Warwickshire in a commanding position after day one at Emirates Old Trafford against Lancashire in the County Championship when Chris Benjamin and Sam Hain scored centuries; Joe Clarke helped Notts get off to a good start at Somerset and Middlesex’s Robbie White pulled off a top-notch ton.
Chris Benjamin marked his County Championship debut with a century for Warwickshire against Lancashire
Chris Benjamin made a hundred on his Championship debut and Sam Hain reached his first century in red ball cricket for over two years, while Warwickshire dominated the first day of his LV = Insurance County Championship match in Lancashire.
The third wicket pair shared an association of 237 and while Benjamin fell to Saqib Mahmood by 127, the visitors were still well placed at 259-3 on the stumps.
Hain had progressed to 113 not out when the bad light ended the game nine times early at Emirates Old Trafford.
Joe Clarke led the way with half a century as Nottinghamshire won day one honors in the Division One game with Somersault in Taunton. Scorecard Somerset vs Nottinghamshire
The visitors ran 282-6 after losing the toss, Clarke made 59 and Liam Patterson-White contributed a belligerent 46 no out.
There were two wickets apiece for Jack Brooks and Tom Abell as a frazzled seam attack from Somerset held firm and kept control of the scoring rate.
By the time the bad light ended the day’s game 7.2 overs early, Patterson-White and Tom Moores (26 no-outs) had added 74 precious runs for the seventh wicket.
Gary Ballance continued his Ageas Bowl love story by helping Yorkshire finish an opening day of attrition from the Division One clash against Hampshire at 197-6. Hampshire vs Yorkshire scorecard
Ballance, who has scored more than 1,000 runs at the Southampton venue, including a test maximum of 156, scored 42 hard-fought runs in conditions tailor-made for sewing bowling to admirably keep the innings together alongside Dom Bess.
Bess hit the last ball of the day for four to be undefeated at 45 before the bad light brought the game to a close 10 overs before the scheduled close.
Robbie White hit his virgin first-class century to rescue Middlesex from a disastrous start against Derbyshire on the opening day of the championship clash. Scorecard Middlesex vs Derbyshire
The Seaxes stumbled to 14-3 – all lbw – after opting to hit at Lord’s as Derbyshire locksmiths Sam Conners and Luis Reece made the most of the opening move in cloudy conditions.
But White, who had previously gone 50 six times without posting a ton, including 99 against Kent last year, finally achieved that milestone by leading the Middlesex fight, hitting an undefeated 101 to lift them to 218-5.
Dan Lawrence had red ball practice before joining the England team later this week while he and Shane Snater helped out. Essex in a commanding position on the first day of his match against Glamorgan. Glamorgan vs Essex scorecard
Returning to Sophia Gardens Stadium, where they had been beaten five wickets by Glamorgan in the Royal London Cup semi-finals, Essex cut the home side to 59-6 at lunch in the Division Two clash, before sacking them 134 Snater took six wickets for 39 runs.
Lawrence (29), named to England’s team for Test four against India on Thursday, enjoyed an unbeaten partnership of 51 for the third wicket after the visitors lost Sir Alastair Cook and captain Tom Westley early in their response from the first entry.
Jack Carson hit 81, the best of his career, not to lead a strong comeback by the Sussex lower order on the first day of the match with Worcestershire on New Road. Worcestershire vs Sussex scorecard
Carson hit the wicket with the visitors at 138-7 and hit four sixes and nine fours to help Sussex rebound to 254-9 from 79.4 overs when bad light stopped the day’s game.
He received excellent support from Danial Ibrahim (48) and Henry Crocombe (nine) in the 45 and 66 stands to guide the visitors to two hitting points.
Adam Rossington’s undefeated 66 rescued Northamptonshire on a cold gray day in Bristol with visitors reaching 232-5 on stumps after Gloucestershire won the raffle. Scorecard Gloucestershire vs Northants
The Northants were down to 147-5 before Captain Rossington turned his fourth half century of the summer.
He and Harry Gouldstone, who made 32 no-outs, steadily led the visitors to an early close, with 25 overs chalked on the day due to bad lighting.
A last wicket association of 68 helped Kent bounce from 116-7 against Leicestershire before picking up five wickets in the final session to finish firmly on top after an entertaining first day at UptonSteel County Ground. Scorecard Leicestershire vs Kent
