County Championship: James Fuller stars as Hampshire claim crushing win over Northamptonshire
- Planet Sport writer
- 22 April 2023
From a crushing Hampshire victory to a brilliant Zak Crawley innings, there was certainly a lot of action in the County Championship.
Hampshire sealed the biggest County Championship innings win in their history as James Fuller helped skittle Northamptonshire twice in the space of just three hours at Wantage Road.
It brought Hampshire victory by an innings and 270 runs and an unwelcome place in the history books for the hosts - their eighth heaviest defeat against any county opposition.
Following on after being bundled out for 149 before lunch - Hampshire had declared their first innings on 482 for eight - Northamptonshire were all out for 63 in their second innings on day three of this LV= Insurance County Championship encounter.
Fuller bagged the hosts' final four first-innings wickets in the morning session - including a spell of four for nine - to add to the two he took on Friday evening to finish with six for 37.
Zak Crawley's superb 170 helped Kent to 342 for seven on day three against Essex at Canterbury, a deficit of 109.
The England batter made his highest-ever score for Kent as the hosts avoided following on despite four for 141 from Simon Harmer.
Earlier, Nick Browne hit 159 before Essex declared on 451 for five. Tom Westley made 148 and Michael Pepper was unbeaten on 52.
Somerset trail Lancashire by 72 runs after reaching 41 without loss in their second innings at Taunton having taken advantage of a lucky break.
Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings looked set to post a huge total and forge a substantial first-innings lead for his side when he was forced to retire on 189 due to a hamstring injury before lunch.
Somerset bowlers Lewis Gregory and Peter Siddle took three for 81 and three for 97 respectively as Lancashire - dismissed for 554 - were restricted to a lead of 113.
Stuart Broad claimed four wickets and Joe Clarke made a valuable half-century as Nottinghamshire put themselves in contention to push for a final-day victory over Middlesex at Lord's.
England paceman Broad finished with four for 68 as Middlesex, having started day three on 111 for two, were dismissed for 274 to leave Nottinghamshire with a first-innings advantage of 90.
The visitors then extended that lead to 248 by the close of play and, with four wickets still in hand, they will hope to make rapid progress on Sunday morning as they chase a second win of the season.
Middlesex's bowlers made a crucial late breakthrough though when Ryan Higgins trapped Clarke lbw for 52 with the final ball of the day as the visitors went to stumps on 158 for six.
In Division Two, Yorkshire closed in on their first victory in a year as they reached 138 for three in their second innings, needing 63 on the final day against Sussex at Hove.
After restricting Sussex to 137 in their second innings, Yorkshire gave themselves a victory target of 201.
Finlay Bean, Saud Shakeel and Dawid Malan all failed to reach double figures before Adam Lyth (69 not out) and Shai Hope (53 not out) added an unbroken 99 for the fourth wicket to put their team in control.
In Cardiff, Durham's Brydon Carse hit a career-best 91 in his side's first innings total of 471 for nine declared and Glamorgan trail by 318 runs having closed on 153 for five.
Carse and Liam Trevaskis put on 128 runs - a seventh-wicket record stand for Durham against Glamorgan - before the visiting seamers took five wickets to put them in complete control.
Gloucestershire hold a commanding 246-run lead with seven wickets remaining after closing on 172 for three in their second innings against Worcestershire at New Road.
Ajeet Singh Dale's career-best six for 41 and half-centuries from Chris Dent and James Bracey steered Gloucestershire into a powerful position going into the final day.
Dale notched his first five-for in first-class cricket by picking up the final three wickets on the third morning before Dent (66 not out) and Bracey (51) extended Gloucestershire's advantage.
