The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action on day one of the second round of LV= Insurance County Championship matches in 2023, as Ben Brown rescues Hampshire and Middlesex's early top-order struggles continue
Chelmsford: Essex 98-3, Lancashire 207 - Essex trail by 109 runs with seven wickets remaining
James Anderson warmed up for this summer's Ashes by claiming the prized scalp of former England captain Sir Alastair Cook in his first LV= Insurance County Championship appearance for 11 months.
Lancashire's decision to bat first on a straw-coloured wicket meant Anderson remained tucked up in the pavilion until required to bat shortly before tea. He made nine not out.
However, England's all-time leading wicket-taker required just three balls in Essex's reply to collect his first wicket of the domestic season before having Cook playing forward to be judged lbw.
Anderson had struck straight away when Cook's opening partner Nick Browne chased one that lifted outside off-stump to give catching practice to Luke Wells at first slip. Anderson finished the day with two wickets for 33 from 11 overs as Essex reached the close on 98 for 3.
With almost impeccable timing, it was Sam Cook, the more than promising Essex seamer with aspirations of eventually replacing Anderson when he retires from Test cricket, who took the limelight with his first five-wicket haul of the season as Lancashire were dismissed for 207 on the stroke of tea.
Lancashire's up-and-down innings was underpinned by 20-year-old wicketkeeper George Bell, having only his fourth Championship outing, who was ninth out for a career-best 60 from 109 balls that included 10 fours and displayed maturity beyond his years.
Alastair Cook fell to James Anderson in a battle of the veterans (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Northampton: Northamptonshire 111-3, Middlesex 149 - Northamptonshire trail by 38 runs with seven wickets remaining
Middlesex endured another nightmare start as Northamptonshire seamer Ben Sanderson took advantage of their fragile top order on the first morning of this LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Wantage Road.
Sanderson, returning to the side after recovering from a sore knee, took three wickets for just two runs in his opening burst to leave Middlesex reeling on 11 for 4 inside 10 overs. It followed two similar top-order collapses against Essex at Lord's last weekend with Middlesex's batters again displaying their weaknesses against the seaming ball.
Middlesex were indebted once more to Ryan Higgins who came in with the score on 36 for 5 and hit a vital half century, helping the Seaxes up to 149 all out, repeating the rescue act he performed against Essex when he also hit 70.
Despite losing two early wickets, Hassan Azad and Luke Procter were fluent in reply for Northamptonshire sharing a fifty partnership to take the score to 81 before Azad was caught behind off Middlesex skipper Toby Roland-Jones for 33. They closed without further loss on 111 for 3, 38 behind, with Procter unbeaten on 39.
Sam Hain has made centuries in consecutive games for Warwickshire (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 256, Somerset 28-2 - Somerset trail by 228 runs with eight wickets remaining
Allrounder Lewis Gregory took a career-best 7 for 84 as Somerset fought back to dismiss Nottinghamshire for 256 at Trent Bridge.
Asked to bat first, the home side had looked set for a dominant day as Ben Duckett (75) and Haseeb Hameed (65) shared an opening partnership of 125 but a partly self-inflicted collapse saw five Nottinghamshire wickets fall for 22, three of them to Gregory, who also mopped up the last four with Tom Moores (32) the next biggest contributor with the bat.
Somerset replied with 28 for 2 in 15 overs before the last six scheduled overs were lost to bad light, Brett Hutton taking both wickets to take his career tally to 250 in first-class matches.
The Oval: Surrey 37-0, Hampshire 254 - Surrey trail by 217 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Ben Brown's battling 95 held Hampshire's batting together after champions Surrey had threatened to overwhelm them with an impressive five-man pace attack on day one of their much-anticipated LV= Insurance County Championship match at the Kia Oval.
Hampshire, for a long time last season Surrey's closest rivals for the title, were struggling at 114 for 6 just after lunch, after opting to bat, but Brown was joined by Keith Barker in a determined seventh wicket stand of 96 in 35 overs as they made it to 254 to frustrate Rory Burns' side.
By the close Surrey were 37 without loss in reply, from 14 overs, with Burns and Dom Sibley looking solid on 23 and 12 not out respectively.
Yet it might have been a day totally dominated by Surrey if Brown, on three, had not survived a difficult chance to Tom Lawes on the deep backward square-leg boundary when he aimed a pull at Sean Abbott. In addition, Hampshire opener Fletcha Middleton, who made 32, was dropped on nought by keeper Jamie Smith off Kemar Roach.
Lawes, brought in to Surrey's side due to Ben Foakes' absence with a minor back complaint – Smith taking the gloves – finished with 4 for 58, with the rest of Hampshire's wickets shared out between the other four seamers and last man Mohammad Abbas run out for a duck after being sent back by James Fuller, who made a useful unbeaten 23.
Ben Brown held Hampshire's innings together at the Kia Oval (Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
Edgbaston: Warwickshire 367-3, Kent
Rob Yates and Sam Hain punished Kent heavily for a miscalculation with the toss as Warwickshire amassed 367 for 3 on the opening day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Edgbaston.
Yates struck 128 and Hain an unbeaten 124 to enhance their England credentials at the expense of a Kent attack which toiled on a good batting surface after captain Sam Billings chose to field.
That appeared a curious decision on a pitch which looked firm and true and so it proved as Yates and Hain added 166 for the third wicket before Dan Mousley added late impetus with a sparkling unbeaten 72.
Kent's seam attack, already missing the injured Nathan Gilchrist and Grant Stewart, was further hampered when Matt Quinn limped off just 22 balls into his new-ball spell.
The New Zealander returned after lunch but was unable to prevent a bracing reality check for his side after their winning start to the season against Northamptonshire last week.
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