Durham clinched the LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two title after bowling out Worcestershire shortly before the close of a rain-affected third day at New Road.
With promotion already secured last week without bowling a ball when Leicestershire failed to get a batting point against Sussex, Durham required a maximum of five points to clinch top spot.
The three secured for dismissing Worcestershire for 313, plus the ones dropped by the home side for batting, ensured Durham finished in pole position to be back in Division One for the first time since 2016, when they were relegated over financial issues.
Ben Raine and Bas de Leede finished with three wickets each, while captain Brett D’Oliveira was Worcestershire’s top scorer with 63 off 75 balls.
At the Kia Oval, Ben Foakes and Jamie Overton led a fightback from Division One leaders Surrey against bottom-of-the table Northamptonshire on another rain-affected day.
Title rivals Essex had cut into Surrey’s 18-point lead by taking two more bonus points against Hampshire.
Northamptonshire – who will be relegated if either Middlesex or Kent win – put the pressure on as they reduced Surrey to 79 for six before a spirited response from Foakes and Overton, who made an unbeaten half-century, helped move them on to 158 when bad light and rain ended play early.
Surrey still trail by 199, but a draw still looks the most likely outcome heading into the final day’s play.
At Chelmsford, Hampshire batter Tom Prest scored his maiden Championship century to frustrate title hopefuls Essex despite a five-wicket haul for Simon Harmer.
Prest scored an unbeaten 102 to guide Hampshire past the follow-on score with vital contributions from openers Toby Albert (39), Fletcha Middleton (47), James Vince (46) and Keith Barker (42).
South African Harmer claimed five for 143, but Hampshire ended the day on 322 for eight, now 125 runs adrift and with potential to set up a result on the final day.
Somerset’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore celebrated his England call-up with a savage assault on Kent’s injury-hit bowling attack on day three at Taunton.
Kohler-Cadmore – set to feature in the one-day international series against Ireland – hit eight sixes in a rapid 68 as the hosts extended their first-innings total to 404 for four before rain washed out the last two sessions.
Lewis Goldsworthy marked his first Championship appearance of the season with 122 and Andy Umeed contributed 49 as Somerset increased the pressure on relegation-threatened Kent, who have secured just one bonus point, before play was eventually abandoned at 4.50pm.
At Lord’s, another half-century from Sam Robson helped keep alive relegation-battlers Middlesex’s hopes of a draw on a truncated day three against Warwickshire.
Former England opener Robson made 51 not out as the hosts reached 96 for one in their second innings, still 98 short of making Warwickshire bat again.
Earlier, Will Rhodes completed his ninth first-class hundred, but Danny Briggs fell one short as Warwickshire made a first innings total of 315. Tim Murtagh, in his final game at Lord’s, finished with six for 83.
Lancashire made 225 for six against Nottinghamshire on a rain-shortened day at Emirates Old Trafford in a game steadily heading towards a draw having already lost two days to the weather.
Steven Croft top-scored for the hosts with 45, while Matty Hurst, 20, made an assured unbeaten 35 on debut after openers Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells had posted 84 for the first wicket.
Stephen Mullaney and Asitha Fernando both claimed two wickets apiece for the visitors.
Elsewhere in Division Two, Harry Swindells kept alive Leicestershire’s promotion hopes, top-scoring with 73 in his first appearance of the year in the Foxes’ red-ball team, against Yorkshire at Grace Road.
Swindells, who scored an unbeaten 117 in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup final win over Hampshire, shared a 10th-wicket partnership of 93 with Will Davis (44 not out) as the hosts recovered from 140 for nine to reach 233, a first-innings lead of 78.
In reply, Yorkshire closed 35 runs in front on 113 for one with opener Adam Lyth 51 not out.
Brooke Guest marked his 100th appearance as a wicketkeeper for Derbyshire by taking seven catches against Sussex to equal the county’s record dismissals in an innings.
Sam Conners and Zak Chappell both took four wickets as Sussex were dismissed for 100 before the home side closed on 94 for one, with Luis Reece unbeaten on 50.
Marsh named captain in Australia's T20 World Cup squad as Smith and Fraser-McGurk miss out
Mitchell Marsh will captain Australia at next month's T20 World Cup, but Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk have been left out of the 15-man squad.
Marsh, who has shared the duties on an interim basis since Aaron Finch's retirement, was named the Baggy Greens' permanent T20 skipper on Wednesday.
Test captain Pat Cummins, fast bowler Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell have also been named in the squad, which features 11 of the players that were part of the team that won this tournament in 2021.
However, there is no place for former skipper Smith following a difficult spell of form, while Fraser-McGurk is also absent despite his impressive form in the Indian Premier League.
"This is an experienced squad with extensive World Cup experience that offers a variety of structures and covers the scenarios the panel believes will factor in the West Indies with the unique nature of the venues and our opponents," selection chief George Bailey said.
"Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly.
"Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover.
"Ultimately, the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign."
"It's been an immense privilege to play for my country and now an even greater honour to lead the squad to a World Cup," Marsh added.
"We have had some strong success in recent times, and I am hopeful that will continue in what looks like a wide-open tournament."
Australia will begin their tournament against Oman on June 5, while they will also play England, Scotland and Namibia in Group B.
Australia's provisional squad:
Mitchell Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Johnson Charles' unbeaten ton powers Windies A to 76-run victory over Nepal
In a dazzling display of power hitting, Johnson Charles led the charge for West Indies A with a spectacular unbeaten 119 from just 61 balls, guiding his team to a commanding 76-run victory over Nepal and taking a 2-1 lead in the T20 series in Kirtipur.
Charles's explosive innings included 13 fours and seven sixes as he anchored the West Indies A innings, propelling them to a formidable total of 227-3 against the hosts. His half-century came in a blistering 24 balls, setting the stage for a dominant performance. Charles formed a crucial second-wicket partnership of 145 runs with Andre Fletcher (53), after Alick Athanaze was run out for 17.
Fletcher's innings featured four fours and three sixes before he departed in the 16th over. Contributions from Fabian Allen (19 from nine balls) and Keemo Paul (13 from seven) further bolstered the West Indies A total, which marked the highest score by the tourists in the series so far.
In response, Nepal faced an uphill battle chasing more than 11 runs per over for victory and struggled under scoreboard pressure, losing wickets at regular intervals. Opener Lokesh Bam and Karan both managed 28 runs, while Kushal Malla contributed 20. However, Nepal ultimately collapsed to 151 all out in 19.2 overs.
Hayden Walsh Jr led the bowling attack for West Indies A with impressive figures of 3-28, while Gudakesh Motie provided valuable support with 2-28. Fabian Allen, Matthew Forde, and Obed McCoy also chipped in with a wicket each as the West Indies comfortably secured a pivotal series lead.
Johnson Charles' heroic innings and the collective effort from the West Indies A bowlers have positioned the team favorably as they head towards the remaining matches of the series, aiming to clinch the series victory against Nepal.
Imlach puts Harpy Eagles’ West Indies Championship success down to togetherness- “We had different players stand up at different times”
Togetherness was the main reason for the Guyana Harpy Eagles successful defence of their West Indies Championship title according to skipper Tevin Imlach.
The Harpy Eagles recovered from a draw and a loss in their first two games to win their final five games on their way to winning their second straight title.
“We had different players stand up at different times which is very important,” Imlach said in an appearance on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday.
“You never want to rely on one or two players. We have a lot of depth in our batting and we have three very good spinners that would’ve played for the West Indies already in Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair,” Imlach added.
Sinclair and Imlach finished third and sixth on the top run scorers list with 508 and 485 runs, respectively.
Sinclair made one hundred and two fifties and finished with an average of 63.50 in his seven games while Imlach, who missed the first two rounds of the tournament while on West Indies duty, made two hundreds and three fifties in his five games and finished with an average of 53.88.
The Harpy Eagles also had two more batsmen cross the 300-run mark in Kevlon Anderson (332) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (323). Kemol Savory narrowly missed out on joining this club after finishing with 289. Chanderpaul and Savory also both scored a century, each, this season.
It was also a collective effort with the ball for the champions. Permaul led the way with 29 wickets in seven games followed by pacer Nial Smith who finished with 20 wickets from four matches.
Motie and Isai Thorne followed with 19 wickets from five and six matches, respectively, while Kevin Sinclair took 13 wickets in seven games and Ronaldo Alimohamed took 12 wickets in six outings.
This season was also Imlach’s first captaining the Harpy Eagles in the four-day format after taking over from the retired Leon Johnson who led Guyana to six regional four-day titles.
“It was challenging,” Imlach said about filling Johnson’s shoes.
“Big shoes to fill obviously with Leon Johnson retiring but it was good. It is much different when you play with these guys and when you’re in a leadership position because you have to be the one making the calls that they may not necessarily always like. These players want the ball in their hands at all times and want to make a difference so sometimes it is difficult. It’s a good learning experience. I’m learning about them and they’re learning about me as well,” he added.
Imlach was also a member of the West Indies Test squad to Australia in December last year. He said that despite not getting a game, he took some things from his net sessions down under into this first-class season.
“It was very good. It was different to what we are accustomed to in the Caribbean. The pitches are a lot bouncier and the ball tends to seam around a bit more. I didn’t manage to play in the games but I spent some time in the nets and it was good. It was fruitful. I learned a lot that I took into this season,” he said.
Imlach's next assignment could be as part of the regional side to take on England in three Tests from July 10-30.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
