Essex’s continued hopes of winning the LV= Insurance County Championship Division One title were dealt a huge blow by Ben Sanderson’s bowling for Northamptonshire.
Essex need at least 400 but Sanderson claimed three for 15 with the wickets of Alastair Cook, Nick Browne and Dan Lawrence in a devastating nine-over spell, conceding just 14 runs.
They were 125 for four at the end of the match and still 244 runs behind, but their faint hopes still survive after Surrey’s collapse in the Ageas Bowl.
Liam Dawson claimed his fourth five-wicket haul of the season Hampshire to make Surrey suffer, but the visitors only need a draw to secure first place.
Left-arm spinner Dawson moved to 45 wickets for the season and his five for 44 left Surrey, who needed to post 300 for the title, waiting.
Joe Denly smashed an unbeaten century to help the relegation-threatened side Knows to 345 for four on day two against Lancashire at Canterbury.
Kent were chasing 327 and Ben Compton anchored their innings but fell five short of a century.
Denly then played a more flamboyant 105 not out, from 149 balls with 11 fours and a six, recording his first red-ball century of the season as Kent finished with two potentially crucial hitting points and a lead of 18.
Neil Wagner registered a career-best 72 for Somerset but the weather again played spoilsport during their meeting with Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
35 overs were lost on day one and a further 36 were wiped out on day two, which ended with Warwickshire at 112 for three in reply to the visitors’ 215.
Ryan Higgins became alone of Middlesex second player to reach a County Championship century to give the relegation-threatened side a chance of victory Nottinghamshire.
Higgins held Middlesex’s first innings together for 137 – his first hundred for the county and shared partnerships of 61 with Stevie Eskinazi (58) and 108 with Jayant Yadav (56).
Middlesex claimed three batting bonus points with 366, but Nottinghamshire responded with 92 for two, with Ben Slater on 49 not out.
Worcestershire have secured promotion back to Division One.
The Pears secured second spot in Division Two, behind champions Durham, after reaching 300 for a second batting bonus point during the early stages of a weather-interrupted second day against Yorkshire at Headingley.
Worcestershire went into this match needing a maximum of two points to seal top-level cricket for 2024 and were 280 for five on the night.
Captain Brett D’Oliveira reached a century before falling lbw to Matt Milnes to leave the score 299 for six and Worcestershire were stuck at 299 for 10 balls before Baker Milnes pushed Milnes through the covers for two at 10.55 – 25 minutes into day two – as celebrations broke out on the players’ balconies.
Durham batsman David Bedingham passed 1,000 runs for the season before teammates Ben Raine and Vishwa Fernando did the damage with the ball on day two.
On a rain-affected day, Division Two becomes champions Durham trying to secure maximum batting points declared with heavy rain on radar and Bedingham passed his milestone to go on to make 156, while Durham declared on 457 for eight at Chester-le-Street.
Bowler Raine ignored the visitors’ top four in the hour before lunch and Fernando took his first two wickets for Durham before the rain arrived at 1.45pm with Leicestershire 96 for six.
Derbyshires Luis Reece became the first batsman to be given out by a female umpire in 123 seasons of county cricket, with a total of 450 on day two Glamorgan.
Reece had reached his century but Sue Redfern raised her hand in the 100th over of Derbyshire’s first innings when he fell behind from Chris Cooke to Jamie McIlroy for 139.
Glamorgan have a big total to chase but play was cut short by poor lighting, with Zain ul-Hassan and Eddie Byrom unbeaten on 22, without loss after 11 overs.