Ben Duckett starred with 197 not out to provide the backbone to an erratic but entertaining Nottinghamshire batting display on the opening day of their Vitality County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
The England batter hit 24 fours in a 230-ball innings and received good support from Ben Slater (65) and Jack Haynes (74), but they were the only visiting batters to reach double figures in a total of 367 for eight.
Olly Hannon-Dalby took four for 58 on his 200th appearance for Warwickshire.
A dramatic opening day at the Kia Oval saw 15 wickets fall between Surrey and Hampshire, leaving the hosts trailing by 28 runs after bowlers had dominated proceedings.
Hampshire had been dismissed for 151 after being sent in first with Daniel Worrall, Jordan Clark and Gus Atkinson all claiming three wickets each.
Surrey then slumped to 44 for four in reply before captain Rory Burns (39 not out) and Ryan Patel (41) hit back to help the champions reach 123 for five. Hampshire fast bowler Kyle Abbott reached 600 first-class wickets when he trapped Dan Lawrence lbw.
Colin Ackermann scored his maiden Durham century to help his side reach 358 all out against Division One pacesetters Essex.
The former Leicestershire captain struck 112 before being dismissed by Sam Cook and Durham were helped by 90 from Ollie Robinson and 52 from David Bedingham.
Cook claimed three for 60 and Jamie Porter three for 57 before captain Cook – opening the batting – and Dean Elgar saw out the last two overs of the day as Essex finished on five without loss.
Tom Banton kept Somerset’s innings together with 92 runs from 140 balls against Worcestershire at Kidderminster.
Jason Holder had threatened to put Worcestershire in a position of strength after the West Indies all-rounder produced a devastating spell to dismiss Andrew Umeed, James Rew and Lewis Gregory in the space of 12 deliveries immediately before tea, reducing Somerset to 181 for six.
Banton ensured there was no complete collapse with 92 before being run out and Migael Pretorius’ late cameo of 49 helped Somerset recover as they declared on 309 for nine. Worcestershire reached 14 without loss in reply.
In Division Two, England duo Joe Root and Harry Brook shared an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 71 as Yorkshire closed their opening day on 276 for three against Derbyshire.
Adam Lyth laid the foundations with with 97 at the top of order and the pair built on his work after coming together at 205 for three, with Root unbeaten on 65 and Brook on 44 before bad light and rain intervened.
Gloucestershire seamer Marchant de Lange snapped up his 350th first-class wicket as he took six for 49 to help bowl Middlesex out for 203 at Bristol.
The South African ripped through the Middlesex batting order, with Josh De Caires (37) and former Gloucestershire all-rounder Ryan Higgins (30) top-scoring for the visitors.
Bad light ended play 6.2 overs early with Gloucestershire on 82 for three.
Emilio Gay (88), George Bartlett (71 not out) and captain Luke Procter (64) scored half-centuries as Northamptonshire made 337 for six against Leicestershire.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here