Around the Grounds - Plays of the Day

Division One:

Ben Stokes followed up his impressive first innings hundred with a quickfire 42 from 22 balls to hurry Durham to victory over Kent by six wickets. Definitely one for the future, and probably not the too distant future!

One of the finest Kolpak pick-ups of the winter was in my opinion Neil Mackenzie who proved his considerable worth by edging Hampshire over the line against Notts yesterday. His excellent unbeaten 115 from 228 balls saw Hampshire to victory by two wickets.

Unquestionably the innings of the day from James Hildreth in Somerset's game with Yorkshire. A fixture between these two last season saw Peter Trego hit a rapid hundred to take Somerset home, and this time James Hildreth hit a brilliant 102 from 70 balls to win the match. He might be back in the selectors minds if he can continue that kind of form. Joss Buttler also warrants a mention, continuing his rich vein of form by hitting 31 from just 17 balls alongside Hildreth at the end.

Jonathan Trott couldn't single-handedly hold off Lancashire, his excellent 150 from 282 balls was ultimately in vain, but nonetheless a timely return to form with the international summer about to start (the same cannot be said of his Warwickshire colleague Ian Bell) Jimmy Anderson did picked up two scalps and got 26 overs under his belt ahead of the first test with Bangladesh next week. Glenn Chapple took four second innings wickets to give him impressive match figures of 9-96 - denied a ten wicket haul by Saj Mahmood who took the wicket of Trott, the last man to fall.

Division Two:

Sussex ran Northants close but a very patient 51 from 127 balls from Alex Wakely ensured Northants reached their victory target of 171, though he did get out with 10 runs still required! The wickets were shared round the Sussex bowlers in a very egalitarian fashion.

Glamorgan completed a second consecutive innings victory for the first time since 1948, dismissing Gloucester for 162, Rob Croft taking 2-51 and in the process becoming Glamorgan's fourth highest wicket taker in their history, he's now just 8 wickets short of 1,000 for the club.

Mark Ramprakash completed twin hundreds as Surrey declared on 207-3 setting Middlesex 370-odd to win. Andrew Strauss hit his second fifty of the match in the reply but a draw was always on the cards.

After his 92 in the first innings, Phil Jaques went two better with 94 off just 57 balls in the second innings to see Worcestershire to a comfortable victory against Derbyshire by 8 wickets. After a disastrous start to the season Worcestershire fans will be hoping that Jaques is now back in form - it looks a lot like he is! Some pretty horrible bowling figures for Derbyshire in that innings too, Tom Lungley's three overs of medium pace went for 29 runs.