CC2 9-12 July

Northants spinner Jason Brown achieved career best figures of 7-69 as his side beat Durham by eight wickets. Phil Jaques also performed, scoring a first innings century and then 82 to assist in Northants fourth successive Championship victory, making them look contenders for promotion. Shoaib Akhtar was fiery for Durham, however after his opening spell, their bowling attack lacked the penetration required.

At Derby, Jonty Rhodes took Gloucestershire to the target of 169 with an unbeaten 62. Although Derbyshire fought back in their second innings with 356, including 148 from Michael Di Venuto, their dismal performance in the first innings, when they were skittled out for just 89 proved to be their downfall. Craig Spearman also scored runs, hitting 85 in Gloucestershire's first reply of 277.

A century from Somerset captain Michael Burns was not enough to prevent his side going down by 110 runs at Sophia Gardens against Glamorgan. Robert Croft and Matthew Maynard also hit centuries, leaving Somerset needing 424 to win, however nobody supported his effort and when he was out Somerset were still more than 150 runs behind, making victory seemingly impossible.

Posted by Kelvin