County Championship Round 3 Day 4/4

Durham 308 & 213-9 declared drew with Somerset 185 & 246-4 (Div 1)

Somerset batsman Nick Compton reminded England's selectors of his ability with an unbeaten 100 to secure a draw against Durham at Chester-le-Street.

The home side declared on 213-9, with skipper Paul Collingwood on 52 not out, leaving a target for Somerset of 337.

Marcus Trescothick and Chris Jones fell early, and when Alviro Petersen and James Hildreth followed it was 92-4.

17 years and counting..

This was the sixth draw in seven matches between Durham and Somerset at Chester-le-Street, and it is not since 1997 that the visitors have left the North East victorious in a Championship game.

But Craig Kieswetter made 78 not out after being dropped on nine as he and Compton saw Durham to safety on 246-4.

They shared an unbroken partnership of 154 and Compton's knock could hardly have been more timely with Peter Moores about to take over as England new head coach ahead of summer Test series against Sri Lanka and India.

The 30-year-old, who played the last of his nine Tests against New Zealand last summer, was his normal watchful self, but also played some impressive strokes that brought him 14 boundaries on the way to his 21st first-class century.

"It was a brilliant knock. Getting a hundred here at the Riverside is always tough, but he has been struggling with a neck injury for the last few days," said Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick.

"We have done everything we can. Our medical team has worked tirelessly to get him back in the position because we can see what he can do, we know what kind of players he is - a world-class player - when he gets into that environment."

Somerset were sweating early in their chase after Chris Rushworth trapped Trescothick and Jones cheaply.

The visitors managed to fend off the threat of Graham Onions, who went wicketless in 18 overs, but Usman Arshad dismissed Petersen (23) and Hildreth in quick succession to reignite Durham's hopes of forcing a victory.

But Kieswetter showed that he could mix brawn - he hit seven fours and two sixes - with solid defence, making full use of the life granted to him when Scott Borthwick spilled a chance in the slips off Onions, who finished with 0-73.

"You can see what two international-class batsmen can do on a pitch where it's pretty flat, there's no turn and there's no swing," said home captain Collingwood.

"We are putting teams under pressure for long periods, but we are just not quite finishing them off." 



Hampshire 328 & 236-3 drew with Derbyshire 399 (Div 2)

Jimmy Adams passed 10,000 first-class runs for Hampshire as their game at Derbyshire ended in a draw.

Opener Adams made 84, but was denied a century when he was trapped lbw by Mark Foottit before a halt was called at 16:30 BST with Hampshire on 236-3.

Michael Carberry (47) shared a 117-run stand with Adams in between rain delays before he fell to Wes Durston.

Liam Dawson soon followed for 22, but James Vince (50) and Will Smith (25) saw it through to the finish.

Derbyshire needed early wickets on the final day to prevent the game petering out, but Adams and Carberry snuffed out the home side's hopes and it was not until after lunch that Durston had Carberry caught at cover.

Dawson fell to Foottit in similar fashion and although the seamer prevented Adams making his first hundred of the season, Hampshire's lead had reached 165 when the end came. 



Essex 306 & 258-4 dec drew with Surrey 237 (Div 2)

England captain Alastair Cook hit his second hundred of the new season as Essex batted out a draw with Surrey.

Cook followed last week's 181 against Derbyshire with 19 fours in a score of 127 before being bowled by Rory Burns.

Earlier, Surrey were all out for 237, losing their last three wickets for 20 runs as paceman Tymal Mills took 4-45.

However, James Foster opted not to set Surrey a target and the game ended when he eventually declared on 258-4, with Essex 327 runs ahead.

Did you know?

Cook's two Championship centuries this season equals the total number he has scored for Essex in the previous six years

The home side only lasted 4.1 overs in the morning, with Zafar Ansari unable to bat after suffering concussion earlier in the game when he slid head-first into a boundary fence.

Essex began their second innings with a 69-run lead and although Matt Dunn had Jaik Mickleburgh caught at first slip for 20, Cook was not in the mood to waste another opportunity, having fallen for 39 in the first innings when he top-edged an attempted pull.

He added 78 with Tom Westley, who was eventually bowled for 42 offering no stroke to an angled ball from Jade Dernbach, and 101 with Ravi Bopara.

Teenager Dominic Sibley claimed his maiden first-class scalp with a ball that hurried onto Bopara and bowled him and Cook followed, having faced 202 deliveries in a stay of just over four hours at the crease. 



Yorkshire 459-9 dec beat Northants 94 & 245 by an innings and 120 runs (Div 1)

Yorkshire registered their first Championship victory of the season by polishing off Northants on the final morning at Headingley.

Last season's runners-up won by an innings and 120 runs after bowling out the visitors for 245.

Jack Brooks, Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Patterson took three wickets each, but David Murphy and Muhammad Azharullah held Yorkshire up with a stand of 50.

Brooks' 3-76 gave him career-best match figures of 8-112 against his old club.

However, after 19 wickets taken by the Yorkshire seamers, it was leg-spinner Adil Rashid who brought the game to an end by having Azharullah caught behind for 23, leaving Murphy unbeaten on the same score.

