COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE ROUNDUP: Hampshire also roared back into their match against Yorkshire as Kyle Abbott and Sonny Baker took four wickets apiece to bowl their opponents out for 177
Chelmsford (day two of four): Essex 149 & 131-3, Somerset 348 - Essex trail by 68 runs with seven wickets remaining
Craig Overton put Somerset in a dominant position against Essex at Chelmsford with the highest score of an illustrious first-class career built largely on his skills with the ball rather than the bat.
The stand-in captain walked out on Friday evening with Somerset creaking at 114 for 5, still 35 runs behind Essex's first innings, but had more than doubled the score in three-and-a-half hours at the crease by the time he was out for 141 in mid-afternoon. In partnerships of 98 with Lewis Goldsworthy and 118 with Will Smeed, Overton helped Somerset establish a 199-run lead.
It was a decade ago that the then 22-year-old Overton scored his only previous century, 138 against Hampshire, though he has been in formidable form with the bat in recent times: he has passed fifty in four of his last six County Championship innings, stretching back to September, and 219 runs in three innings this season. His 180-ball ton included 19 fours and three sixes.
In response, Essex lost three wickets in the first 15 overs of their second innings before Paul Walter and Matt Critchley settled into a defiant fourth-wicket stand currently worth 86 runs, either side of a 53-minute rain delay. Both batsmen timed the ball nicely, with Walter reaching his first fifty of the season and Critchley hitting nine fours in his half-century. Essex closed on 131 for 3.
Joe Clarke made a century as Notts took control of their game against Glamorgan (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Trent Bridge (day two of four): Nottinghamshire 279 & 284-9, Glamorgan 113 - Nottinghamshire lead by 450 runs with one wicket remaining
Nottinghamshire have their eyes on a first victory of their title defence after a Joe Clarke century led a dominant display against promoted Glamorgan at Trent Bridge.
The champions began day two by taking six wickets in less than an hour and a quarter as Glamorgan were skittled for 113, seamers Fergus O'Neill and Brett Hutton finishing with four wickets each.
Nottinghamshire decided against enforcing the follow-on and then recovered from 8 for 2 in their second innings to finish on 284 for 9, a lead of exactly 450. Clarke made 136 after he and Ben Slater (70) had added 177 for the third wicket.
The day played out less well for England's Ben Duckett, looking to rebuild his confidence after a disappointing Ashes series. Having made 25 on Friday in his first innings back in a Nottinghamshire shirt, the left-hander was run out for just a single.
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Headingley (day two of four): Hampshire 251 & 93-2, Yorkshire 177 - Hampshire lead by 167 runs with eight wickets remaining
Kyle Abbott and Sonny Baker claimed four wickets apiece to help Hampshire take control of their County Championship clash with Yorkshire during a weather-interrupted day two at Headingley.
The seam bowling duo - Abbott, with more skill, and Baker, raw pace - combined to bowl the hosts out for 177 in reply to a first-innings 251.
South African overseas Abbott struck three times today, adding to Baker's three yesterday. Adam Lyth top-scored with a patient 76 for Yorkshire, sharing a fifth-wicket century stand with England Lion Matthew Revis, who contributed 40.
Hampshire's second innings started with a lead of 74 just before tea, and they built on that with 93 for 2 from 28 overs - an overall lead of 167.
During the latter stages of Yorkshire's innings, they used the newly introduced injury replacement trial to swap out Australian Test quick Jhye Richardson, whose debut had been cut short because of illness. Dutch overseas Logan van Beek came in.
Kyle Abbott celebrates the wicket of George Hill (Allan McKenzie, SWPix/Yorkshire Cricket)
Kia Oval (day two of four): Surrey 520, Leicestershire 350-3 - Leicestershire trail by 170 runs with seven wickets remaining
Rishi Patel scored the first County Championship Division One hundred of his career to lead a defiant Leicestershire second-day fightback against Surrey.
Patel finished the day on a brilliant 133 not out while his opening partner, Jake Weatherald, fell just four runs short of a century himself at the Kia Oval.
Weatherald's punchy 96 and Patel's heroics over almost five and a quarter hours at the crease took the Division One newcomers to 350 for 3 in reply to Surrey’s intimidating first innings 520 on a chilly yet sunny day in south London.
But Surrey paid a heavy price in the final session for dropping Lewis Hill on five. By stumps, Hill had gone on to an unbeaten 60 in an unbroken partnership of 98 with Patel.
Patel and Weatherald earlier put on 156 for the first wicket after Surrey had themselves quickly added 108 in 75 minutes on the second morning to their overnight 412 for 6.
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