Tuesday 9 September 2014 19:55, UK
Worcestershire endured a testing day in what has become a challenging finale to their LV= County Championship promotion bid as they were dismissed for 272 on the opening day of their encounter against Surrey at New Road.
The home side made a partial recovery from 133-6 thanks to a fighting 70 from Joe Leach, who profited from being dropped on nought, but would have been disappointed to secure only two batting points after electing to bat.
By the close third-placed Surrey, who trailed Worcestershire by 39 points at the start of play, had reached 59-0 from 17 overs with Rory Burns unbeaten on 40.
Worcestershire were unbeaten in their opening 12 games of the season, winning seven of them, and at that stage were 45 points clear of Hampshire.
But they have struggled to regain the same level of form since returning to red ball cricket after the Royal One-Day Cup.
Successive defeats to Gloucestershire and Derbyshire have seen Hampshire reduce the advantage to seven points going into the latest round of matches.
A magnificent century from Sam Northeast was the highlight of the day as Essex and Kent battled it out for supremacy in their crucial battle.
After Northeast had rescued his side with a superb 117 to give them some respectability in a total of 198 all out, Darren Stevens picked up three wickets as Essex found run-gathering far from an easy task on a day when 14 wickets fell for a total of 295 runs.
The visitors were soon left regretting choosing to bat first on a pitch tinged with green and certainly helped the seam bowlers in the morning session.
This was confirmed by Kent losing half their side for only 37 runs before the 18th over was completed.
David Masters, playing against his old county, was chiefly responsible for their demise as he found enough movement and occasional lift to pose persistent problems.
Essex head coach Paul Grayson said: "It's probably honours even at the end of the day.
"It was an interesting morning with the ball moving around in the conditions. We would like to have bowled them out for a few less but Sam Northeast played brilliantly and Sam Billings counter-attacked us a little bit.
"We need to bat well tomorrow morning and see where that takes us."
Gareth Roderick and Alex Gidman put Leicestershire's attack to the sword with a record-breaking triple-century stand as Gloucestershire ran up 513-5 on the opening day of the match at Bristol.
The pair came together with the hosts 47-2 - having won the toss - and exploited perfect batting conditions to put on 392 in 66.2 overs, beating the previous highest Gloucestershire third-wicket stand of 336, set back in 1933 by Walter Hammond and Bev Lyon.
Both hit career-best scores. Roderick made 171, off 239 balls, with 15 fours and two maximums, while Gidman hammered an unbeaten 221, from 233 deliveries, with 29 fours and three sixes.
Their partnership was only three short of Gloucestershire's record for any wicket.
Reflecting on his and Roderick's record-breaking stand, Gidman said: "I'm not that fussed about the personal milestone, but the partnership was so enjoyable. Gareth Roderick is a class player with a big future.
"One of the umpires told me about the third-wicket record so he must have looked it up during tea, but we didn't know how close we were to the Gloucestershire record for any wicket and Gareth is gutted at getting out when he did."
Glamorgan pair Chris Cooke and Graham Wagg put on crucial half-centuries to prevented Derbyshire's hard-working bowlers from having it all their own way at Cardiff.
Cooke (74) and Wagg (62) put on 97 for the seventh wicket as Glamorgan were bowled out in their first innings for 282 in 90.1 overs. Derbyshire survived the final three overs to finish on eight for nought.
For Derbyshire, who had Glamorgan 158-6 at one stage, Tony Palladino and Mark Footitt led the way with three wickets apiece.
