Durham finish off Gloucestershire; Essex v Surrey, and more: county cricket, day four – live

Surely, surely, Lancs can see this one out.

Restarting in some light drizzle, Warwicks need 13 to avoid the follow on.

A post-tea wicket at Hove too, a nasty ball from Pretorius to Dan Hughes, caught by a listing Abell at second slip. Sussex 26-1, need 277.

At Edgbaston and Sophia Gardens.

Sam Cook with the breakthrough! Lawes falls to his first ball after tea – the end of a match-saving (?) 101-ball partnership. An aggressive advance – bowled.

Mark Church seems to think there might be a declaration imminent at Chelmsford, with Foakes 92, Lawes 44 not out, and Surrey leading by 151. Time for a cup of tea, back shortly.

Division One

Chelmsford: Essex 279 v Surrey 183 and 247-7

Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 161 and 21-3 v Hampshire 162 and 300-8dec

Hove: Sussex 250 and 20-0 v Somerset 202 and 350-9dec

Edgbaston: Warwickshire 163-8 v Nottinghamshire 325-8

Scarborough: Yorkshire 263 DRAW with Leicestershire 84-0

Division Two

Derby: Derbyshire 131 and 108-3 v Middlesex innings forfeited

Chester-le-Street: Durham 384 and 4-0 BEAT Gloucestershire 137 and 250 by ten wickets

Northampton: Northamptonshire 351-4 v Kent 345

New Road: Worcestershire 207-6 v Lancashire 180

Valuable batting points here for Northants, with power to add. Currently 331-3 from 73 overs.

Thompson's stumps skittled! Five for 49 for Stone, Warwicks 147-8. And this follows 10-94 against Surrey last week. He looks strong as an ox too.

Weather permitting, some last-gasp fun possible. Sussex have 44 overs to make 303.

Jamie Porter polishes and polishes.

A satisfying cloud of Chelmsford dust as Harmer crouches down at the end of his over. The soon-to-arrive new ball is Essex's one hope.

Al Davies has a flat footed drive at Stone with inevitable results. Stone 4-31.

Glamorgan rescued from 21-3.

Worcestershire 191-5 have an 11-run lead over Lancs; Balderson 3-48.

It is sunny and blustery at Edgbaston, where Olly Stone (3-30) is 16-pacing in on a ruler straight line. He paws the surface near his point of release to flatten something down. Warwickshire survive an over.

Incidentally, is anyone else having problems with NVPlay? I can't get any of the replays to work.

I think Surrey are going to escape here – the lead 105 and Foakes looking like an immovable Victorian grand piano.

At Hove, Somerset are now six down, the lead 250. James Rew (14) and Lewis Gregory (2) searching for the adhesive. A couple of wickets each for Hunt and Evison.

Meanwhile at Chelmsford, Simon Harmer is back into the attack.

A chaotic few hours for Warwickshire who are now 92-6. Only Mousley has reached 20. Stones three wickets have been complemented with a wicket each from Martindale and Pennington and the run-out of Jani. They still trail Notts by 233.

Glamorgan, you are spoiling us. A second for Kyle Abbot, Carlson's off stump scrumped. Glamorgan 14-3.

Brought up wiht a delightful shot off Akhter. Fifty from 121 balls and some excellent stonewalling. Surrey 169-7, the lead up to 73.

The Crane experiment is over, flaying prettily to third slip. Glamorgan 8-2. A wicket for Eddie Jack.

Apologies to Vasconcelos whose century I missed earlier and has now been lbw to Ekash Singh for 119. A third wicket for Kent in this battle for bonus points. Northants 235-3 and there they will remain for a while as it is raining again.

A wicket at Chelmsford! Zaman Akhter sends Adam Thomas on his way, a swashbuckling pull top edged to the keeper. Surrey are seven down, but Foakes remains.

The Glamorgan opening double act hungry for runs is Asa Tribe and Mason Crane, but Kyle Abbott has other ideas. Tribe, who started the season in the England conversation, is finishing it in a lower key. lbw for a duck.

The fifty partnership comes and goes between Foakes and Thomas. Surrey are six down but the lead has inched up to 47. At slip, Harmer has his hands on his hips.

Durham's head of cricket Ryan Campbell after the win against Gloucestershire. “I guess it's a bit ironic that they opened the bowling with a spinner this morning, but these things happen. We don't worry about the opposition. We do things our way, and it was delayed, but same result.

“One of the things that we spoke about at length in the off-season was we had become a bit too reliant on too few individuals.

