The Cricketer wraps up events from across Division One and Division Two of the County Championship on another eventful day
Newport (third day of four): Hampshire 310 & 367-5, Nottinghamshire 239 & 42-2
Ajinkya Rahane marked his Hampshire debut with a century before Sam Northeast boosted his England Test ambitions with three figures of his own as Hampshire dominated Nottinghamshire on the Isle of Wight.
Elegant batsman Rahane became the first Indian to play for Hampshire and then just the seventh cricketer to collect a ton on his debut for the county having artfully made 119.
Only Cecil Abercrombie, Dennis Baldry, Richard Hayward, John Crawley, Shane Watson and Andy Bichel had scored centuries on their debuts for Hampshire.
At the other end of a record 257-run stand for the third wicket, Northeast continued his eye-catching early season form with an almost impeccable 133.
In doing so, Northeast became the highest run-maker in either division of the Specsavers County Championship, as he collected his 511th run in the competition, and 629 in all first-class cricket this season.
Hampshire eventually declared on 367 for five with a 438-run lead, which was whittled down to 397 at close, although the visitors lost two wickets.
Beckenham (third day of four): Surrey 439 & 280, Kent 294 & 46-1
A Sam Curran counter-attack left Surrey in charge of their encounter with Kent as the game heads into a fourth and final day. The England youngster made 80 in good time after Scott Borthwick had also passed 50.
After first-innings centurion Will Jacks had fallen cheaply, Curran shared a near-century stand with Rikki Clarke to leave the away side in a dominant position.
Morne Morkel had Zak Crawley caught by Borthwick before the close, to leave the hosts requiring a further 380 runs for victory or - more likely - a day to survive against Surrey's well-balanced attack.
Northampton (third day of four): Sussex 422 & 292-4 v Northamptonshire 368
Phil Salt’s bristling century set Sussex up for a final day victory push at Northamptonshire. Salt slammed 122 in 104 balls between lunch and tea to help Sussex close 292 for 4, leading by 346.
With a first-innings lead of only 54 after Northants recovered from 267 for 8 to make 368, Sussex were in need of a brisk second innings to leave enough time to take another 10 wickets. The situation was ready-made for Salt, who was called up the England T20 squad two weeks ago, and he delivered with a third first-class century in 90 balls.
His assault on the Northants bowlers - well backed by Stiaan van Zyl and Ben Brown, who both passed 50 - came after Luke Procter and Nathan Buck had marshalled the Northamptonshire tail beyond the follow-on target and within touching distance of their opponents.
Reports courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network
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