The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day four of round four of the Vitality County Championship in 2024
Bristol (day four of four): Middlesex 203 & 449-7d, Gloucestershire 322 & 127-3 - match drawn
Gloucestershire's long wait for a Vitality County Championship victory on home soil continued as their Division Two match against Middlesex at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol petered out into a draw.
On a day which began with all three results still possible, Middlesex did their utmost to force a result by declaring their second innings on 449 for 7 and setting the home side a target of 339 to win in 58 overs on a hybrid pitch offering negligible assistance to the bowlers.
The visitors still fancied they had an outside chance of prevailing when reducing their opponents to 102 for 3 in the final session with 27 overs still available, but Ollie Price displayed resilience in compiling an unbeaten 52 as Gloucestershire reached 127 for 3 to frustrate Middlesex.
Resuming their second innings on 262 for 3, Middlesex had earlier played positively in adding a further 187 in 36 overs, Ryan Higgins top-scoring with 155 and sharing in a stand of 202 for the fourth wicket with Max Holden, who contributed 111. Stephen Eskinazi's breezy 65 not out prompted the declaration, which came half an hour into the afternoon session.
Forced to contend with a cold and blustery wind and battleship grey skies - hardly conditions conducive to a successful run chase - Gloucestershire were never in a position to realistically pursue a first red-ball win since September 2022.
Middlesex picked up 11 points while Gloucestershire collected 13 points.
Rehan Ahmed made 85 for Leicestershire [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]
Leicester (day four of four): Northamptonshire 453-7d, Leicestershire 452-8d - match drawn
Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb and England allrounder Rehan Ahmed played the starring roles as Leicestershire snuffed out Northamptonshire's hopes of bowling themselves to a first Division Two victory of a County Championship season so-far dominated by rain-affected draws.
Leicestershire replied to Northamptonshire's first-innings 453 for 7 declared with 452 for 8 declared in a contest that had seen only 37 overs bowled on Saturday and a complete wash-out on Sunday.
Handscomb was Leicestershire's top scorer, although he missed out on a 23rd career first-class century and a third for the county when he suffered the self-inflicted agony of being run-out on 99.
Ahmed made 85, with Louis Kimber scoring 65 and Tom Scriven 54 not out as the two sides claimed 15 points each. Both have drawn all their four matches so far.
Wayne Madsen scored a century for Derbyshire at Headingley [Bryn Lennon/Getty Images]
Headingley (day four of four): Yorkshire 450-5d & 59-1, Derbyshire 447 - match drawn
Wayne Madsen completed a courageous century and new signing Aneurin Donald added 97 as Derbyshire's batters comfortably secured a County Championship draw against Yorkshire at Headingley.
Derbyshire started day four on 190 for 3 in their first-innings reply to Yorkshire's 450 for 5 declared, needing to reach 301 to avoid the follow-on.
Given a day three abandonment following rain and with time running out, achieving that 301 target was always going to secure the draw. They did so inside the first 10 minutes of the afternoon and advanced to finish on 447 all out.
Madsen, 88 not out overnight, posted 104 off 226 balls. The 40-year-old was batting with a stitched up right hand following a nasty injury trying to take a slip catch during Friday's first morning.
Donald, a winter arrival from Hampshire, narrowly missed out on what would have been his first first-class century since July 2019 as Derbyshire claimed 13 points. Yorkshire, who were 59 for 1 in their second innings when bad light intervened at 4.40pm, took 16 points from their third draw added to a defeat.
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