County cricket: Durham hit first-class low, Yorks v Hants and more – live!

Wickets tumbling during the last couple of hours around the traps. Durham are 47-7 following on at Grace Road, Sussex are 35-3 in reply to Warwickshire’s 440 at Hove and, in Division One, Worcestershire are 19-2 in their second innings at Essex having conceded a first-innings lead of 380.

Durham lose another one.

Hampshire are all out for 157, a deficit of 27. Ben Coad trapped Gareth Berg lbw to wrap up the innings, with Tim Bresnan’s 5-28 representing a career best haul in first-class cricket.

It’s all happening at Grace Road, where Durham are now 34-6 following on, with three wickets each for Mohammad Abbas and Neil Dexter, the latter who is getting his rewards after a superb spell of 7-6-1-1 in the first innings.

Durham are 12-1 following on at Grace Road, with Mohammad Abbas getting Cameron Steel early on. We are set for a resumption shortly at Headingley, where it has stopped raining. Somerset 31-4 against Surrey at Taunton.

Durham are all out for 61 against Leicestershire at Grace Road, their lowest ever score in first-class cricket (67 was the previous worst). As I type, it has just started raining at Headingley, so we are going to have a delay to the start of the afternoon.

Here we go again … Morne Morkel has two of three early wickets for Surrey against Somerset, who are 11-3 replying to 485 all out at Taunton. Marcus Trescothick and Azhar Ali were his victims.

We have taken lunch now, with Hampshire 156-9 and trailing by 28. That session has to be up there with the strangest I’ve seen this season, particularly the last 40 minutes when Gareth Berg hogged the strike from Fidel Edwards but kept on blocking. Hampshire scored 77 in 40 overs.

Division One
Yorkshire 184 v Hampshire 145-9, Headingley
Somerset v Surrey 485, Taunton
Essex 381-6 v Worcestershire 94, Chelmsford

Division Two
Sussex v Warwickshire 402-4, Hove
Middlesex 423 v Derbyshire 31-1, Lord’s
Leicestershire 321 v Durham 37-7, Grace Road
Kent 190-5 v Glamorgan 186, Canterbury
Gloucestershire 125 v Northamptonshire 113-5, Bristol

Crikey! What’s going on at Grace Road? Durham 36-7, with Mohammad Abbas taking five of them. Big task ahead as they reply to 321. Here at Headingley, we could be in for a delayed lunch. Hampshire 141-9. Matthew Waite has just bowled Ian Holland.

Some pictures from around the grounds …

Essex’s domination of Worcestershire at Chelmsford continues, although they have just lost their first wicket of the morning – Adam Wheater bowled for 66 by Ed Barnard, the seamer who will now forever be known to me as Ed Barnyard after being the subject of an amusing faux pas from Lancashire’s much loved, retiring PA announcer Matt Procter at Southport a couple of weeks ago. Replying to 94, Essex are now 347-6, with Ravi Bopara 81 not out. The light is closing in at Headingley. Hampshire 119-8, trailing by 65.

Tim Bresnan has just completed his first five-wicket haul since August 2016 in the Championship by removing Liam Dawson, caught and bowled one-handed – a fine reflex catch. Hampshire are 110-8, with Bresnan claiming the last five wickets. It hasn’t been the best of seasons for the former England man, but he is contributing at just the right time as Yorkshire press ahead. They lead by 74.

The third-wicket stand between Ian Bell (112) and Jonathan Trott has been broken on 230 at Hove, but the latter has moved through to a 46th first-class century, and possibly his last, before retirement next week. He has 107 out of Warwickshire’s 339-3. The Bears are closing in on promotion.

Dean Elgar is closing in on his century for Surrey at Taunton. He has 96 out of 414. Wicket here at Headingley, Tim Bresnan traps Kyle Abbott lbw for eight. It’s 96-6.

Read Tanya Aldred’s paean to New Road, and the importance of Worcestershire in the West Midlands:

Leicestershire are 321 all out at Grace Road, with Durham’s new ball seamer Matt Salisbury having taken the last two wickets to fall – Gavin Griffiths and Mohammad Abbas bowled and lbw respectively.

The wind is howling around the ground this morning at Headingley, and the heavy bails are on. A quiet start has seen the Hampshire pair of Tom Alsop and Kyle Abbott add only the one run, with the score now 80-5. Alsop batting in a short sleeved shirt wouldn’t exactly be my choice of attire at the crease. But each to their own I guess.

Good morning from Headingley, where we are set for a start on time at 10.30am in bright and breezy conditions.

A fascinating opening day saw Yorkshire, in my view, just shade it by reducing Hampshire to 79-5 in reply to 184. Gareth Berg spoke at close at the close of play and said he felt Hampshire could have bowled better and 150 would have been a Yorkshire total his side would have been happy with. I actually thought Fidel Edwards was superb for his four wickets and a bit too quick for Yorkshire’s middle to lower order and tail.

Then, in his final appearance at Headingley as a Yorkshire player, Jack Brooks took two wickets and whipped the crowd up. After claiming the scalp of Jimmy Adams, superbly caught at third slip by Harry Brook, Brooks was orchestrating the home faithful at the end of his run-up.

Yorkshire have one eye on the Essex v Worcestershire clash at Chelmsford, where Essex are 252-5 replying to 94. If Worcestershire, as looks likely, go on to lose, Yorkshire would need just nine points from their final two games to be safe. One of those should come this morning with a sixth wicket.

The third and final Division One fixture in play is at Taunton, where Somerset are taking on champions Surrey. Surrey closed on 368-4, with South African overseas batsman Dean Elgar unbeaten on 72.

In Division Two, there are a trio of fixtures which have no impact on the promotion race, with Middlesex 350-8 against Derbyshire at Lord’s. Sam Robson’s 134 represented his first century of a barren season. Leicestershire are 316-8 against Durham at Grace Road, with a series of useful contributions led by Ateeq Javid’s 58 at the top of the order. At Bristol, Northamptonshire are 4-1 replying to Gloucestershire’s 125.

Leaders Warwickshire are closing in on promotion, with them reaching 308-2 at close on day one against Sussex at Hove. Sussex, in third place, need snookers to get themselves back into the race after Ian Bell scored his fifth century of the season and topped 1,000 Championship runs. He will resume on 108 alongside Jonathan Trott on 86. They have shared an unbroken 206 for the third wicket.

Finally, second-placed Kent are looking good for a return to Division One after a strong start against Glamorgan at Canterbury – 93-2 in reply to 186. Opener Zak Crawley is unbeaten on 56.