County Championship Division One: Essex flatten Lancashire
- James Richardson
- 22 May 2022
Essex wrapped up a big victory over Lancashire early on the fourth day of their County Championship Division One match to close the gap to their opponents on the standings after six rounds.
It didn't take long for Essex to wrap up victory over Lancashire on the fourth morning of their County Championship Division One match.
Jamie Porter claimed the final wicket after a brief extension to Lancashire's third day resistance.
James Anderson carved out another First Class not out, making 5 off 22 balls before partner Luke Wood prodded at a decent seed from Porter to bring proceedings to a close.
The win moves Essex up to fifth after results elsewhere are taken into account and Lancashire are fourth losing ground on the leading teams.
Surrey and Hampshire completed victories on day three in this round with two points separating them at the top of the table.
Essex 391 (Lawrence 120, Browne 71; Bailey 3-61) beat Lancashire 103 (Cook 4-18) and 232 (Vilas 62; Harmer 5-89).
Warwickshire hold on for a draw in Leeds
Warwickshire produced a solid final day batting effort to salvage a draw from a match where they found themselves behind the game for much of the encounter.
Will Rhodes and Sam Hain came to the party for the Bears, whose hopes of defending their County Championship Division One title are now on the rocks.
Hain and skipper Rhodes shared a 227 run inside 104 overs for the fourth wicket before being dismissed for 109 and 111, respectively.
Warwickshire are sixth on the table and while they are some way from being in danger of relegation, their title defence certainly hasn't gone to plan.
Yorkshire stay third and remain unbeaten but will be frustrated by their fifth draw in six matches.
Warwickshire 244 (Burgess 96) and 252 for 3 (Rhodes, 111, Hain 109) drew with Yorkshire 449 (Lyth 145, Brook 82, Revis 53*)
Kent and Northamptonshire grind to a stalemate
On a less sporting wicket, Kent and Northamptonshire could only grind away to another draw.
Zak Crawley notched a second half century of the match but fell 16 runs short of a hundred.
Crawley's 149-run opening stand with Ben Compton went a long way towards convincing Northants to accept the draw.
Kent 519 for 9 declared (Compton 140, Bell-Drummond 83, Crawley 62, Leaning 62, Stewart 61) and 170 for 1 (Crawley 84, Compton 68*) drew with Northamptonshire 430 (Procter 76, Vasconcelos 71, McManus 58*)
