Image source, Getty Images

It's been a good day for 'lefties' with James Rew, Rob Yates, Alex Lees and Finlay Bean all among the runs.

Rew - just 19 years old, made a career-best 221 for Somerset against Hampshire, while Warwickshire opener Yates scored an unbeaten 228 to put them on the path towards a probable win over Kent.

Lees scored his third successive Championship hundred for Durham and Bean his third of the season for Yorkshire - but let's not forget the right-handers as Essex skipper Tom Westley and Notts debutant Will Young also reached three figures.

Thanks for sharing day two with us. We'll be back for more from 10:30 tomorrow.

Division One

Kent 171 & 55-1 v Warwickshire 549-7 dec

Kent trail by 323 with nine wickets standing

Lancashire 37-1 v Essex 282

Lancashire trail by 245 with nine wickets standing

Middlesex 277 v Northamptonshire 219 & 55-2

Northants trail by 3 with eight wickets standing

Somerset 500 v Hampshire 58-2

Hampshire trail by 442 with eight wickets standing

Surrey 355 v Nottinghamshire 248-5

Notts trail by 107 with five wickets standing

Division Two

Durham 433-8 v Gloucestershire 316

Durham lead by 117 with two wickets standing

Glamorgan 54-1 v Leicestershire

Sussex 402 v Derbyshire 212-3

Derbyshire trail by 190 with seven wickets standing

Worcestershire 46-2 v Yorkshire 407

Worcestershire trail by 361 with eight wickets standing

Zafar Gohar will bowl the last over. Carse is defending.

There are plenty of singles to be had on both sides of the wicket but that won't interest Durham just yet.

And there it is - a leg side ball is tapped away to square leg for one, so Carse will have the strike in the morning.

A thoroughly satisfying day for Durham, led by a career best 195 from Alex Lees, who turned the game around after Durham slipped to 109-4.

Fantastic support from Clark, who made 82 - plus brutal cameos from Pretorius and Carse, after Lees and Raine fell off successive deliveries bowled by Matt Taylor with the score on 359.

Zafar Gohar is going to have a bowl. Maybe pace off the ball will bring a wicket? It will at least hasten the end of the day's play with 3 overs left tonight.

The batters trade in singles. Four from the over. Positively pedestrian compared to what has gone before.

Will Young survives the final over from Jamie Overton to finish day two on 106 not out for Notts.

It's been a decent day for the visitors, who picked up Surrey's last two wickets for 16 at the start of play, with Lyndon James taking 6-74.

Young and Haseeb Hameed (67) put on 134 for the second wicket in reply but Surrey fought back with the wickets of Matthew Montgomery and Tom Moores in the final section of play.

Notts will start day three 107 in arrears.

Dom Goodman replaces Josh Shaw in the attack.

The second ball of the over is smacked over deep mid-wicket for four.

Not quite out of the middle but it brings up the 50 partnership for the 8th wicket in 41 balls.

Also the 100 innings lead.

Shot! An expansive drive from Pretorius launches the ball over cover for four.

Four more lofted over wide mid off. He's got 36 off 24 balls. 24!

Blackpool is known for it's entertainment and it's certainly been a ding-dong battle between these two at Stanley Park today.

Tom Westley might have surrendered his crown as the country's leading run-scorer to James Rew today but his gutsy 135 early on has kept his side in this contest.

A record stand of 155 between Westley and Paul Walter 76 changed the course of the game after the hosts had Essex reeling on 55-4.

Lancashire did hit back to take the final five wickets for the addition of just seven runs with Tom Bailey finishing with 6-59.

Essex then struck in the first over to oust Luke Porter but Josh Bohannon and Keaton Jennings guided the hosts to 37-1 at stumps, 245 behind.

Day three should be a cracker.

Will Jacks bowls the penultimate over of the day and Notts settle for a single by Will Young.

The visitors are 108 behind with one more to come. Jamie Overton will bowl it.

With eight overs left, and the light seemingly quite decent, umpires David Millns and Chris Watts have checked their light meters - and taken the players off.

There were eight overs still to be bowled - but that would presumably be the end of play for today. .

50 for Brydon Carsepublished at 18:44 British Summer Time 11 July 2023

18:44 BST 11 July 2023

Durham 409-7 v Glos 316

Carse plays the ball from Taylor late, deftly pushing it into the off side for an easy single for his half century.

45 balls, four fours and three sixes.

Brutal.

Ed Seabourne
BBC Radio Bristol

They are absolutely grinding Gloucestershire down.

Shaw is back of a length and Carse picks the length up quickly and pulls the ball away for four. He's on 42.

He's down the track to the next ball, launching it down the ground for six! That's the 400 in the 86th!

He drives the next ball down to long on for one.

Four more to Pretorius, who flays the ball through extra cover.

16 off the over and the lead is 92.

Doug Bracewell comes into the attack for Essex as they try to force a breakthrough before stumps at Stanley Park as Keaton Jennings and Josh Bohannon look increasingly settled.

Just one off the over. Two overs to come and the deficit is down to 251

With the sun finally shining in Cardiff, that's stumps. What a shame. Just five balls were possible this morning before the weather intervened and another 16 overs were completed in this evening session.

The hosts lost returning David Lloyd early for six but Sam Northeast (15) has joined Zain ul Hassan who has an unbeaten 32 to guide the hosts past 50 at the close.

There would have to be a lot of jiggery-pokery to set up a contest in this one, you'd assume, but Glamorgan need points to keep pace in the promotion race.

Middlesex have had a good day here, lead by an unbeaten half century from Higgins plus a couple of top order wickets. Can they get another off the last over of the day? Helm will bowl it.

Whiteman defends - and that's stumps.

Northants remain three adrift with eight wickets in hand.

12 wickets fell in the day but we saw plenty of fluent scoring from Mark Stoneman, then Ryan Higgins and from a Northants perspective all too briefly from Vasconcelos, who made a bright 22 before he was bowled by a superb seaming delivery from Higgins.

for Will Youngpublished at 18:33 British Summer Time 11 July 2023

18:33 BST 11 July 2023

Surrey 355 v Notts 241-4

A debut century for New Zealand's Will Young from 192 balls as he square cuts Tom Lawes for four.

It's the 16th four of his innings and this is the impact head coach Peter Moores was looking for when they agreed a three-match deal with Young.

There are four overs left of the second day's play.

More runs for Pretorius, who flicks Shaw down to fine leg for four and hammers the next ball through cover for four more.

The lead is 69.

It was Rob Yates' day and Warwickshire's day, at Canterbury.

Yates made an unbeaten 228 with good support from Glenn Maxwell (81) and Henry Brookes (52 not out) as the visitors declared on 549-7 with a monster 378-run first innings lead.

There was a wicket for Chris Rushwoth on his 37th birthday, bowling Tawanda Muyeye who didn't offer a shot, without a run on the board, before Joe Denly (29) and Ben Compton saw Kent through to stumps without further damage.

They will need to at least bat for all of tomorrow, you'd imagine, to avoid a comprehensive defeat.