“It's either Alex Lee's making a hundred, or David Beddingham in the past, or it has to be Ben Raine to take all the wickets. We've asked our players that everyone needs to step up, and that's hard, of course, when you're throwing in Ben Stokes, who's retired from Test Cricket and is in your line-up, but we don't want to be reliant on him either. I think it's been pretty cool the way everyone's stood up.â€

Division One

Chelmsford: Essex 279 v Surrey 183 and 132-6

Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 161 v Hampshire 162 and 300-8dec

Hove: Sussex 250 v Somerset 202 and 250-3

Edgbaston: Warwickshire 64-4 v Nottinghamshire 325-8

Scarborough: Yorkshire 263 DRAW with Leicestershire 84-0

Division Two

Derby: Derbyshire 131 and 19-1 v Middlesex innings forfeited

Chester-le-Street: Durham 384 and 4-0 BEAT Gloucestershire 137 and 250 by ten wickets

Northampton: Northamptonshire 223-2 v Kent 345

New Road: Worcestershire 90-3v Lancashire 180

Surrey are throwing everything at the wall in an effort to stop relelgation. Indian seamer Nabi will make his debut against Yorkshire next week, followed by games against Sussex and Glamorgan. Meanwhile Foakes (33) and Thomas (18) look likely to take Surrey safely to lunch at Chelmsford, the lead 29.

And after being bowled out for 131 (Sharma 4-36, Helm 3-39), Derbyshire are now 6-1 in the second. Came lbw TRJ for five.

Olly Stone might be bowling himself onto the winter tour boat, if only our bowling stocks weren't looking suddenly healthy. After last week's triumph, he's got Warwicks three down already.

A wet outfield kills the match.

Scarborough: Yorkshire 263 DRAW with Leicestershire 84-0

Yorkshire 9 points, Leicestershire 11 points

Another wicket at Chelmsford, Mahipal Lomror for a 37 ball 11. Not Harmer, into over 22, but Porter. Surrey, 99-6, lead by 3, and Foakes is still there.

It's getting interesting at Sophia Gardens, where Hampshire's lead is already a sizeabe 199. Albert still there on 54.

My morning missive from Tim Maitland has arrived!

Maybe because it's been a grey, rainy Sunday here in Hong Kong, but what grey matter I have left has been dwelling on what the future will look like for “our†cricket, which really boils down to where the T20 franchise model will take us and how the county game can adapt and survive.

“Given that Indiawin Sports, for instance, have rapidly added MI London, MI Emirates, MI New York and MI Cape Town to the Mumbai Indians IPL stable and, as one example, Nicholas Pooran, once of the West Indies plays for the first three sides, you could argue that the era of IPL owners contracting players to represent their franchises all year round is already upon us. In Indiawin's case, a Caribbean Premier League team and a side in the Big Bash (where Cricket Australia is in the business of sliding through the backdoor into the realm of franchises) and their buying power can become irresistible.

“You might argue that this won't affect the county game that much because the corporations with multiple T20 ownership are just replacing the ECB's model of central contracts in taking control of the star players out of the hands of the counties, but the increased competition for more players to play more cricket more of the time across more of the globe is going to leave the more impoverished teams and competitions with less quality to choose from.

“Could the tipping point come when the value of holding the rights to such players, assuming that the rules of the various T20 drafts are watered down enough to allow it, reach such a level that the T20 franchises start investing in talent production too?

“The structure of the Hundred season and the gaping hole in England's test match schedule already prove that the test game is making way from franchise cricket. Ironically, the further the game falls out of the control of the old establishment (The ECB etc) and into the hands of the franchises, county cricket (be it Blast, One Day or Championship) might actually be better able to use the calendar… the only question is, will future generations as they age actually WANT to watch the longer game the way we do?

“The most obvious concern, given how rapidly that Yorkshire, for one, sold their stake in what was the Northern Superchargers, is how long before a cash-strapped county makes the fatal error of taking the short-term cash injection and sells their main ground to their franchise owner, becoming a mere tenant? As we've seen with Middlesex CCC, without the bedrock of a self-owned central venue the foundations on which a sports side is built can become very shaky very quickly.

“Perhaps I'm just in a gloomy mood, but at best, it's hard not to envision a world where this bright shiny new game of T20 dominates (wait until they unlock the kind of money Olympic status brings directly and indirectly) and the old game creaks along, far in the background, in sepia tones, ignored by most and loved by few.â€

Thanks for cheering us all up Tim. All of that, but I cling to the hope that players might actually like playing county cricket, it gives them a identity, a base and a team spirit that isn't there in more flighty competitions.

I enjoyed these quotes from Dean Elgar, who is calling it a day at the end of the season. Elgar was brought in by Essex for the 2024 season to replace the retiring Alastair Cook at the top of the order, and scored 1,000 runs in the first year, 725 last year and over 500 this year.

“The retirement has been a long time coming. In all fairness, since my twins were born, it kind of puts things in perspective. It's not about me anymore. Being a professional cricketer for so long you become quite selfish in a way and I'm not a selfish person. But from a career point of view you do become that.

