A major cricketing distraction going on elsewhere, admittedly.

But plenty to love about county cricket today.

Three-day wins for main title challengers Surrey and Essex - and relegation battlers Middlesex too, at Edgbaston.

Image source, Rex Features

Three Lancashire centurions, Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon and Phil Salt.

Ben Slater on the verge of his second ton of the match for Notts.

And, while the Scarborough weather outlook was once again right out of step with the rest of the country, some battling rearguard actions in Div Two.

Worcestershire battling back from 119-5 yesterday to 406 all out, Gloucestershire's Price brothers then rescuing the hosts at Cheltenham College - and Derbyshire openers Harry Came and Luis Reece once again looking unbreakable. 165 together in the first knock. Now a further 78 in the second innings.

Join them and us for more of the same tomorrow.

Division One

Southampton: Essex (169 & 86-4, 19 pts) beat Hampshire (120 & 131, 3 pts) by six wickets

Manchester: Northamptonshire 342, Lancashire 498-7

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire 350 & 176-1, Kent 316

Taunton: Surrey (368 & 29-0, 22 pts) beat Somerset (170 & 139-7, 3 pts) by 10 wickets

Edgbaston: Middlesex (199 & 97-2, 19 pts) beat Warwickshire (60 & 232, 3 pts) by eight wickets

Division Two

Derby: Glamorgan 521-8 dec, Derbyshire 318 & 78-0

Scarborough: Yorkshire 340, Durham 106-1

Cheltenham College: Worcestershire 406, Gloucestershire 212-4 (day two)

It's been a while since Alex Blake featured in a red-ball game - and even longer since he bowled in one.

However, Blake is asked to bowl a couple of overs of off-spin to help get the over rate down - and the first of them disappears for 15 as Will Young clobbers him for successive sixes.

Young has raced to 32 not out, with Ben Slater unbeaten on 87 and Notts lead by 210 going into day four.

up for Nottinghamshirepublished at 19:01 British Summer Time 27 July 2023

19:01 BST 27 July 2023

Notts 350 & 154-1 v Kent 316

with Kent lagging behind the over-rate, Jack Leaning has brought himself on for a few overs of off-breaks.

Will Young isn't unhappy about that as he takes the opportunity to drive Leaning off his pads for four and the Notts lead is now approaching 200 with three overs left tonight.

There ends a spectacular day for Lancashire.

They have scored 377 runs off 67.5 at 5.58 runs per over with three centurions.

They lead Northants by 158 and will hope to push for victory on the last day.

Derbyshire openers Harry Came and Luis Reece on song again as they steer ther side safely to the close unparted.

But, with a day left, Derbyshire still trail Glamorgan by 125 runs, after following on - and have it all to do to save this game.

After a 162-run stand at Headingley, the Price brothers are at it again.

Having come together on 120-4, with more than 34 overs left in the day, they have batted through to the close.

Ollie Price is on 75, and elder brother Tom is on 41, having so far shared a stand of 92.

Luis Reece hits another half-centurypublished at 18:47 British Summer Time 27 July 2023

18:47 BST 27 July 2023

Glamorgan 531-8 dec, Derbyshire 318 & 76-0

Luis Reece follows up his first-innings ton with a second-innings half-century.

Harry Came is on 25. The Derby openers going well again.

Image source, Getty Images

If Surrey are to be stopped from retaining the County Championship title, Essex look like their only realistic rivals after completing a six-wicket win over Hampshire earlier.

Hampshire captain James Vince conceded that his side’s hopes have probably evaporated after that defeat, which leaves them 48 points behind the leaders with three games to play.

“I guess it has been taken out of our control,” said Vince. “It isn’t impossible mathematically but we are going to be relying on other teams to slip up and for us to step up and beat teams above us.

“It is going to be extremely tough to get where we want to be, but not impossible. If we had got on the right side of this result, we would have kept it reasonable without our control.

“If we had managed to put on another 50 this morning we could have got really close, we saw that by getting them four down and missing a few chances in the field.”

George Balderson crashes his second boundary and that means Lancashire have now scored 204 since tea.

And there could be more.

Image source, Rex Features

Surrey and Essex can put their whites away for over a month now as the Championship goes into cold storage.

It is a two-horse race for the title, but at least we have as five wins in a row from Essex have stopped this being a Surrey procession.

The gap is 17 points in Surrey's favour, so Essex have it all to do in September to overhaul them.

Surrey fixtures:

3 Sep: Warwickshire H)

19 Sep: Northamptonshire H)

26 Sep: Hampshire A)

Image source, Rex Features

Essex fixtures:

4 Sep: Middlesex H)

19 Sep: Hampshire H)

26 Sep: Northamptonshire A)

Both sides have to play third-placed Hampshire and bottom side Northamptonshire and as ever, weather could be a factor.

But there will be plenty of cricket left when we resume after the summer holidays.

Eight overs remaining tonight and the Kent bowlers are still plugging away to no avail as Nottinghamshire extend their lead above 350.

Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed are still going strong, with 75 and 43 respectively, and it's hard to see how the visitors can manoeuvre themselves into a winning position unless offered a generous declaration on day four.

Right now they'd probably just settle for a wicket...

Warwickshire first team coach Mark Robinson was taking the stance that, while one batting collapse in a game is forgivable, a second is inexcusable.

After being bowled out for 60 on the first morning by Middlesex, their lowest scored in 41 years, the Bears then repeated it on the third morning, slumping from 189-4 to 232 all out - to trigger an eight-wicket defeat.

"On the first morning the ball nipped about and seamed in good bowling conditions," he told BBc Radio WM. "No wicket is ever a 60-all-out wicket but sometimes these things happen against good bowlers.

Image source, Rex Features

"Today was different. That collapse shouldn't have happened. There were mitigating circumstances on the first day but you can have no excuses. That was poor. We are a bit tired and one or two players haven't scored runs recently and they have got a bit of self-doubt. We've been outplayed and outbowled but it is frustrating because we worked so hard yesterday to get overs in their legs and tire their bowlers out but then to lose six wickets for 35 runs was inexcusable.

"We have a young batting unit which will get better and we will use this experience as part of that process. There is loads this season that we are really pleased about. The disappointment is the last couple of games because we had a great win at Kent but then we had home advantage for a couple of games and want to prosper in them but it hasn't happened.

"There is lots to be encouraged about, though, and now what we need to do is use the 50-over and Hundred break to come back to red ball cricket recharged with four games to go which we will look to win."

George Bell has come in and the young batter is keeping the scoreboard ticking, if not at the same pace as Phil Salt was.

They have reached 450 and five batting points.

There are still a possible nine overs to go before stumps.

A three-day victory and an outstanding performance from Surrey against an in-form Somerset side.

Four wickets from Tom Lawes on day one to help bowl the hosts out for 170 after Surrey had lost the toss.

99s from Tom Latham and Will Jacks on day two to score an excellent 368 and put them in a very strong position.

A four-wicket burst from Jordan Clark at the start of Somerset's second innings to rip the heart out of their batting.

Four big contributions from four different players. It's that strength which makes Surrey such a formidable team and big favourites to retain their title.