The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action on day two of the ninth round of LV= Insurance County Championship matches in 2023
Northampton (third day of four): Northamptonshire 237 & 214-5, Kent 621 - Northamptonshire trail by 170 runs with five wickets remaining
Kent's Daniel Bell-Drummond became Wantage Road's first visiting triple centurion as his side closed in on an innings victory against Northamptonshire in the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Bell-Drummond finished unbeaten on exactly 300, registering the fourth-highest individual score in the county's history after almost nine hours at the crease as the visitors racked up an imposing total of 621.
That left Northamptonshire, whose leg-spinner Alex Russell recorded figures of 6 for 175 in only his second first-class game, weighed down by a hefty first-innings deficit of 384 as they went out to bat again.
However, spirited half centuries by Rob Keogh – his second of the match – and skipper Luke Procter maintained their side's hopes of avoiding defeat as they reached 214 for 5, still 170 adrift, before bad light halted play.
Tom Bailey starred for Lancashire (Getty Images)
The Oval (third day of four): Surrey 360 & 57-5, Lancashire 274 & 293 - Surrey need 151 runs to win
Tom Bailey took four wickets in 16 balls in an 11-over opening spell of 4 for 34 to reduce Surrey to 57 for 5 in an extraordinary final hour at the Kia Oval and give Lancashire the chance of inflicting a first defeat of the season on the Division One leaders.
The county champions had earlier been frustrated by Will Williams, Bailey's new ball partner, who as nightwatchman batted four and a quarter hours for a defiant career-best 61 to leave Surrey needing 208 to clinch a sixth victory in eight matches this season.
But by stumps on day three it was a Lancashire win that looked more likely as Bailey wrecked Surrey's top order after the home side had eventually bowled out Lancashire for 293 in their second innings, held up by Williams' stubborn resistance and also by a powerful 54 from Phil Salt, his second fifty of the game.
Bailey's magnificent opening burst brought him the wickets of Dom Sibley for one and Tom Latham next ball for a duck in his fifth over and then, in his sixth and seventh overs, the scalps of Jamie Smith for four and Ben Foakes for five.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.