The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day two of round six of the Vitality County Championship in 2024
Southampton (day two of four): Hampshire 503, Durham 146-3 - Durham are 357 runs behind with seven first-innings wickets remaining
Tom Prest flaunted his significant talent with his second Vitality County Championship hundred as Hampshire and Durham's Division One clash turned into a run-fest.
The 21-year-old expertly scored 102, to dovetail with Ali Orr's day one century and Ben Brown's 75th first-class fifty, to help Hampshire to 503.
Alex Lees led Durham’s response on a Utilita Bowl pitch which has displayed heavy spin in patches but has mostly been fun in the sun to bat on.
The opener scored 71 before departing in the penultimate over of the day, having teamed up with David Bedingham to put on a match-high 97 for the third wicket. Durham ended the day on 146 for 3, 357 in arrears.
Jason Holder backed up some impressive bowling displays with a century at Canterbury (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Canterbury (day two of four): Worcestershire 618-7d, Kent 111-2 - Kent are 507 runs behind with eight first-innings wickets remaining
Jason Holder and Matthew Waite both hit unbeaten centuries as Worcestershire built a daunting lead against Kent on day two of their County Championship match at Canterbury.
Joe Leach then took two early wickets to reduce Kent to 15 for 2, before the hosts rallied to finish on 112 for 2 at stumps, a deficit of 506. Daniel Bell-Drummond and Jack Leaning were the not-out batters on 54 and 43 respectively.
Earlier Holder was unbeaten on 123 while Waite made exactly 100 before the visitors declared on 618 for seven in their first innings, with Adam Hose contributing 90.
Joey Evison had Kent’s best bowling figures with 3 for 58, while Matt Parkinson again "took one for the team," claiming 3 for 201 and bowling for 44.5 overs.
Related: Haseeb Hameed rolls back the years but Saqib Mahmood's renewed fitness will interest England
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Trent Bridge (day two of four): Lancashire 331, Nottinghamshire 279-7 - Nottinghamshire are 52 runs behind with three first-innings wickets remaining
Haseeb Hameed posted his first County Championship hundred since September 2022 and his first since being made captain but his Nottinghamshire side still have work to do to match Lancashire's first innings total in their Division One match at Trent Bridge, where they trail by 52 runs on 279 for seven.
Hameed, who still harbours ambitions of playing Test cricket despite being tried and discarded twice by England, finished day two unbeaten on 137 after hitting 16 fours, although he was dropped on 104 off left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.
Hartley went wicketless in 18 overs in his last county match before joining the England squad as they prepare for the upcoming white-ball series against Pakistan and the T20 World Cup as all-rounder George Balderson took the bowling honours for his side.
Balderson, who shared a key partnership with Keaton Jennings in Lancashire’s first innings, has four for 72 from 22 overs.
Haseeb Hameed ended his wait for a Division One hundred (getty Images)
The Kia Oval (day two of four): Warwickshire 343, Surrey 327-6 - Surrey are 16 runs behind with four first-innings wickets remaining
Jamie Smith's brilliant 98 not out from only 111 balls, and a 139-run fourth wicket stand with Ben Foakes, propelled champions Surrey into a strong position at the halfway stage against Warwickshire in the Kia Oval sunshine.
But three wickets in three overs with the second new ball by Craig Miles, who finished the day with superb figures of five for 43 after his late triple strike pegged Surrey back to 327 for six in reply to Warwickshire’s 343, gave the visitors a toehold in this Vitality County Championship match themselves.
Miles bowled Foakes for 52 with a ball that kept low – not for the first time in the game – and then followed that up by pinning Dan Lawrence leg-before for three and, three balls later, having nightwatchman Kemar Roach magnificently held low and left-handed by a diving Rob Yates at second slip.
Smith remained unbeaten, however, with some imperious strokes so far bringing him two sixes and 14 fours, and in addition to Cameron Steel, not out on four at stumps, Surrey have all-rounders Jordan Clark and Sean Abbott still to bat as they bid to turn a slender 16-run deficit into a potentially match-defining first innings lead on day three.
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