Rob Keogh smashed an unbeaten 147-ball 154 on the counterattack after Northamptonshire slipped to 95/4 at one point. Coming in at No. 5, Keogh single-handedly lifted the team to 279 by the end of the day’s play, with the next best being a mere 32.
Having slipped to 18/3 after opting to bat, Lancashire were rescued first by a 167-ball 113 from Josh Bohannon, even as George Bell (40) and George Balderson (54) stitched together useful stands along with him. But another middle order collapse saw them lose 23/4 at one point before Matthew Hurst smashed a quickfire 76 and added 87 runs with the last two batters.
A fighting, unbeaten 84-run stand for the 9th wicket between Josh Davey and Neil Wagner saved Somerset some blushes after they were reduced to 96/8 on the back of a four-wicket haul from Chris Rushworth. Wagner was the aggressor in the stand hitting 10 fours and a six in a 50-ball 55 that got Somerset to 180 by stumps on the first day.
Luis Reece hit an unbeaten 139 and Brooke Guest fell four short of what would have been two centurions for Derbyshire on the opening day of their encounter against hosts Glamorgan in Cardiff. Put in to bat, the visitors reached a mammoth 308/2 with the pair of Reece and Guest adding 180 for the second wicket. Between them, the duo hit 28 fours and a six each, both batters scoring at a brisk clip. Guest missed out on his milestone when he was adjudged LBW off the bowling of James Harris. Reece batted on and added another 48 before Stumps along with captain Leus du Plooy setting himself for a potential double century on Day 2.
Another decision to bowl first backfired in Chester-le-Street where visitors Leicestershire saw Durham rack up 409/5 on the opening day courtesy rapid centuries from David Bedlingham (130*) and Graham Clark (119). Durham were in a bit of a wobble at 149/4 despite Scott Borthwick’s quickfire 63 up top. But the pair of Bedlingham and Clark added 208 in a little over 46 overs of batting. Both batters struck at a rate of more than 70 per 100 balls before the slightly faster of the two, Clark, fell for 119. Bedlingham has five more wickets to swell his own score as well as that of his team, who have the early pole position.
Proceedings at Leeds took place at a more sedate pace as visitors Worcestershire reached 280/5 after 80 overs of play despite tottering at one stage on 67/4 with Ben Coad and George Hill taking a brace each. The recovery was built on a pair of 90s from Kashif Ali and captain Brett D’Oliviera, who engineered a 115-run stand for the fifth wicket. Ali, the aggressor in the stand, fell agonisingly seven short of his century but D’Oliveira will need only 10 more runs on the second day to get to his and subsequently put his side in the ascendancy.
Bowling performances
Tom Lawes broke through the middle and lower order of Hampshire getting them bowled out for a mere 217. Lawes picked up 5/26 and broke fledgling partnerships that stilted Hampshire. Just as Bill Brown resisted with a useful 78 that helped the hosts recover briefly, Lawes returned toget rid of Brown and hastened the end of the innings.
Matt Taylor took 5 for 25 from 13 incisive overs of bowling as Gloucestershire bowled Sussex out for 202 after electing to field. Sussex began steadily, reaching 40 for the first wicket before Taylor Tom Clark and captain Tom Alsop in the same over. He added the wickets of half-centurion Tom Haines, Oliver Carter and Henry Crocombe to complete a well-deserved milestone. He was ably supported by Zafar Gohar, who picked up three wickets. Run-making though remained tough in Hove as the Sussex pair of Bradle Currie and Sean Hunt took wickets each to leave Gloucestershire in trouble at 136/6 at Stumps, a further 66 runs behind Sussex’s total.
