2018 County Championship Division One round up, round 2: Runs and wickets galore

Lancashire face yet another loss at Chelmsford

After rain gobbled up the first match at Yorkshire, Essex bounced back to register their first win this season. In a bowling friendly pitch, after both the teams were out for cheap in the first innings, a collective batting display from the hosts notched up their total to 313. Both Harmer and Wesley were sent back a run short of their half-centuries and Foster stood strong for 3 hours, adding 69 to the board. However, Lancashire's bowlers gave away a run more than Bopara's score (26), which played very well to the defending champion's advantage.

Porter bowled a beauty to knock off Hameed's off-stump at the end of the third over, and thus began the second phase of his wickets' quest. The man had shared 10 wickets with Harmer equally in the first innings. Although Davies and Clark tried to give a stand for their team, it was Porter's day and he picked them both in LBWs. Mennie, along with Onions couldn't make much of an impact in this match but scored a crucial half-century in the end. However, Porter had the last laugh, bowling him out to get to a match figure of 9/80.

Essex won by 31 runs (Foster - 7 & 69, Harmer - 10 & 49, Porter - 9/80, Harmer - 6/127)

Youngsters shine at the Taunton

Ed Barnard and Matt Renshaw were arguably the heroes for their sides as Worcestershire wound up with another loss this season. The match that ended with a much dramatic run out by Renshaw, was never in control of the visitors to begin with. A plethora of dropped catches let the win slip away from their hands long before they dreamt of it. Talking of dreams, will this start to ignite hopes in the Somerset fans?

The century by Renshaw in the first innings and by Hildreth in the second were brilliant, of course, but was also heavily dependant on the poor fielding by the promoted team. The hosts themselves experienced some slip-offs in the cordon by the 42-year-old Marcus Trescothick. However, Cameron Bancroft's substitute, Matt Renshaw has been brilliant throughout with his bat and while fielding. He outshone the bolstering all-round performance by Barnard for Worcestershire.

Somerset won by 81 runs (Renshaw - 101 & 7, Hildreth - 48 & 111, Gregory - 7/86, Davey - 5/87)

Virdi's whirlwind traps Hampshire despite Northeast's knock

A brilliant one-handed catch by the Surrey's wicket-keeper Ben Foakes ended Northeast's long, lone struggle to keep Hampshire's hope going. Ending at 163-6 on day three, the team's fight was to survive the next day more than winning the game.

In at 10, Brad Wheal's gutsy 10-run innings for one-and-half hour kept Northeast's company before Matt Dunn bowled the last ball. Virdi trapped Vince and Amla in front of the stumps, and he picked Rossouw on day 4, slimming their chances of getting a draw. The humongous target of 472 was majorly set due to Ollie Pope's 145-run innings followed by Foakes' 81 and Borthwick's 74.

Thus, Surrey marked their first win this season while Hampshire couldn't continue their momentum from the opening round.

Surrey won by 139 runs (Pope - 34 & 145, Foakes - 46 & 81, Curran - 5/83 , Virdi - 4/79)

Ben Coad steers Yorkshire to victory

The last day of the match ended for Nottinghamshire within the first hour of play. With a target of 403 ahead of them, Notts began their final run-chase after tea on day 3. Despite an extension of a half-hour, they lost 8 wickets at the end of the day. Tom Moores and Jake Ball tried their best to resist the loss and managed to put up 66 runs for the ninth wicket.

The same team had lost 4 wickets to score a mere 10 runs against Lancashire in the opening round.

Rain followed Yorkshire from their first match, abandoning it, to eating up almost a session in this game. However, going from 93-5 to 256 in the first innings, and bowling Notts out for 188, Yorkshire have proven their worth with the bat and the ball. Andrew Gale, Yorkshire's coach, praised the partnership between Ballance and Leaning for winning the game. He also believed that the crucial partnerships that they set up at the end of both the innings have benefitted the team a lot.

Yorkshire won by 164 runs (Ballance - 0 & 82, Bresnan - 10 & 68, Coad - 10/130, Brooks - 5/135)