the county and shared partnerships of 61 with Stevie Eskinazi (58) and 108 with Jayant Yadav (56).

Middlesex claimed three batting bonus points with 366, but Nottinghamshire responded with 92 for two, with Ben Slater on 49 not out.

Worcestershire have secured promotion back to Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship.

The Pears secured second spot in Division Two, behind champions Durham, after they reached 300 for a second batting bonus point during the early stages of a weather-interrupted second day against Yorkshire at Headingley.

Worcestershire started this fixture needing a maximum of two points to seal top-flight cricket for 2024 and were 280 for five overnight.

Captain Brett D’Oliveira reached a century before he fell lbw to Matt Milnes to leave the score 299 for six and Worcestershire were stuck on 299 for 10 balls before Baker pushed Milnes through the covers for two at 10.55am – 25 minutes into day two – as celebrations erupted on the players’ balcony.

Durham batter David Bedingham passed 1,000 runs for the season before team-mates Ben Raine and Vishwa Fernando did the damage with the ball on day two.

In a rain affected day, Division Two champions Durham looked to secure maximum batting points and declare with rain heavily on the radar and Bedingham passed his landmark and went on to make 156 as Durham declared on 457 for eight in Chester-le-Street.

Bowler Raine dismissed the visitors’ top four in the hour before lunch and Fernando picked up his first two wickets for Durham before rain arrived at 1.45pm with Leicestershire 96 for six.

Derbyshire’s Luis Reece became the first batter to be given out by a female umpire in 123 seasons of county cricket as they totalled 450 on day two over Glamorgan.

Reece had reached his century but Redfern lifted her finger in the 100th over of the Derbyshire first innings when he was caught behind by Chris Cooke off Jamie McIlroy for 139.

Glamorgan have a big total to chase but play was cut short by bad light with Zain ul-Hassan and Eddie Byrom unbeaten at 22 without loss from 11 overs.

Northamptonshire were all-but relegated from LV= Insurance County Championship Division One following their two-wicket defeat to Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Warwickshire survived a top-order collapse courtesy of a Ben Sanderson hat-trick to chase down 176 in 60 overs after Northamptonshire declared to try and force victory in the must-win match.

The hosts fell to 24 for five following the hat-trick, but Michael Burgess made an unbeaten 78 and added 70 with Ed Barnard for the sixth wicket before an unbroken ninth-wicket stand of 52 with Olly Hannon-Dalby saw the hosts over the line.

Middlesex secured a draw with Lancashire which boosted their chances of securing their top-flight status next season.

Middlesex were 160 for three with Jack Davies unbeaten on 65, his maiden first-class fifty, and Stevie Eskinazi on 26 not out when the players eventually shook hands at 4.50pm – with Lancashire only batting once in the game after they were dismissed for 413 in the morning.

Kent held on to secure a draw with Nottinghamshire in a thrilling finale at Canterbury.

Joe Clarke struck an unbeaten 141 and Brett Hutton compiled a career-best 84 as the hosts, following on, made 348 to set Kent a victory target of 168.

Asitha Fernando took three quick wickets to help reduce Kent to 59 for five before former Nottinghamshire all-rounder Joey Evison steadied the ship with an unbeaten 13 off 66 balls to keep Steven Mullaney’s side at bay.

Jaydev Unadkat took six wickets to help Sussex boost their promotion chances with just their second win of the season in Division Two with a 15-run victory over Leicestershire.

Indian left-armer Undakat took figures of six for 94 from 32.4 overs and cleaned up the last four wickets in just 31 balls as they bowled out the resilient Foxes for a superb 483 – with Colin Ackermann making 136.

Sussex will visit winless Derbyshire next week before finishing the season at home to Gloucestershire but second-placed Worcestershire still hold an 18-point advantage over them.

Sam Northeast and Eddie Byrom hit centuries to help Glamorgan draw with Yorkshire in Cardiff.

Northeast finished proceedings unbeaten on 166, while Byrom made 101 before he was bowled by Dom Bess and captain Kiran Carlson chipped in with a half-century which saw him pass 1,000 runs in a season for the first time in his career.

Glamorgan picked up their 11th draw in 13 matches this season while Yorkshire remain bottom of the table despite starting the day with a slight chance of claiming an innings victory.

First-class debutant Ed Middleton and Graeme van Buuren produced an unbeaten stand of 77 as Gloucestershire scrambled a draw with fellow strugglers Derbyshire in Bristol.

The pair put on a stubborn seventh-wicket stand to end Derbyshire’s hopes of a first victory of the campaign.

Gloucestershire had slipped to 131 for six in their second innings, holding a narrow lead of 105 with a possible 43 overs left in the day but Middleton’s 39 off 91 balls and Van Buuren’s 48 from 100 saw them to 208 for six at the close as both teams remain winless.

Northamptonshire’s Josh Cobb has declared himself “shocked and disappointed” by the club’s decision to oust him as T20 captain in favour of David Willey.

Cobb, 32, has held the role since 2019 and was set to lead the team in this season’s Vitality Blast until Wednesday’s announcement that England all-rounder Willey had taken the reins. The Steelbacks begin their campaign at home to Worcestershire Rapids on May 24.

Willey, who is back for a second stint at the county after returning from Yorkshire, has only just returned from the Indian Premier League.

And while Cobb wished him well, he made his unhappiness clear in a statement posted to Twitter.

“Having been blindsided by the news, I am shocked and disappointed to be relieved of my captaincy duties so close to the Blast starting,” he wrote.

“Spending the winter planning and preparing the squad, I felt we were in a good position to challenge again this year and we absolutely are!

“It has been an honour and a privilege to lead Northants for the last 4/5 years and I’ve enjoyed it all.

“I would also like to wish David Willey all the best for his tenure as captain. For now I’ll be trying to win as many games for Northants and my team-mates as I can.”

Cobb also thanked former coach David Ripley, while the incumbent John Sadler went pointedly unmentioned.