County Championship leaders Surrey race to emphatic win over Kent

County Cricket

Tom Lawes’ career-best five for 22 included the wickets of England pair Zak Crawley and Sam Billings to propel LV= County Championship leaders Surrey to a 10-wicket thrashing of Kent.

Crawley fell for 34 having added just three to his overnight score before edging into the cordon, departing after Billings nicked off as the Kent captain bagged a pair at the Kia Oval.

Kent had slipped from 78 for one to 80 for four the previous evening and the writing was on the wall early on the third day as they were all out for a paltry 141 to leave Surrey needing just 58 to win.

Captain Rory Burns’ run-a-ball 36 helped them to their target in just 11.3 overs for their fourth win in six Division One matches this season – achieved with five sessions to spare.

Hampshire claimed their third win of the campaign as Liam Dawson’s six for 61 wrapped up an innings-and-135-run triumph over Northamptonshire at the Ageas Bowl.

Resuming on 50 for two in their follow-on and still needing 261 just to make their opponents bat again, Northamptonshire crumbled to a third successive innings defeat against bogey side Hampshire.

Saif Zaib, the only batter to reach double figures in Northamptonshire’s first innings of 56, registered an unbeaten 57 on Saturday as his side slid to 176 all out second time around.

Craig Overton recorded his best figures this summer to propel Somerset to their first championship win of 2023 as they crushed Middlesex by an innings and 12 runs at Lord’s.

Overton finished with five for 46, supported by fellow seamer Peter Siddle’s effort of three for 57, to dismiss the home side for 216 in their follow-on, with more than four sessions to spare.

Mark Stoneman, who occupied the crease for almost three hours in compiling 60, was the only man to register a fifty for a Middlesex side who have managed to post in excess of 250 only once this season.

Sir Alastair Cook is 13 runs away from a maiden century at Trent Bridge, where Essex nudged ahead of Nottinghamshire thanks to unbeaten half-centuries from the former England captain and Tom Westley.

Cook is 87 not out with Essex captain Tom Westley unbeaten on 70 as Essex closed on 199 for one for a 55-run lead over Nottinghamshire, who were earlier all out for 442, with Matthew Montgomery the penultimate batter to fall for a terrific 177.

In Division Two, England and Sussex will be nervously awaiting the results of a scan on Ollie Robinson’s left ankle, which restricted the seamer to just an eight-over burst against Glamorgan at Hove.

In his absence, Marnus Labuschagne, in his final innings for Glamorgan this summer, hit 138 ahead of linking up with Australia for the World Test Championship final and the Ashes.

Kiran Carlson’s 187 not out ushered Glamorgan to 499 for five and a lead of 141 at stumps.

Adam Hose and Gareth Roderick played major roles in Worcestershire achieving a three-wicket win over Leicestershire at New Road.

The odds were in the Foxes’ favour after Worcestershire lost two wickets for two runs on Friday evening on a pitch of variable bounce after being asked to chase 271 – the highest score of the game.

But Hose struck a fluent 84 and Roderick dug in for more than five hours to make an equally crucial 59 before Brett D’Oliveira, who battled away for 137 deliveries to score an unbeaten 41, and Adam Finch saw Worcestershire home.

England seamer Matthew Potts took two for 28 as Gloucestershire closed on 181 for six after being set 426 by Durham at Bristol.

Tom Lawes

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