The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day two of round two of the Vitality County Championship in 2024
Chelmsford (day two of four): Essex 530-7d, Kent 245-1 - Kent trail by 285 runs with nine first-innings wickets in hand
Daniel Bell-Drummond hit a second successive Vitality County Championship century to continue the run-fest on a benign Chelmsford pitch where only two wickets fell all day.
The Kent captain reached three figures against Somerset at Canterbury last week, and helped his side fight back with a second ton after suffering three-and-a-half sessions of unremitting toil in the field at Chelmsford.
However, in company with fellow centurion Ben Compton for 71 overs, Bell-Drummond gave Essex a taste of their own medicine as they put on 218 for the second wicket against an unresponsive Kookaburra ball.
Needing 381 to make Essex bat again, Kent had knocked off 245 by the end of day two for the loss of one wicket with Bell-Drummond 134 not out and Compton 100.
Essex's 530 for 7 declared was anchored for 73 overs by Matt Critchley's career-best 151 not out – beating his unbeaten 137 against Northamptonshire in his second appearance for Derbyshire as an 18-year-old back in 2015.
Matt Critchley hit a career-best 151 for Essex against Kent [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]
Southampton (day two of four): Hampshire 367, Lancashire 233-4 - Lancashire trail by 134 runs with six first-innings wickets in hand
Keaton Jennings put behind his disappointment at missing out on England's Test tour to India by scoring a half-century on day two at the Utilita Bowl.
Opener Jennings was part of the England Lions squad acting as support for the Test squad in the sub-continent this winter, but Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were preferred by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.
He totted up 85 with only one dropped catch as a blemish in an otherwise authoritative innings, with his opening partner, Luke Wells, reaching 55.
Lancashire ended the day on 233 for 4, 134 runs behind Hampshire's first innings total on a placid pitch.
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Trent Bridge (day two of four): Nottinghamshire 399, Worcestershire 220-6 - Worcestershire trail by 179 runs with four second-innings wickets in hand
After their overnight seventh-wicket stand had finally reached 146, Nottinghamshire were on 399 at Trent Bridge when Lyndon James, last out, cruelly fell for 96.
In 63 overs of their reply, Worcestershire then closed on 220 for 6, 179 behind, the initative swinging sharply to the home side with three wickets in the last 65 minutes.
At the halfway stage of a County Championship match played on a pitch now six days old, spin is coming to the fore. The leg breaks of Calvin Harrison saw him remove in succession Adam Hose, Rob Jones for 90 and then Jason Holder for a second-ball duck.
Though Dillon Pennington generated impressive pace to finish the day with 2 for 25 from 12 overs, Harrison took time to pose the problems that took him to 3 for 78 overnight. Jones, in his third innings since joining Worcestershire from Lancashire, arrived at 4 for 2 but accelerated with relish in the evening sunshine until the swift decline from 155 for 3.
Alex Lees is on course for a century but Durham are still over 500 runs behind Warwickshire [Stu Forster/Getty Images]
The Oval (day two of four): Somerset 285, Surrey 358-6 - Surrey lead by 73 runs with four first-innings wickets in hand
Dom Sibley and Rory Burns led from the front as Surrey spent day two of their County Championship match against Somerset at the Kia Oval building a potentially match-winning lead.
Openers Sibley and Burns scored 100 and 75, respectively, putting on 167 for the first wicket, as Surrey advanced from their overnight 42 without loss to 358 for 6, giving them a 73-run advantage at the halfway point. They had bowled out Somerset for 285 on day one on what remains a good pitch.
The 2022 and 2023 champions will be seeking more first innings runs yet, even though they lost Ben Foakes for 57 in the closing overs, leg-before to Lewis Gregory as he tried to flick behind square a ball that didn't seem to bounce as high as he expected.
Cameron Steel, however, is still there on 35 not out alongside Jordan Clark, who was unbeaten on seven at stumps. Jamie Overton and Gus Atkinson, both fully-fledged allrounders, are still to bat.
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Edgbaston (day two of four): Warwickshire 698-3d, Durham 178-3 - Durham trail by 520 runs with seven first-innings wickets in hand
Warwickshire piled up the second-highest total in their history to put Durham under serious pressure in their County Championship Division One tussle at Edgbaston.
The home side, led by Alex Davies' maiden double-century, amassed a mammoth 698 for 3 declared to leave Durham needing 549 even to avoid the follow on.
The visitors closed the second day on 178 for 3 with Alex Lees (94 not out off 171 balls) leading the resistance but with a huge amount of work still to do to dig his side out of trouble.
A combination of placid pitch, Kookaburra ball, short boundary and injury-affected and rusty bowling attacks has delivered a batting heaven in Birmingham. Warwickshire captain Davies took most advantage to amass 256, his maiden double century, from 311 balls while Rob Yates (a glittering 191 on the first day), Will Rhodes (178 not out from 234 balls) and Dan Mousley (an unbeaten 55 from 53) also filled their boots.
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