Thorp crushes Hampshire in style

3rd day

Murray Goodwin reaches his double hundred for Sussex at Arundel © Paul Limmer Photography

Dale Benkenstein and Callum Thorp were the Durham heroes as they hurried to a three-day 227-run win against title contenders, Hampshire, at The Rose Bowl. Chasing 332, Hampshire were reasonably placed at 71 for 1 before a horrendous collapse of 9 for 33. Thorp swept to another five-wicket haul and a career-best 11 for 97 in the match. Thorp's first wicket, John Crawley, was the one that really broke the back of Hampshire but it was Benkenstein who began the slide and he finished 3 for 16. Durham's batting had worked as a team to build the lead but Benkenstein led from front with 61 and gained support from Phil Mustard. Shane Warne has plenty to think about on his flight back to Australia.

Nottinghamshire are fighting tooth and nail to avoid the follow-on against Kent and still need another 57 despite four individual half-centuries at Canterbury. Darren Bicknell was robust at the top and Stephen Fleming more elegant in the middle with a 95-ball 51. But wickets fell steadily through the day and it needed Chris Read, with 67, to maintain any hopes of Notts getting past 450. Drop catches could cost Kent; they spilled Fleming twice and Bicknell three times. Graeme Swann and Ryan Sidebottom continued the resistance with an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 62 and Robert Key may yet regret batting on so long on the second day.

2nd day
A stand of 254 between Murray Goodwin and Chris Adams has put Sussex well in control at Arundel against Yorkshire. Following the early loss of Carl Hopkinson, it was a remorseless progression from Goodwin and Adams. Goodwin pounded the bowlers to tune of 235, his second ton of the season, with 33 fours and one six. Yorkshire's attack has struggled all season and even with Matthew Hoggard and Jason Gillespie in tandem couldn't make a major impact. Jason Gillespie broke the Goodwin-Adams domination but Craig White tried seven options without much reward. Michael Vaughan sat out the last two sessions after suffering from a hamstring strain,

For a full report on Middlesex against Lancashire at Lord's click here

3rd day
Mark Ramprakash became the first man to reach 1000 Championship runs for the season with his fourth century of the summer, allowing Surrey to build a useful lead over Glamorgan at Swansea. Surrey were in a tricky position, trailing by 62, after Robert Croft hit a season-best 72 and Glamorgan's last four wickets added 263 after beginning the fightback yesterday evening. Croft trapped Scott Newman lbw with Surrey still behind, but Ramprakash and Jon Batty added 125 and Ramprakash was still going strong at the close.

Gloucestershire are making a decent first of chasing 323 at Bristol but with Hamish Marshall out of the picture Leicestershire will still be hopeful on the final day. Kadeer Ali and Alex Gidman - who was dropped twice - are leading the hunt after David Masters took two early wickets. Leicestershire's innings fell away after a stand of 106 between HD Ackerman and Dinesh Mongia carried them 194 for 4. Martyn Ball removed Ackerman then Jon Lewis dismissed Mongia before the tail folded.

2nd day
Northamptonshire crashed under the weight of Worcestershire's huge total at Northampton after Graeme Hick had reached hundred centuries for the club at Worcester. Zaheer Khan produced another destructive spell following his nine-wicket haul against Essex. He claimed the first five before Stuart Wedge helped himself to 3 for 11 and Northants fell for an embarrassing 67 - the shortest innings of the summer off 152 balls. The start of their follow-on was no better as Khan struck again, and a massive defeat is on the cards, but at least they have passed their feeble first-innings effort.

Andy Bichel marked his Championship bow for Essex with a match-winning 6 for 38 against Derbyshire at Derby. He raced through their second innings - at one stage Derbyshire were 20 for 5 - while Darren Gough chipped in with a couple. Michael di Venuto, who was Bichel's first wicket, was repreived briefly when Rob Bailey, the umpire, changed his lbw decision after the batsman had edged the ball. The Essex openers, Varun Chopra and Mark Pettini rattled most of the way to the target - with the floodlights turned on - to give their team an extra day off. Earlier, Essex a gained a useful lead thanks to some feisty tail-end batting from Bichel and Alex Tudor after Andy Flower was removed early in the day by Steffan Jones.