Thursday 28 April 2016 12:16, UK
Week three in the County Championship was one dominated by the weather with the players at Chester-le-Street even having to contend with snow.
However, in between the showers, there was still time for plenty of players across the country to grab the headlines and stake their claim to be included in our County Championship team of the week.
Do you agree with our XI? Leave a comment below or tweet us @SkyCricket...
Marcus Trescothick (Somerset)
Even at the age of 40, the former England opener is still producing the goods at county level. Trescothick made 127, his 59th first class century, for Somerset as they played out a draw with Surrey at the Oval, hitting 20 fours and a six. He was unable to follow it up, falling for just 12 in the second innings but his ton in the first suggests his decision to give up the captaincy to focus on his batting might prove very wise.
Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent)
Bell-Drummond's innings got off to an unusual start as he watched from the non-striker's end as his opening partner Sean Dickson was bizarrely dismissed for handling the ball. The 22-year-old England Lions batsman was then crucial in helping Kent recover to post a first innings total of 264, having fallen to 48-4 and 105-5, putting on 107 with Adam Rouse for the sixth wicket. Despite falling cheaply in the second innings, the battling nature of Bell-Drummond's first knock sees him edge out Durham's Mark Stoneman, Gloucestershire's Chris Dent and Warwickshire's Varun Chopra, all of whom made centuries at the top of the order.
Kumar Sangakkara (Surrey)
Similarly to Trescothick, Sangakkara proved that class is permanent with a magnificent innings of 171 for Surrey at the Oval. The Sri Lankan arrived at the crease early on day one and dominated proceedings to reach his century in just 94 balls. Not content to finish there, the 38-year-old continued apace and went past 150 before eventually falling for a 176-ball 171. And if that wasn't enough, Sangakkara also made an important fifty on the final day with Surrey wobbling at 18-2 in their second innings.
Joe Clarke (Worcestershire)
Worcestershire seemed to be going well at 120-2 when Clarke arrived in the middle against Gloucestershire. However, a middle-order collapse put the away side in a spot of bother at 162-5. Clarke, 19, was tasked with getting the innings back on track and, with the help of wicketkeeper Ben Cox, he did just that. The pair put on 155 for the sixth wicket and even after Cox fell, Clarke pushed on and had scored 135, at strike rate of 77.14, of Worcestershire's 370 before becoming the ninth wicket to fall.
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
The all-rounder has to make do with batting at eight for England but back at Worcestershire, Moeen has been pushed up to No 3 and he fully justified that decision against Gloucestershire. He was in after just a single ball in the first innings as Daryl Mitchell went for a golden duck but was clearly unfazed at being called upon so early, scoring 74 in a partnership of 120 with Brett D'Oliveira. However, it was in the second innings that he really made his mark, hitting 17 fours and four maximums as he made an unbeaten 136. Honourable mentions go to Hamish Marshall of Gloucestershire and Leicestershire pair Neil Dexter and Mark Cosgrove, who all made three figures in the middle order.
Adam Rossington (Northamptonshire)
Given his side were well beaten at Chelmsford, it may be something of a surprise to see Rossington make the best XI of the week. However, had it not been for the 22-year-old wicketkeeper then it could have been far worse for Northants. Indeed, the visitors were a scarcely believable 6-4 when Rossington strode to the crease and 14-5 soon afterwards. He stuck around though and put on 61 for the sixth wicket with David Murphy before a second collapse saw Rossington left stranded on 67 not out.
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
The early weeks of the county season have long been dominated by the seam bowlers, green-tinged wickets and cloudy overhead conditions often meaning the only time a spinner can get his hands on a ball is to throw back to one of the quicks at the end of their run up. However, at Edgbaston, Rashid showed what can happen when they are given a chance as he took four Warwickshire wickets in the hosts' solitary innings. The England leg-spinner also showed his prowess with the bat, hitting 63 in Yorkshire's first innings as Jason Gillespie's side were again forced to recover from an unconvincing start.
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
In a game largely dominated by the batsmen, Woakes was the standout bowler for Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Up against a formidable Yorkshire batting line-up, the 27-year-old seamer impressed by taking 4-87, including the prize wicket of the in-form Jonny Bairstow, whom he clean bowled. He also broke the resistance of Jack Leaning and Rashid, both of whom accumulated half-centuries.
Ravi Rampaul (Surrey)
Coming on as first change, the West Indian seamer was the scourge of the Somerset middle order in their first innings, taking 5-85 including the key wickets of experienced trio Chris Rogers, James Hildreth and Peter Trego. Rampaul's wickets helped Surrey establish a first innings lead of 110 and after the batsmen had added a further 181 to that, he quickly got rid of Tom Abell as Surrey pushed for an unlikely win, recording match figures of 6-103.
Tim Groenewald (Somerset)
With Sangakkara, Jason Roy and co racing along on the first two days, Somerset were up against it. However, Groenewald was up for the challenge and not only made the Surrey batsmen work for their runs but also provided a threat. The experienced quick ended with figures of 5-94 from his 23.5 overs in the first innings and took the all-important wicket of Sangakkara to prevent the Sri Lankan inflicting further damage.
Jamie Porter (Essex)
The seamer makes our team of the week for the second week running after leading the Essex attack as they twice ripped through Northants at Chelmsford. Having picked up two early wickets as the visitors were reduced to 6-4, Porter came back to take a further three first-innings wickets as he finished with career-best figures of 5-46. The 22-year-old also made his mark in the second innings, claiming another three scalps, all top-order batsmen, to end the match with figures of 8-101 as Essex romped to victory.
