Find out what happened on day one of the fourth round of LV= Insurance County Championship fixtures
Division One
Chelmsford (first day of four): Northamptonshire 233-7, Essex
Opener Will Young personified an obdurate batting performance by Northamptonshire on the first day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Chelmsford.
The New Zealander followed up his match-saving 96 against Yorkshire last week with a painstaking 63 before Northants lost a clutch of late wickets to creep to 233 for 7 at the close.
Young’s 100-run partnership for the second wicket with Emilio Gay set the tone for a day of frustration for the Essex attack.
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Bristol (first day of four): Surrey 294-4, Gloucestershire
Jamie Smith served up defiance aplenty to register a hard-earned hundred and give Surrey the upper hand on day one of the County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol's Seat Unique Stadium.
Without a score of note in two previous outings this season, the 21-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Epsom found his touch to raise 111 not out from 238 balls, holding sway for five hours to help the Londoners recover from a poor start and reach the close well-placed on 294 for 4
Centurion Matt Renshaw (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Southampton (first day of four): Hampshire 246, Lancashire 37-1 Lancashire trail by 209 runs with nine first-innings wickets remaining
James Anderson celebrated news his international exile is set to end by helping Lancashire bowl Hampshire out for 246 in the County Championship.
Anderson, who was left out of England’s tour to the West Indies, has today been given the green light to return to the Test side by new captain Ben Stokes and new managing director Rob Key. At the Ageas Bowl, he produced a flawless new ball spell on his way to 3 for 24.
Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali continued his excellent start at Lancashire with 5 for 45, with Nick Gubbins’ 101 not out saving Hampshire after they had slumped to 40 for 5. Lancashire reached close 37 for 1, 209 runs in arrears.
Taunton (first day of four): Somerset 351-4, Warwickshire
Matt Renshaw eased Somerset’s batting worries with a fluent century on the opening day of the County Championship match with Warwickshire at Taunton.
The Australian Test player’s superb 129, featuring 19 fours and two sixes, paved the way for an imposing score of 351 for 4. It was his fourth hundred in six home Championship appearances for Somerset – four of those games back in 2018.
Tom Lammonby contributed 56 to an opening stand of 137, while skipper Tom Abell made 70 as his side set about ending a run of seven successive Championship defeats, stretching back to last summer.
Oliver Hannon-Dalby was the pick of the Warwickshire attack, taking 3 for 62, but it was a largely out-of-sorts bowling display by the visitors after winning the toss.
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Headingley (first day of four): Kent 270-6, Yorkshire
A second century in as many games for Daniel Bell-Drummond helped Kent recover from early strife to claim the opening day’s honours in their County Championship fixture against Yorkshire at Headingley.
This Division One clash features two counties dealing with injury issues, but it was the visitors who will be much happier after being invited to bat and slipping to 20 for 3 following a blistering new ball spell from Haris Rauf.
They closed on 270 for 6 from 81 overs, of which Bell-Drummond scored 109. Fifteen overs were lost through two stoppages for bad light.
Ethan Bamber strikes (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Division Two
Hove (first day of four): Durham 223, Sussex 82-1 - Sussex trail by 141 runs with nine first-innings wickets remaining
Sussex enjoyed their best day of the season in the County Championship, dismissing Durham for 223 before skipper Tom Haines made his third half-century of the season as they reached 82 for 1 on the first day at Hove.
Durham’s total represented something of a fightback after they had been 75 for 6 with Liam Trevaskis supervising their recovery with a career-best 88.
Aaron Beard, on his Sussex debut after signing for a month from Essex, and Tom Clark both took three wickets but Durham’s total looked some way short of par.
And Haines and Orr put conditions in perspective in a first-wicket stand of 68. Haines hit 10 fours, including three in one over off Matt Salisbury, and it was a surprise when Matty Potts bowled him off a very thin inside edge for 54.
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Trent Bridge (first day of four): Worcestershire 159, Nottinghamshire 203-7 - Nottinghamshire lead by 44 with seven first-innings wickets remaining
Stuart Broad returned to competitive action for the first time since the final Ashes Test in Hobart in January ahead of his expected return to the England fold under new captain Ben Stokes but he was emphatically upstaged by teammate Dane Paterson on the opening day of the County Championship match against Worcestershire at Trent Bridge.
Broad took a wicket in the third of his eight overs but the man of the moment was the South African pace bowler Paterson, who finished with a career-best 8 for 52 as Worcestershire were dismissed for 159 in 41 overs by the Division Two leaders.
They were the best bowling figures at Trent Bridge since Broad’s extraordinary 8 for 15 against Australia in 2015.
Jack Haynes, the 21-year-old former England under-19 batter, top-scored for Worcestershire with 37. There were half-centuries by Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett in Nottinghamshire’s reply but Worcestershire took five wickets in the final session as the home side closed on 203 for 7 for a lead of 44.
Liam Trevaskis on his way to 88 (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Lord's (first day of four): Leicestershire 149, Middlesex 142-2 - Middlesex trail by seven runs with eight first-innings wickets remaining
Shaheen Afridi and Tom Helm took three wickets apiece as Middlesex’s potent seam attack shone again on the opening day of their County Championship clash against Leicestershire at Lord’s.
The Seaxes, who dismissed Glamorgan cheaply twice to secure an innings victory last week, bowled their visitors out for 149, with Afridi repeating his debut feat from Cardiff by striking twice in as many balls to wreck the Foxes’ top order.
The Pakistan paceman finished with figures of 3 for 54, while Helm bettered that return with 3 for 23.
Mark Stoneman cemented Middlesex’s advantage with an unbeaten 80 to steer his side to 142 for 2 at the close, a deficit of only seven.
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Derby (first day of four): Derbyshire 282-5, Glamorgan
Shan Masood’s remarkable start to the season continued but he was overshadowed by a century from Brooke Guest that gave Derbyshire the advantage on the opening day of the County Championship match at Derby.
The Pakistan batter scored 60 before falling to Michael Hogan who was the pick of the Glamorgan attack with 3 for 45 but remains on course for the most runs scored in April.
Guest made 109, his second first-class hundred, and Wayne Madsen 70 as Derbyshire closed on 282 for 5 when bad light ended play just after 6pm.
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