“You have no idea how I feel about my batting at the moment. Today was a disgusting hundred… I went home for seven weeks and I only picked [my bat] up when I got back to the UK. You kind of lose your technique and your reactions aren't as fine-tuned as they are when you're younger.â€

Harmer with the breakthrough on a corn-coloured Chelmsford track. Blake plays a stylish looking cut but only shimmies the ball to the keeper. Surrey 73-5 still trail by 23.

Joe Clarke edges to second slip on 150 and Notts immediately declare. Yates and Young (the only Yopening pair out there?) have raced along to 16-0 in reply.

England are all out at Lord's, Abbas 5-57

Follow Ollie Robinson and co on the OBO here:

After disappointment for Zak Crawley and James Wharton this round, Tom Lammonby joins the so-near-so-far just short of first century of the season club, lbw Crocombe 93. Somerset 198-3 lead Sussex by 150.

Butter fingers at Chelmsford– Ben Foakes missed twice in two balls. A tricky missed stumping and then Harmer spills the gravy attempting a caught and bowled

In a round for bowlers, Clarke has stood tall. Notts 321-7 and searching for batting points.

Ha, I missed that Gloucestershire opened with Ollie Price's loopy loops. Silly season a month early.

Next round, Durham travel to Wantage Road, in a crucial game for Northants, while Gloucestershire entertain Derbyshire at Bristol.

A one minute 45 second victory. Durham continue to survey all around from the lofty position of top of Division Two, Gloucestershire remain in the basement, nine defeats in ten. Matthew Potts four not out.

In fact everywhere except Scarborough, well played groundstaff. So, first to Chester le Street, where Durham have opened with Ollie Robinson and Matthew Potts.

Abracadabra.

There's a damp patch just before the bowler's delivery stride at the press box end. They're hoping for play later dependent on sawdust and sun.

Still showery everywhere except the southeast. The Met office says: Outbreaks of rain affect parts of Scotland and northern England at first. A band of heavy, showery rain then spreads eastwards, with blustery showers and thunderstorms developing more widely during the afternoon. Southeast England stays mostly dry. Blustery at times.

Rain rudely interrupted the County Championship on bank holiday Saturday but there was evening controversy at Chester-le-Street. Kasey Aldridge had bowled Durham to almost-victory with four for 47, giving him nine wickets in the match, leaving his side four to win. But with the floodlights on and filthy skies, Gloucestershire refused to bowl spin and the umpires said it was too dark for pace.

Mark Alleyne, the Gloucestershire head coach, explained: “Forty-five minutes before we lost the last wicket, it was too dark to play, which would have been consistent with all the other days that we played.

“I was really surprised that Carse was allowed to bowl to [James] Bracey at the time. He got him out, then took off straight away. So, yeah, we had probably 50 minutes of cricket there that we probably shouldn't have done.

“They asked if we would bowl our spinners to finish the game. Of course, we said: ‘No, we'll bowl our quick bowlers,' in which case it became bad light, so we'll come back tomorrow.

“I mean, we've been outplayed, of course, but there's certain parts of the game that we feel we were really hard done by some really poor decisions, in my view, and I hope they get a chance to look back at those, but one of the poorest is playing in the light that we did for so long.

“So, with that in mind, we thought we'd hedge our bets and see if it might rain all day tomorrow, so you never know.â€

At Scarborough, over 31.5 overs, Leicestershire's Sheridon Gumbs and Rishi Patel saw off the best that Yorkshire could throw at them on a damp bowler-friendly day. A draw looks almost inevitable, offering some succour to both sides trying to escape the drop.

After a four-hour rain delay at Sophia Gardens, Sonny Baker quickly polished off Glamorgan, to finish with four wickets (over three days), and Hampshire held a one-run advantage on first innings. Nick Gubbins and Ali Orr made a confident start to the second innings, racing to a 70 run stand until an unimpressed Gubbins was given out lbw to Mir Hamza.

There was no play at all at New Road, Northampton, Derby, Edgbaston, Hove and Chelmsford.

Division One

Chelmsford: Essex 279 v Surrey 183 and 51-4

Sophia Gardens: Glamorgan 161 v Hampshire 162 and 124-2

Hove: Sussex 250 v Somerset 202 and 167-2

Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire 299-7

Scarborough: Yorkshire 263 v Leicestershire 84-0

Division Two

Derby: Derbyshire 79-3 v Middlesex

Chester-le-Street: Durham 384 v Gloucestershire 137 and 250 Durham need 4 to win

Northampton: Northamptonshire 74-0 v Kent 345

New Road: Worcestershire 12-1 v Lancashire 180

Hello and happy damp Sunday. After yesterday's almost total washout, there's a hope of play today, especially at Chelmsford and Hove. At Chester le Street, where a cheesed-off Gloucestershire refused to bowl spin last night in the gloom and therefore pushed Durham's chase of four runs into today, there has been morning rain. The mops are out.

Elsewhere, if the weather allows, there might be bold declarations and gung-ho chases in the desperate search of Championship points. We'll be here all day, do join us.