Half-century for Sajid Khanpublished at 11:11 British Summer Time 13 September 2022

11:11 BST 13 September 2022

Somerset 219-9 v Warwickshire

Sajid Khan becomes the second Somerset player to reach his half-century.

Good effort that.

How many more can they get?

Image source, Getty Images

One piece of overnight news affecting the title race is that third-placed Lancashire have been deducted six points for a string of repeated disciplinary offences.

They were already on a suspended punishment after receiving five fixed penalties for pitch and/or equipment damage between September 2020 and September 2021.

But they then incurred fixed penalties in the games against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in June, and Northants at Wantage Road in July - and that has triggered the immediate points penalty.

Dane Vilas's side were already very much outsiders in the title race behind Surrey and Hampshire, but that now leaves them 35 points adrift of top spot. And, even though they host Surrey in the final game at Old Trafford, with only a maximum 48 points left to play for, that is simply too big a leeway to make up.

Century stand for Pollock and Libbypublished at 10:58 British Summer Time 13 September 2022

10:58 BST 13 September 2022

Sussex 220, Worcestershire 100-0

Ed Pollock (41) and Jake Libby (50) post a century partnership for the first time since the opening game of the season - and Worcestershire look in control against Sussex at Hove.

Somerset claim a batting pointpublished at 10:55 British Summer Time 13 September 2022

10:55 BST 13 September 2022

Somerset 201-9 v Warwickshire

Somerset go past 200 to claim their first batting bonus point in the relegation crunch clash with Warwickshire as Sajid Khan and last man Jack Brooks continue to play their shots.

Having started the game seven points behind, and seen the Bears claim all three bowling points, that eases Somerset's pain a bit.

Northants have quickly added 33 runs this morning in less than half an hour and Rob Keogh has resumed where he left off last night.

He takes four off Gus Atkinson with a late cut to move into the nineties.

Tom Westley has reached 16 in just 12 balls, dealing entirely in boundaries, while Sir Alastair Cook has also hit a four as he is on six.

If the sun comes out, Headingley can be a fast-scoring ground and especially here with a short boundary on one side.

New batter Ricardo Vasconcelos hits his first ball and the first ball of the day for four from Gus Atkinson and that is enough to collect a second batting bonus point for Northants.

Mohammed Siraj gets the day underway in Birmingham, bowling to overnight half-centurion Lewis Gregory.

Play begins in soft sunshine in Leeds and Nick Browne takes a single off Ben Coad's first ball.

A good fightback by Glamorgan at Lord's after being bowled out by Middlesex for 214 in the meeting of fourth v second.

But, after Middlesex old boy James Harris's wicket-taking burst left the hosts on 92-4, Mark Stoneman's 94th first-class half-century helped the hosts recover.

Stoneman (72) and John Simpson (14) have so far put on 40 for the fifth wicket as Middlesex resume on 132-4, still 82 behind.

At Hove, Worcestershire look in command after bowling out Sussex for 220, before replying on 87-0.

Joe Leach took another four wickets to reach the 400-scalp mark in his first-class career, before Ed Pollock (with a restrained 36) and Jake Libby (42) got to the close unparted.

In the other Division Two game, only 22 overs were possible in the morning session at Leicester, but that was time enough for Sol Budinger to hit 10 fours and a six on his Leicestershire debut to race to 63 off 66 balls against Durham - and there may be more to come.

Image source, Rex Features

Image source, Rex Features

Somerset head coach Jason Kerr was very pleased with the Lewis Gregory-led fightback at Edgbaston following India Test paceman Mohammed Siraj's wicket-taking heroics on his Warwickshire debut.

From 82-7, the Cidermen had recovered to 182-8 by the close, to even sniff a possible batting bonus point.

"The last two partnerships, between Lewis and Josh Davey and then Lewis and Saj Khan, have given us the opportunity to get parity," said Kerr. "We just need to get over 200.

"We were talking about 180 or 200 being a good score so, having been 82-7, we are in a great position.

"It is incredibly frustrating that we are gifting wickets at times but there was some high quality bowling - and I don't think the rain break helped, having the covers on for a couple of hours. That made the surface sweat a little bit. As we have seen, there is plenty in it. It spun on day one and went off the straight and there has been some movement up and down as well."

A grey, damp, overcast day is not a time to be batting at Headingley and so it proved as Yorkshire were knocked over for just 134, with George Hill top scoring with 36.

The forecast for the next few days in Leeds is much better, so Essex will be hoping to cash in today after rain saved them from getting out in the middle last night.

Their bowlers worked well as a unit yesterday with all 10 wickets shared between the four seamers. Once again, though, Sam Cook was the pick with 3-31, which included his 200th first-class wicket.

In doing so, Cook became the first English bowler to reach 200 wickets whilst averaging less than 20 since Derbyshire’s Alan Ward in 1971.

"Sam’s had a really good season and continues to improve," said Essex head coach Anthony McGrath.

"He works hard, and the amount of wickets he’s taken is a testament to that. He is getting his rewards."

Image source, Getty Images

Leaders Hampshire won't be too disappointed with how things went at Northampton yesterday.

After topping the table for much of the season, Surrey are now this week in the unfamiliar position of chasing, after Hampshire's win over Northants, which took them top.

But, now up against Northants themselves, Surrey have so far picked up one bowling bonus point.

They still need five more wickets in 42.4 more overs when they resume this morning looking to claim the maximum three bowling points.

Image source, Rex Features

The removal of Emilio Gay for 145, off what turned out to be the last ball of the day will help but there is still plenty of work to do.

"It was pleasing to get a hundred after getting a few fifties previously," said Gay. "It is a great opportunity as a youngster to come up against these teams. It is an opportunity to show what I am capable of and going toe-to-toe with the best bowlers in the country.

"I have shown in the last two games that I like the pressure and I like coming up against the top teams."

Today's weatherpublished at 10:07 British Summer Time 13 September 2022

10:07 BST 13 September 2022

The BBC forecast tells us that it will be "dry and bright for many today. However, southern areas will be cloudy with spells of rain".

As two of today's games are in the south - in London and at Hove - that is a concern. But as the Middlesex-Glamorgan and Sussex-Worcestershire are the two most advanced games and were least affected by yesterday's weather, maybe less of a concern too.