Essex maintain pole position

Essex maintained their hold on top spot in division one with a 67-run victory against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Tim Phillips took a career-best 4 for 25 after Essex had fallen just short of 200. However 197 represented a decent recovery from 70 for 5 and was down to Ryan ten Doeschate's 63-ball 48, along with useful contributions from Andy Flower and James Middlebrook. Warwickshire fell to 80 for 6 and couldn't find anyone to repeat ten Doeschate's effort, although Alex Loudon threatened with 33 before he was last out.

An unbroken stand of 62 between James Franklin and Ryan Watkins guided Glamorgan to a five-wicket win against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. This was the match brought forward a day in case an International XI was needed to face England in the Twenty20. The game was all but decided with the first 20 overs as Nottinghamshire sank to 56 for 7 against some useful seam bowling. Samit Patel hit a fine 81, to lead a recovery of sorts, but they failed by more than six overs to bat out their allocation. However, when Glamorgan stuttered to 70 for 5 the home side had a sniff until Franklin and Watkins played sensibly to seal the win.

Lou Vincent cracked an 87-ball 106 as Worcestershire overpowered Somerset by a monstrous 160 runs at Taunton. Vincent's ton was the backbone of Worcestershire's impressive 268 for 6, while Graeme Hick and Roger Sillence provided the late acceleration with a stand of 76. In reply Somerset crashed after Zaheer Khan claimed two early wickets in two balls. The spinners then shared eight wickets between them with Vikram Solanki claiming a one-day best 4 for 14.

Kent eased to a seven-wicket victory over Derbyshire at Canterbury after a robust half-century from Robert Key and Geraint Jones's 49. They were only chasing a modest 163, but lost both openers with just five on the board. However, Jones and Key added 87 before Matt Walker arrived to help finish the job. Earlier, the Kent bowlers had performed impressively to restrict Derbyshire, as only Steve Stubbings made much impression with 57.

Hampshire produced a professional display as they downed Leicestershire by 45 runs at Grace Road. Their total of 239 for 5 was based around a stand of 132 between Michael Carberry and Chris Benham, then Dominic Thornely and Dimitri Mascarenhas hit-out late on. Mascarenhas and Chris Tremlett knocked the top of Leicestershire's chase meaning John Sadler's quick-fire 68 came too late. Tremlett finished with 4 for 35.

Mark Ramprakash's unbeaten 106 enabled Surrey to close the gap on Gloucestershire at the top of division two with an overwhelming 75-run win over Yorkshire at The Oval. Ramprakash faced 101 balls and added 66, 85 and 60 for the second, third and fourth wickets. Mark Butcher, Azhar Mahmood and Jon Batty provided the big-hitting. Yorkshire quickly slumped to 15 for 3 and the remainder of the match was mainly notable for Chris Schofield's first first-team action since he left Lancashire in 2004. He has been having trails with the second XI with a view to finding a contract for next season.