Hick continues great form

Hick scored yet another first class hundred

Nottinghamshire v Worcs
Worcs 354-7 at close of play

Graeme Hick took advantage of the extended absence of Shoaib Akhtar to register his third first-class century of the summer at Trent Bridge.

The captain manoeuvered his side towards a sizeable first-innings total with 122, his 111th first-class hundred.

Nottinghamshire's seamers toiled manfully but the lack of variation counted against them.

Shoaib is still hampered by a side strain and was restricted to 12th man duties for this fixture.

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Derbyshire v Surrey
Derby 181-9 at close of play, Surrey 138

Tim Munton took seven wickets on a dramatic day in which 19 wickets fell at Derby.

Munton claimed 7-34 in 19.5 overs as Surrey were skittled for just 138 after electing to bat.

However the visitors hit back to reduce Derbyshire to 94-6 before Mathew Dowman and Dominic Cork tilted the balance back towards the home side.

Alex Tudor, with five wickets, had the hosts reeling, but Dowman (69) and Cork (35) took their lead to 43 at the close

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Durham v Yorkshire
Durham 189, Yorks 105-1 at close of play

Batsman Michael Vaughan gave England some welcome news by marking his return from a broken finger with a composed unbeaten half-century.

Vaughan struck three fours in one over from Durham's 20-year-old seamer Marc Symington, brought in because of injury to Simon Brown and John Wood.

Earlier Matthew Hoggard became the first Yorkshire bowler to take a five wicket championship haul this year.

After an unsuccessful opening burst he took wickets in consecutive overs

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Lancashire v Hampshire
Lancs 269, Hants 95 and 45-3 at close of play

Andy Flintoff bounced back to form with a half-century for Lancashire as Hampshire slid towards another defeat.

Flintoff struck 73 from 108 balls as Lancashire secured a first innings lead of 174.

The England all-rounder shared a stand of 129 for the fourth wicket after they batted through the morning session.

The visitors, who were skittled out for 95 on Wednesday, then slumped to 45-3 in their second innings and need 129 to avoid their third innings defeat.

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Somerset v Kent
Somerset 295, Kent 261 and 4-1 at close of play

Keith Parsons led the way with a battling 62 as Somerset established a first-innings lead of 34 over Kent.

The home side were bowled out for 295 shortly before the close, with young seamer David Masters returning 5-55.

Kent were left with just three overs to bat at the start of their second innings, but lost opener David Fulton in reducing the deficit by four runs.

England seamer Andy Caddick produced a typically awkward lifting delivery that flew off the edge to gully.

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Sussex v Middlesex
Middlesex 340-8 at close of play

Half-centuries from skipper Justin Langer and Owais Shah and a season's best 54 not out by David Nash helped Middlesex to a useful 340-8.

They suffered an early shock when Mark Ramprakash fell for a duck off only his third ball with just five on the board.

Robin Martin-Jenkins, following match figures of 8-122 in the ten-wicket thrashing of Glamorgan, captured 4-65 as Sussex tried seven bowlers.

Nash added a useful 59 in 11 overs for the eight wicket with Angus Fraser.

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Gloucestershire v Essex
Gloucs 268, Essex 263 and 22-2 at close of play

Matt Windows hit the ninth first class century of his career to secure Gloucestershire a narrow five-run lead over Essex.

Windows, after a narrow escape in the slips early on, plundered 20 boundaries in making 107.

Mark Ilott took 3-67 and Danny Law had 3-70 for the visitors.

Then in the eight remaining overs the home side removed opener Paul Prichard and nightwatchman Mark Hyam to leave Essex on 22-2 - a lead of 17.