Bell, Hutton at the Double

Ian Bell and Ben Hutton both scored their second centuries of their respective matches, as 3 of the four CC games have just one day to play.

The talented Warwickshire number 3 finished the day unbeaten on 103, following his 112 in the first innings, but his wasn't the most exciting innings on show, as Glenn Chapple blasted 112 from 90 balls (reaching his ton in only 82) and along with Chris Schofield (who fell 1 short of a maiden First Class Century) guided his side to maximum batting points.

However, when Brad Hogg dismissed Chapple, the home side collapsed to lose their last 4 wickets for 3 runs and end up just 2 runs ahead of the leaders.

Warwickshire lost 2 wickets soon into their innings, but Jonathon Trott and Bell added 118 to steady the innings. Gary Keedy removed Trott late on, and the decision to not employ a nightwatchman backfired as he then dismissed Michael Powell for a duck for the second time in the game to leave the match evenly poised going into the last day.

Warwickshire 410
Brown 162, Bell 112, Wagh 41, Keedy 5-109
Lancashire 412
Chapple 112, Schofield 99, Sutcliffe 72, Loye 44, Hogg 4-107, Wagh 3-86
Warwickshire 191-4
Bell 103*, Trott 41, Keedy 3-49



Gloucester are possibly the closest challengers to Warwickshire with their game in hand, but they experienced a terrible day and have completely lost the strong grip that they had on Worcestershire at the start of the day.

Kabir Ali led the visitors attack in style, as only Mike Hussey passed 30 against some very tight bowling. In the end, the home side subsided to 189 all out to leave a target of 361 for an unexpected win.

Stephen Peters fell to James Franklin early on, but Stephen Moore and Graeme Hick steadied the ship, and have so far added 91 without being broken to leave their side with a very real prospect of winning the game.

Gloucestershire 445
Taylor 103, Alleyne 77, Fisher 45, Batty 4-82
Worcestershire 274
Smith 56, Lewis 5-38
Gloucestershire 189
Hussey 68, Ali 4-33
Worcestershire 100-1
Moore 46*, Hick 46*



The third game that ends tomorrow sees 2nd place Kent chasing an unlikely 530 to beat Middlesex.

The home side lost some early wickets from the overnight position of 162-0, but Ben Hutton completed his second century and Paul Weekes contributed a rapid half century to allow a declaration which allowed them over 4 sessions to kill the game off.

When Simon Cook picked up Michael Carberry and Ed Smith in rapid succession, it was possible the game would be over tonight, but Michael Bevan joined his captain David Fulton, and they have been together for almost 3 hours so far, but 393 more runs against an attack including Glenn McGrath is unlikely.

Middlesex 351
Hutton 100, Shah 60, Weekes 45, Loudon 5-53
Kent 192
Smith 63, Walker 50*, McGrath 4-59, Cook 3-33
Middlesex 370-8
Hutton 107, Koenig 86, Weekes 54, Patel 4-94
Kent 137-2
Fulton 63*, Bevan 52*, Cook 2-20



Finally one game is only 2 days in, the relegation battle at Northampton.

Jason Brown wasted no time in wrapping up the Surrey innings - as the last 4 wickets went down for 20 runs and Brown took his first 5 wicket haul of a very disappointing season.

In reply, 3 of the home men have reached 50, but the top score is only 57 as Nayan Doshi kept chipping away at the batsmen.

Brown provided useful support to his captain David Sales at the end of the day, as they have added an unbroken 42 for the 10th wicket, and in the process picked up a vital 3rd batting point, every point being crucial to try and avoid the drop.

Surrey 402
Ramprakash 161, Hollioake 76, Batty 61, Brown 5-113
Northamptonshire 304-9
Roberts 57, Love 51, Sales 50*, Doshi 4-87

Posted by Marc