County Championship final round, day one as it happened - Bears skittle Leics, Lawrence punishes Somerset

Signing off

It's not all been plain sailing for Warwickshire today, but they have tightened their grip on the County Championship title by bowling out Leicestershire for just 125 in 47 overs.

Dan Lawrence made it a disappointing day for second-placed Somerset by hitting an unbeaten 105 at Taunton and England team-mate Emilio Gay was also in the runs with 141 for Durham against Lancashire.

Reports of all of today's County Championship matches can be found on the BBC's dedicated county cricket page. Those not currently appearing there will hopefully do so in the next hour or so.

Our live text and radio coverage will resume on Friday morning, ready for a 10:30 BST start of play.

Close of play

Middx 255 v Northants 103 - (Middx lead by 152)

What an incredible day's play it has been at Lord's - and what a damaging day it has been to Northamptonshire's promotion hopes.

It feels like a long time ago but the visitors won the toss and chose to bat.

How they may rue that decision. They were skittled all out for 103 as Ryan Higgins took centre stage, taking four-fer.

But Northants still looked well in it when Ben Sanderson took four-fer of his own to leave the hosts in a spot of bother again at 32-4.

Out came Higgins and, alongside Ben Geddes, the pair saw attack as the best form of defence.

Higgins went on to hit a magnificent 115 to help push Middlesex to a commanding looking lead of 152 at the midway stage of the match following a manic opening day.

WICKET

Higgins c Zaib b Chahal 115 (Middx 253-9 v Northants 103)

A magnificent innings comes to an end.

Ryan Higgins, with an attempted slog sweep, gets close to another boundary but is caught in the deep by Saif Zaib who makes no mistake with the pouch.

Higgins gets a standing ovation from the home balcony, all those in the member's pavilion, and around Lord's.

We will have an extra four overs with one wicket remaining. Calvin Harrison is on to bowl for Northamptonshire.

Close of play at Worcester

Worcestershire 214 & 5-0 v Derbyshire 88

What a day of in-out cricket as 20 wickets fall at New Road.

Worcestershire send out Ben Allison and Fateh Singh to play out three overs to the close, which they do without loss despite Allison being dropped at slip, and lead by 131 after bowling Derbyshire out for just 88.

Mo Abbas claimed 5-22 as the Pears were dismissed in 57 overs but Allison took three wickets with the new ball at the start of the visitors' reply and returned to finish them off for figures of 5-22.

No promotion issues in this one, just a chance for both teams to register a fifth win of the season.

Close of play at Edgbaston

Warks 130-4 v Leics 125

Warwickshire are three points closer to winning the County Championship at the end of day one against Leicestershire.

Needing 14 or more points to clinch the title regardless of results elsewhere, they took maximum bowling points by bowling the Foxes out for 125.

Leicestershire's failure to register any batting points - plus Essex gaining one bonus point - means they will be relegated if an appeal against a points deduction is unsuccessful.

But they have shown some spirit with the ball to ensure that this game hasn't run too far away from them.

That said, Warwickshire will be the happier team. Sam Hain (37 not out) and captain Ed Barnard (25 not out) saw them through to the close and they will hope to cement the Bears' strong position on Friday.

Been attritional batting at Edgbaston by the Bears, but compelling nonetheless. Great patience from Sam Hain.

Chris, Edgbaston

Close of play at Canterbury

Kent 71-1 v Gloucestershire 229

A highly satisfactory day for Kent, which ends two overs early because of bad light, as they look to secure the second promotion place from Division Two.

As rivals Northants collapsed at Lord's, Kent bowled out Gloucestershire in 70 overs despite an excellent innings of 86 by James Bracey.

Matt Milnes took 4-55 to take him to 49 wickets for the season and Khaled Ahmed bowled a vital post-lunch spell which brought him three victims.

Kent soon lost Zak Crawley at the start of their reply, but Ben Compton and Sam Northeast saw it through to the close with an unbroken stand of 70.

Close of play at Old Trafford

Lancs v Durham 355-5

England opener Emilio Gay struck a brilliant 141 batting at number three for Durham to put his side well in the ascendancy at close on day one.

He was more than ably supported by Ben McKinney who reached 71 and Mayank Agarwal's 66 to help the visitors bag a third bonus point by close.

Ollie Robinson (34*) and Kasey Aldridge (9*) survived the final few overs and will be back in the morning.

For Lancashire it was tough going again today but Tom Bailey was the pick of their bowlers with 2-52. Noman Ali also picked up two wickets but went for 110 runs in his 27 overs.

Close of play at Trent Bridge

Notts 242-9 v Yorkshire

Close of play at Trent Bridge and, after winning the toss and electing to bowl, it has been Yorkshire's day.

Nottinghamshire had to dig deep early on with some really tight line and length bowling.

Haseeb Hameed played very well for his 71 but once he was dismissed following an excellent delivery by Matthew Revis, Nottinghamshire fell away in their first innings.

Ben Cliff has picked up 4-39 and Ben Coad has chipped in with another couple of wickets. A good all round performance from the White Rose.

Nottinghamshire, meanwhile, will need a big performance in the field tomorrow.

WICKET

Abbas b Allison 1 (Worcs 214 v Derbys 88)

Ben Allison matches Muhammad Abbas' five-for from earlier in the day as he bowls the Pakistan Test player with a delivery which was far too good for a number 11.

Allison takes 5-22 from 11 overs as Worcestershire's bowlers earn their side a 126-run first-innings lead.

Captain Wayne Madsen contributed the only score of note to Derbyshire's paltry total - making 40 from 79 balls before falling to Tom Taylor.

The home side will have a couple overs or so to face before the close.

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