Yorkshire beat Northamptonshire by 53 runs at Wantage Road, set up by a century from Harry Brook. He made hay while wickets tumbled at the other end, Simon Kerrigan pocketing five for 39.
Northamptonshire’s pursuit of 206 could not have started with less pizazz as they lost three wickets for two runs either side of tea. Luke Procter and Kerrigan raised hopes with a ninth-wicket partnership of 49, but the end was swift.
An innings victory against bottom-placed Derbyshire left Nottinghamshire whistling merrily at the top of Group One. Five wickets for Luke Fletcher and three for Dane Patterson decimated Derby, who lost their last four wickets for one run. The 18-year-old Dane Schadendorf, given an unexpected first-class debut when Ben Duckett was called up by England, made 24 and gathered four catches behind the stumps.
James Bracey put his hellish England debut behind him with a sparky 88 at Cheltenham as Gloucestershire built a strapping lead. Middlesex had earlier lost eight for 25 when collapsing to 101 all out; Matt Taylor took four for 19.
Meanwhile, at Hove, Ali Orr stroked an unbeaten 54 to rescue Sussex from the second-innings doldrums of 19 for three. They finished the day on 111 for four with a lead of 122 over Glamorgan.
A cataclysmic day for Surrey at the Rose Bowl left them praying for rain in the crucial Group Two game. Dismissed for 72 in their first innings in reply to Hampshire’s 488, as Kyle Abbot and Keith Barker ran amok, they were left dribbling at six for two following on, with both openers gone: Stoneman for one, Burns for a duck.
A chirpy century from Leicestershire’s Harry Swindells scotched Somerset’s hopes of enforcing the follow-on at Taunton, frustration intensified by Craig Overton’s removal by England and Josh Davey’s sore toe.
Rain continued to thwart Durham and Warwickshire on an attritional day at Edgbaston where only 55 overs of play were possible.
Lancashire built a more than handy lead against Kent at a damp Old Trafford where play did not start till 3pm. Luke Wood made the highest score of the match, an unbeaten 63, while two extra cover drives by Jimmy Anderson off Darren Stevens in sudden bright sunshine during the last over of the day brought a soupcon of joy.