Late developer

• Jack Brooks only began his first-class career at the age of 25 when Northants played Australia at the County Ground in 2009.
• Now 29, he has taken 167 wickets at an average of 27.32, including five in an innings on six occasions.

Having been skittled for 94 in their first innings, Northants' hopes of hanging on for a draw suffered a body blow just before the end of the third day when James Middlebrook edged Brooks to the keeper on 63.

And after resuming on 149-4, they were soon in trouble as Sidebottom (3-34) had Rob Newton caught at point and Brooks removed nightwatchman Maurice Chambers, with the help of Adam Lyth at second slip.

Liam Plunkett took a one-handed return catch to send Andrew Hall on his way for 12 and Steve 
Patterson got in on the act with the wickets of Steven Crook and David Willey (20) in successive overs.

At 195-9, Northants looked down for the count, but Murphy and Azharullah collected six fours between them in an enterprising batting display before the home side finally wrapped up the win with the fifth catch of the innings by wicketkeeper Andy Hodd.

There was more good news for Yorkshire when x-rays on Gary Ballance's finger, hurt when trying to take a slip catch on the third day, showed no serious damage. 



Lancashire 247 & 196 drew with Warwickshire 324 & 95-5 (Div 1)

Peter Moores' final game as Lancashire coach ended in a draw with Warwickshire after an exciting final day at Old Trafford was cut short by bad light.

Lancashire opener Paul Horton (84) and Jos Buttler (42) put on 72 for the fifth wicket but their exits prompted a collapse from 157-4 to 196 all out.

That left Warwickshire with a target of 120 to get after tea.

Bears wait goes on

Warwickshire have not won at Old Trafford in the County Championship since 1985

With the visitors on 95-5 requiring 25 runs from 27 balls, failing light led to the umpires taking the players off.

The game had looked destined for a draw after rain had stopped play until late on the third day.

The start of the final day did nothing to change that before Keith Barker took the wicket of Luis Reece for 11 when the hosts were on 49.

Andrea Agathangelou, Ashwell Prince and Luke Procter all then went in quick succession to leave Lancashire eight ahead with six wickets remaining.

Opener Horton, who had made 83 in the first innings, played patiently but fell 16 short of his century on this occasion when he was clean bowled by Jeetan Patel and his departure prompted a second Lancashire collapse.

Buttler fell to Ateeq Javid shortly afterwards and he was quickly followed by Tom Smith, Wayne White, Simon Kerrigan and skipper Glen Chapple (15) - Patel's 4-44 the stand-out figures for Warwickshire.

The visitors made a steady start to their run chase, despite briefly being forced off for bad light, before Will Porterfield was caught by James Anderson off the bowling of Chapple.

Thereafter the hosts took regular wickets with spinner Simon Kerrigan accounting for the wickets of Laurie Evans, Ian Bell, Tim Ambrose, Chris Woakes to reduce Warwickshire to 70-5.

Varun Chopra (50) and Javid (15) steadied the ship but they were ultimately to be left stranded. 



Glamorgan 145 & 146-9 drew with Gloucestershire 231 (Div 2)

Glamorgan held out for a draw in a tense, rain-affected game against Gloucestershire after Will Gidman took the visitors to the brink of victory.

Gidman took three early wickets as the hosts went into lunch just 32 runs ahead on 118-6.

But rain held up play until 16:45 BST, leaving only 20 overs remaining.

And although Gidman took 6-50, Glamorgan's final pair of Dean Cosker and Michael Hogan saw out the final eight overs as they ended on 148-9.

Hogan made an unbeaten 19 and Cosker was four not out when Gloucestershire ran out of time after Gidman took all the wickets to fall on the final day.

Murray Goodwin (32) made the only significant contribution for the Welsh county before he was bowled by Gidman, who later dismissed Graham Wagg and Ruaidhri Smith in successive balls.

But neither he nor his team-mates could separate Cosker and Hogan and the game ended with Glamorgan only 50 ahead and relieved to escape. 



Kent 269-7 & 89-4 drew with Leicestershire 333 & 259-5 (Div 2)

Kent survived a final-day collapse to draw with Leicestershire at Canterbury.

Greg Smith's (118) seventh first-class hundred and Angus Robson's 81 steered the visitors to 259-5 declared, setting Kent a target of 324.

The home side began woefully, slumping to 36-4 with both Sam Northeast and Ben Harmison out for ducks.

But Daniel Bell-Drummond (39) and Darren Stevens (34) - against his old side - held out for the draw with an unbroken 53-run stand.

It was a disappointing result for Leicestershire, still searching for their first away Championship win since beating Worcestershire in June 2010.

And they may rue the decision not to declare earlier, following excellent work by Smith and Robson, who was playing in only his fourth first-class match.

Having failed to win a Championship game in the whole of last season, Leicestershire looked to be on for an unlikely opening-game victory after Northeast was caught and bowled by Charlie Shreck off the first ball of the innings, and Brendan Nash and Harmison fell to Jigar Naik (2-34).

But youngster Bell-Drummond and veteran Stevens batted manfully to see Kent avoid a second successive defeat, having lost to Worcestershire in their season-opener.