County Championship: Surrey hand Lancashire comprehensive defeat to move closer to third straight title | Cricket News

Vitality County Championship leaders Surrey underlined their claims for a third successive Division One title as they beat Lancashire in comprehensive fashion.

Rory Burns’ team took less than two sessions on day four to dismiss their opponents for 177 and secure victory at The Oval by an innings and 63 runs.

Conor McKerr polished off Lancashire’s tail to finish with 4-27, while Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark each took three wickets as Surrey made it seven wins from 10 Championship games.

Matthew Hurst, Lancashire’s highly rated 20-year-old, tried hard to hold up Surrey by adding a fine 64 to a first-innings 46, but it was an uphill struggle after Worrall dismissed Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings for 13 and 16-year-old debutant Rocky Flintoff in successive balls.

Jack Leach gave England’s selectors a reminder of his ability as title hopefuls Somerset’s match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston ended in a rain-affected draw.

The left-arm spinner has been overlooked by England in favour of Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir since the opening Test against India in Hyderabad in January, but he took five wickets at the cost of only 18 runs in 49 balls, finishing with 5-77, to truncate Warwickshire’s second innings at 270.

Somerset faced a victory target of 369 from 68 overs, but they were not helped by rain and ended on 206-4 when the two sides shook hands.

Toby Albert and Tom Prest struck centuries to give a glimpse of Hampshire’s batting future as their clash with Essex petered out into a draw.

They hit career-best respective scores of 124 and 156 as Hampshire closed on 424-8 in reply to Essex’s first innings 438-8 declared.

Teenager Daniel Hogg had a first-class debut to savour as he mopped up the Nottinghamshire second-innings tail to finish with figures of 7-66 and underpin victory for Durham by an innings and 17 runs.

Durham’s crushing win consolidated their position in mid-table, but Nottinghamshire now find themselves in a relegation battle heading into the last four games of the championship campaign.

Worcestershire beat bottom team Kent by eight wickets at New Road to bolster their hopes of retaining Division One status.

Tom Taylor and Joe Leach picked up the final two Kent wickets to leave Worcestershire, who were promoted last summer, with a victory target of 101.

Although openers Gareth Roderick and Jake Libby fell cheaply, Kashif Ali (52 not out) and Rob Jones (23 n/o) saw their side over the finishing line as Worcestershire collected 23 points.

In Division Two, Middlesex produced an outstanding fourth day performance to defeat Northamptonshire by eight wickets at Merchant Taylors’ School and move second behind leaders Sussex.

Toby Roland-Jones took 11 wickets in the match, adding to his 5-49 from the first innings with 6-58 as Northants were dismissed soon after tea on the final day for 167.

This left Middlesex 111 to win in a minimum of 25 overs, and Sam Robson’s second half-century of the match ensured they got there with some comfort.

Sussex suffered a four-wicket defeat against promotion rivals Yorkshire at Scarborough.

Yorkshire began the final morning on 28-2, needing another 75 for victory, and they got there to secure a 21-point haul despite Sussex off-spinner Jack Carson taking four wickets.

Peter Handscomb’s half-century against his former club foiled a spirited last-day effort by Gloucestershire’s bowlers and earned Leicestershire a draw in Bristol.

Derbyshire, meanwhile, claimed a first red-ball win at Derby for five years as they crushed Glamorgan by 10 wickets.

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