WOMEN'S COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND-UP: Kent top, Lancashire lose and Warwickshire suffer another near miss

Catch up with all the action from the latest round of fixtures in Division 1 of the Women's County Championship...

As the halfway point of the Women’s County Championship passes, and with three games left to play, Kent have opened up clear blue water between them and the pack.

They did so with a win over Hampshire, and benefitted from their closest challengers Lancashire spinning up against Yorkshire.

It wasn’t quite the perfect performance from Kent – at Polo Farm in Canterbury they missed out on maximum bonus points by taking just six wickets as Maia Bouchier top-scored with 64, and Suzie Bates hit 63, to help Hampshire to 233; but a fantastic 74 from Fran Wilson, set them on course to win by three wickets and maintain their unbeaten record this year.

At Harrogate, Lancashire went down to their first defeat of the season in the Roses match. Katie Thompson and Beth Langston returned three wickets apiece as Lancashire were bowled out for 158. Lauren Winfield’s miserable county season for Yorkshire continued – her run of scores thus far: 2, 21, 0 and 2 – but it didn’t stop Yorkshire chasing down their target by five wickets, Katherine Brunt finishing 48 not out at the end.

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The return of Danni Wyatt to Sussex didn’t help their struggling batting much – Wyatt made two off seven balls, and it was left to Carla Rudd (36), Ella Mccaughan (33) and Freya Davies (23) to get them out of trouble to 176 for 7 against Surrey.

It was a total they might have defended had it not been for Nat Sciver, who made 80 not out to give Surrey their second win of the season.

Finally, Warwickshire endured another agonisingly close defeat to stay rooted to the foot of the table.

Set 207 to chase by Notts, with Scotland’s Sarah Bryce making 51 and Georgia Davies taking 4-43, Warwickshire fell just four runs short – Amy Jones hit 89 and Jo Gardner’s made her highest ever Championship score of 59 but it was not quite enough to get them over the line.

Kent aren’t anything like home and dry yet – they’ve got a difficult road trip next Bank Holiday weekend to their two closest challengers, Yorkshire and Lancashire – but two wins could potentially make them champions by Monday evening if bonus points and other results elsewhere fall their way.

The Cricketer is syndicating CRICKETher's coverage of women's domestic cricket in England and Wales throughout the 2019 season