Warwickshire one win from County Championship title as Hampshire relegated
Warwickshire reach brink of title after Essex fightback
Points won in April count the same as points secured in September, but it does not feel like that. After winning just two of their first eight games of the season, Warwickshire have put together a run of four wins from five matches and now sit 11 points clear at the top of Division One. Win their last match of the season, at home to Leicestershire, and they are champions.
Warwickshire's trip to Essex had looked like a tricky fixture and it still did at the end the first day. Nineteen wickets fell, with Ethan Bamber taking six of them. The next morning, Oliver Hannon-Dalby batted for nearly an hour with Sam Hain, whose 88 not out secured Warwickshire a lead of 57 – which is as good as 157 on a midsummer track to the title hunters. Over to Manav Suthar, who bowled out the home side, eight batters getting starts but only Paul Walter's 42 passing 30.
Hampshire condemned to Division Two
Leicestershire were penalised 27 points by pitch inspectors halfway through this round of matches after a Bollywood film set damaged the Grace Road square in mid-August. To their immense credit, the Leicestershire players got on with their jobs with the necessary competence and urgency and won their crucial relegation battle against Hampshire. Ian Holland's nine wickets proved the difference between the sides. Rehan Ahmed and Nick Kelly did the heavy lifting before Ben Cox finished the chase with 75 not out.
The defeat means that Hampshire will play in Division Two for the first time since 2014. They cycled through 21 players to find the support for Kyle Abbott, the top wicket-taker in the division. The loss of Liam Dawson's runs and wickets have been particularly keenly felt.
Dom Bess haunts former club as Yorkshire sink Somerset
Somerset ran into two cliches at once in their match against Yorkshire: the curse of being eternal runners-up and coming up against a former player who bites the hand that once fed him. On a Headingley pitch that offered a bit to the seamers, there wasn't much between the sides until the home side's middle order rolled over to leave Yorkshire just 65 ahead with four second-innings wickets in hand. That sent ex-Somerset player Dom Bess out to join fellow all-rounder George Hill. They were not parted for 56 overs, stretching the lead so far that the eventual target of 287 was dispiritingly distant. Somerset lost seven wickets for 26 runs on the fourth morning, giving Ben Cliff match figures of 11-105, backed up by Ben Coad's 5/57.
By the time the rain came in late afternoon, Yorkshire had banished any fears of relegation and Somerset were contemplating their title chances being out of their hands on what must have been a very long journey home.
Sussex hammer champions Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire know what it takes to get over the line and hoist the pennant, but they were hammered by Sussex at the County Ground. Sussex have won more matches this season than the reigning champions. Ari Karvelas was due to take up a teaching job at Solihull School, but sacked that off to play cricket. He took his first five-wicket haul for Sussex, knocking over Notts' top four with the first-innings deficit not even erased. There were also seven wickets for Jaydev Unadkat, part of an influx of quality Indian bowlers brought in by counties after the IPL's conclusion.
Kent edge Northamptonshire in promotion race
Kent and Northamptonshire are still slugging it out for the second promotion slot behind Durham. Kent beat Lancashire, so Northants were under pressure to get a result against a spirited Derbyshire side. Wayne Madsen rolled back the years with 151 and Ben Aitchison showed that Lancastrians can actually bat, making 106 from No 8. Nobody really got going for Luke Procter's men against the canny medium pace of Brett Randell, Luis Reece and Nick Potts, and Northants had to fight tooth and nail to keep the first innings deficit to 62.
Ricardo Vasconcelos made 132 opening, but whenever Northants looked like getting away, Mohammad Abbas or Randell would take a wicket and the momentum swung back to the fielding side. George Bartlett was going well and, with plenty of time and four wickets in hand, the finishing line was in sight, just 23 runs away, when the umpires squinted at the light meters and took the players off. They didn't return. The draw puts Northants four points behind Kent in third place.