County cricket: Surrey v Somerset, Essex v Notts and more – live!

Division One

Worcestershire 247 & 484-7 dec, Lancashire 130 and 26 for 0. Lancs need 576 to win.
Surrey 459, Somerset 180 & 106 for 5. Somerset trail by 173.
Essex 206, Nottinghamshire 380 & 119 for 5. Notts lead by 293
Hampshire 245-3, Yorkshire 350 Day/Night game. Play yet to start.

Division Two

Sussex 552, Durham 211 and 52 for 1. Durham trail by 289
Leicestershire 427 & 55-4, Middlesex 233. Leicestershire lead by 249
Kent 197 & 446-8 dec Warwickshire 125 and 25-0. Warwicks need 494 to win
Glamorgan 283, Derbyshire 293-5. Derby lead by 10 runs.
Northamptonshire 282, Gloucestershire 62 & 245-8. Play yet to start.

At lunch, a recovery of sorts by Hildreth and Gregory, but Somerset won’t be dining on hope this evening. Lunch-time updates to follow

Under-dog news: no wickets yet fallen at Chelmsford or Tunbridge Wells and still only one down at Arundel.

Sorry, I’ve had wifi problems but just before lunch a reminder that Surrey play Yorkshire next week and you can watch the game unfold on the Surrey and Yorkshire websites and Sky digital. Four cameras, “bespoke” commentary - almost, almost, as good as free-to-air.

Virdi to bowl from the pavilion end, first time today.

Libby out shortly after passing 50, Notts 97 for 5 - a lead of 271.

Slow going at Swansea, but Derby nearly have parity with five wickets in hand. A hundred for Alex Hughes, run-out for 103.

And I see Lancashire need 602 to win in all the time in the world.

All the threes - 33 for 3 - at Grace Road. Leicester’s lead over Middlesex now 227. And Kent have DECLARED!! Lead of 518. Hmmm. Did Bell use up his century quota in the last game?

And you were quite right BTL about the goings-on at Tunbridge Wells - Keith Barker was removed from attack after a second warning for running on the pitch.

The England selectors have obviously been sent on away days - Trevor Baylis is watching the Lions, Smith is at Guildford. A pat on the back for any greater/lesser spottings.

Lions update: India A 85 for 3 - the most striking thing to report so far is Ben Foakes’ catch to dismiss Mayank Agarwal. And Ryan Patel comes on from his lucky end!

Durham are 9 for 1, with Cameron Steel the man out, b Jofra Archer for two lovely, but inadequate, fours. Here’s Arundel looking charming anyway.

WICKET! Davies caught at gully off Clarke for 9. 69 for 5. At this rate Smith’s not going to see Virdi bowl, unless of course we’re mistaken and he came instead to see the old warhorse at his old hunting ground.

This, remember, is a second-string Surrey side.

And Morkel takes the ball from the pavilion end for the first time...

Morne Morkel’s wife is bowling at her little boy to the side of the pavilion... while Durham complete their morning’s work and prepare to follow-on. They seem to play better on days 3 and 4 but even they can’t get out of this one. Can they?

A (below) picture of Danny Lamb - English cricket’s first concussion substitute. I can’t do better than Mes’s “Lamb’s to the Slaughter” but I just hope they’re all nice to him. Not debut of dreams, but a debut nonethless.

At New Road, Lancashire have taken a couple of wickets but Cox and Whitely are hitting to and over the boundary boards, a bit of fun before the serious stuff begins.

Matthew Milnes is out at Chelmsford, a second for Quinn. Notts: 62 for 2 with a lead of 236. And ANOTHER at Guildford where Abell is flumoxed into inadequacy by Dernbach for 5. 40 for 4.

No wickets yet at Tunbridge Wells, where Zak Crawley has moved onto 67, or Swansea. Durham now 9 down, having lost five for seven runs so far this morning.

All these wickets-a-tumble on a hot day are proving a bit much to keep on top of. But let’s try: a wicket at Grace Road, where near first-innings double-century maker Ackermann was bowled by Harris for 2. Harris’s second of the innings.

And another wicket here at Guildford, George Bartlett has a wafty drive at Dernbach and is caught for 7. Commiserations and a little wave to all the BTL-ers who’ve made the journey today. Oh my Lord, there goes another, next ball, Byrom c Jacks b Morkel, 19. 33/3

And Lancashire get a wicket! Brett D’Oliveria lbw to Bailey for 22. Crumbs from the table, crumbs from the table...

England Lions team: Lions team: Gubbins, Kohler-C (debut), Hain, Livingstone, Mullaney (c, debut), Foakes, Dawson, Jordan, Topley, Helm, Fisher (debut). India A won the toss and will bat.

Durham on the slide too, can they really have lost three wickets this morning? Er, yes they can - three in seven balls, two ducks and the one batsman with a chance of holding the innings together out for 90.

Oh Somerset, not living the dream. Renshaw pinned back on his stumps, lbw for 2. 18/1

Another game to keep your eye on is the Lions v India A at Derby, a young team full of superstars schooled at the IPL against a strong young England.

With more lip-smacking weather around the country, a handful of games could finish today. Here at Guildford, Somerset will have to bat much better to take the game into the fourth day, and they’re up against Morne Morkel, four-wicket Rikki Clarke, Ed-Smith watching Amar Virdi and magic man Ryan Patel, swinging the ball this way again in practice this morning. At The County Ground, it’s all over bar the shouting, Gloucester have recovered well after their nightmare of a first innings, but with two wickets in hand they only lead Northants by 25. Much sympathy for Wantage Road administrators, who will miss out on the Friday night crowd.

Lancashire’s batting will have a chance to right a basket-ful of wrongs at New Road where presumably Worcestershire will declare sometime today, with the lead already 478. Kent will hope to wrap things up at Tunbridge Wells against Warwickshire - though the pitch should prove easier for Warwickshire too second innings. Durham’s batsmen have a lot to do at Arundel, while Nottinghamshire’s batsmen should bat Essex out of the match today at Chelmsford. Leicester are on top at Grace Road, though they start today at 0 for 1. Things are more even in the pink-ball game at The Ageas and at Swansea.