County Championship Division Two roundup: Alex Lees, Ollie Robinson inflict more misery on Leicestershire

The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action on day one of the ninth round of LV= Insurance County Championship matches in 2023

Cardiff (first day of four): Glamorgan 242, Sussex 65-1 - Sussex trail by 177 runs with nine first-innings wickets in hand

Billy Root's 66 was the mainstay of the Glamorgan first innings against Sussex, his total matching brother Joe's jokey international number while he also suffered a copycat dismissal.

He ran down the wicket to spinner Jack Carson to be stumped, just like Joe in the second innings of the first Ashes Test against Australia, ending Glamorgan's best chance of posting a reasonable total after winning the toss and batting.

They were all out for 242, falling short of a batting bonus point. Sussex's Australian allrounder Nathan McAndrew took 4 for 58 while off-spinner Jack Carson returned 3 for 45 as regular wickets pegged back the Welsh county's hopes of a recovery after slipping to 60 for 4.

Sussex were able to ram home the advantage to reach 65 for 1 at the close, just 177 behind, for the loss of opener Tom Haines who fell lbw to Timm van der Gugten. who enjoyed a good day with bat and ball.

^{Anuj Dal continued his good form against Worcestershire [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]}

Leicester (first day of four): Durham 422-4, Leicestershire

Centuries from Ollie Robinson and Alex Lees put Division Two leaders Durham in a commanding position at 422 for 4 after the opening day of their County Championship clash with third-placed Leicestershire.

Robinson, who finished unbeaten on 113, posted the third century of what is turning into an outstanding season following his move from Kent last winter, sharing an unbroken 221-run fifth-wicket stand with Graham Clark, who is 15 away from a hundred of his own.

Earlier, openers Alex Lees (101) and Michael Jones (78) had laid the foundations with a first-wicket stand of 145 before Leicestershire, currently without a head coach after the shock announcement that Paul Nixon had been placed on "gardening leave", were able to make any inroads with the Kookaburra ball.

Wicketkeeper Robinson, who was completing back-to-back centuries after his second-inning 102 against Glamorgan earlier this month, moved from fifty to 100 in just 40 balls as a tiring home bowling attack was made to suffer on a flat pitch.

***

Worcester (first day of four): Worcestershire 237, Derbyshire 32-2 - Derbyshire trail by 205 runs with eight first-innings wickets in hand

Anuj Dal again enjoyed himself at Worcestershire's expense as bottom-placed Derbyshire put their injury problems in the bowling department behind them to bring about a collapse by the home side on day one of their County Championship encounter at New Road.

Dal had scored a hundred and a fifty plus picking up a five-for in the corresponding fixture in 2022 and he continued in that vein by returning figures of 18.3-5-45-5 as Worcestershire, who were 105 for 1 at one stage, were dismissed for 237 in 83.3 overs.

The Peakites were without front-line bowlers Suranga Lakmal, Zak Chappell and Sam Conners. Ben Aitchison, meanwhile, limped off after being unable to complete an over.

But Derbyshire, who signed Surrey's Conor McKerr on loan for a third spell at the club, stuck to their task against a Worcestershire side who themselves had fitness problems.

Club captain Brett D'Oliveira, Jack Haynes and Kashif Ali were all ruled out and it meant handing a debut to rookie pro Rehaan Edavalath in addition to Indian pace bowler Navdeep Saini.

^{Finlay Bean scored his second century of the season for Yorkshire [Mike Hewitt/Getty Images]}

Headingley (first day of four): Yorkshire 393-6, Gloucestershire

Yorkshire young guns Finlay Bean and George Hill posted superb centuries - 114 and 101, respectively - to ensure their side dominated the opening day of the County Championship clash with Gloucestershire at Headingley.

Left-handed opener Bean faced 153 balls for his second century of the Division Two season - and the second of the 21-year-old's fledgling career. It was the main contribution in Yorkshire's 393 for 6 from 91 overs.

He shared a stand of 57 with Dawid Malan for the third wicket during the morning and then 153 for the fourth either side of lunch with fellow up and comer George Hill, who then faced 180 balls and shared 111 for the fifth wicket with Jonny Tattersall.

It was allrounder Hill's first century of the summer, with Gloucestershire too loose with the Kookaburra ball having been asked to bowl in excellent batting conditions.

Left-arm seamer Taylor stood out amongst his colleagues with 3 for 43 from 17 overs, including Tattersall late on for 79. Five overs were lost to evening rain.