Joe Clarke and Will Young put on an unbeaten 392-run third-wicket stand in Nottinghamshire's drawn match at Somerset; Warwickshire's match with Hampshire also drawn after rain; Surrey wrapped up victory at Kent during the afternoon session on the final day in Canterbury
Tuesday 23 April 2024 16:20, UK
Surrey secured their first victory of the Vitality County Championship Division One season after beating Kent by an innings and 37 runs at Canterbury.
The reigning champions dismissed the hosts for 262 in their second innings, with Dan Worrall taking 4-41 and Cameron Steel 3-38, with Steel remaining the leading wicket-taker in the country this season with 20 after three matches.
Joey Evison made 53 and Matt Parkinson hit his highest first-class score of 39 but, after a dogged display saw them through the morning session, Kent subsided midway through the afternoon.
The hosts were 120-5 overnight, still 179 runs in arrears, and their slim hopes were dealt a near-fatal blow when Ben Compton was caught behind off Worrall in the fifth over of the morning for 17.
Parkinson - promoted up the order to No 8 - had spent the winter working on his batting as part of a concerted effort to shore up Kent's lower order and, although there were a few alarms by lunch, the hosts reached 203-6 and the impossible now seemed merely improbable.
Evison fell in the afternoon's third over, having cut Tom Lawes for fours off successive boundaries to reach his half-century before edging him behind. George Garrett was lbw to Steel for five, then Jas Singh went for a duck when Jamie Smith took a brilliant catch at short leg off the same bowler.
No 11 Arafat Bhuiyan had some fun with the new ball, flicking three consecutive balls from Kemar Roach for a six and two fours on his way to his highest championship score of 22 not out, before an emphatic victory was sealed when Smith took another exceptional close catch to snare Parkinson (39) off Roach.
Elsewhere, Joe Clarke and Will Young were denied the chance of a 400-run partnership when heavy rain saw only nine overs possible during the final day of Nottinghamshire's match with Somerset at Taunton.
Having already broken a Nottinghamshire record for a third-wicket stand, Clarke (213no) and Young (174no) added 22 runs on Monday to take the total to 440-2 and extend their partnership to 392 before the rain set in.
Rob Yates' unbeaten 84 made sure all of Warwickshire's top three averaged over 100 after the first three Vitality County Championship fixtures but it could not prevent an inevitable draw with Hampshire.
Yates, opening partner Alex Davies and No 3 Will Rhodes are three of the top four run-scorers in Division One so far this season with averages of 123, 120 and 116 respectively. All three attempted to up the run-rate in a bid to force a result at the Utilita Bowl but, eventually, rain won the day and the points were shared.
In Division Two, Leicestershire's hopes of pushing for victory on the final day of their match against Derbyshire were ruined by the weather. Derbyshire were still 183 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat on 224-6, but heavy rain throughout the morning left large pools of surface water on the outfield and left the match drawn.
Northamptonshire needed to take seven wickets on Monday after reducing Glamorgan to 104-3 on Sunday, the visitors still trailing by 230 runs after the hosts had posted a mammoth 605-6 in their first innings before declaring, but heavy overnight rain and constant drizzle throughout the morning prevented play from resuming.
Sussex overcame stubborn Gloucestershire resistance to squeeze home by four wickets.
Chasing 144 to win in 49 overs, they still needed 29 when left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar picked up his fifth wicket but the nerveless Cheteshwar Pujara guided Sussex to victory with an unbeaten 44.
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