It was advantage Warwickshire at the top but perhaps the action of the day came off the pitch and at the bottom, with Leicestershire all but relegated after a points deduction.
The Cricket Regulator had charged Leicestershire after the Grace Road pitch was rated as poor for last month’s win against Glamorgan. The cricket discipline panel has upheld the charge, leading to the deduction of the 19 points picked up for the victory plus eight more as a penalty. A Leicestershire statement said “the club is reviewing its position and considering all available options”, but the deduction left them bottom of the table, 38 points adrift of the last safe spot. With Hampshire 225 ahead with seven wickets standing, Leicestershire’s hopes in what is now a must-win match are slim.
Warwickshire flourish a 19-point hand on the table and wait after a second two-day victory in succession. Essex, further weakened by overnight substitutions to Shane Snater and Tom Westley, gave them the upper hand by conceding another 40 runs for the last wicket, thanks to an unbeaten 88 from Sam Hain. The Indian spinner Manav Suthar, with five for 75, and Chris Woakes, with three for 33, were too hot for Essex and Warwickshire knocked off the 133 needed.
The morning bell at Chelmsford was rung by the BBC’s Dick Davies, retiring after 31 years covering Essex cricket. Up at Headingley, Craig Overton continued his one-man attempt to haul Somerset over the line. His 64 not out, full of humpty and grace, rescued his team from the doldrums of 86 for eight, in companionship with Migael Pretorius, who found his long-lost batting form with a free-flowing 58.
Overton was last man out to Ben Cliff’s, whose astonishing eight for 76 were the best bowling figures for a Yorkshireman at Headingley since Graham Stevenson’s eight for 57 in 1980. He led Yorkshire off grinning, applauding teammates behind.
Overton soon spoiled their fun, nobbling Will Luxton’s middle stump with his second ball, and removing Adam Lyth a couple of overs later. Jonny Bairstow came and went to a Nureyev catch at cover by Archie Vaughan but George Hill and Dom Bess stopped the rot with an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 74 as spectators in the East Stand enjoyed some afternoon sun to stretch Yorkshire’s lead to 139.
At Hove, Nottinghamshire were held up by an obdurate Sussex, who picked up the only Division One batting point of the round thanks to half centuries for Tom Clark, Charlie Tear and Tom Price.
Kent need 56 to beat Lancashire and get their promotion points on the board. Zak Crawley (84) and Matt Milnes (40 not out) ushered Kent to a first-innings lead of 53, before Milnes had a go with the ball and helped chisel Lancashire out for 192. Sam Northeast and Tawanda Muyeye took Kent towards a good night’s sleep.
Asa Tribe’s first hundred of the season, on a wicket where 20 wickets had fallen the day before, eased Glamorgan’s relegation nerves, even before the Leicestershire news.