Hodge pushes Lancashire forward

Mal Loye pulls during his half-century as Lancashire close in on Nottinghamshire's total at Old Trafford © Getty Images

Division One

Brad Hodge carried the Lancashire reply to Nottinghamshire's 253 after other members of the top order gave away hardworking half-centuries. Iain Sutcliffe and Mal Loye both reached fifty before falling and Stuart Law went for a seven-ball duck to Mark Ealham, who claimed three. But Hodge remained firm and the hopes of a sizeable lead rest with him. Oliver Newby had earlier claimed career-best figures of 4 for 58 to help wrap up the Notts innings.

Middlesex piled up an imposing total against Warwickshire as Ed Smith carried his innings to 166 and there were useful contributions right down the order. Jamie Dalrymple stroked 69 in a stand of 124 with Smith then Nick Compton chipped in with 40. The lower-order flayed the bat with good effect as the Warwickshire bowlers toiled; Daniel Vettori going wicketless on his debut for the county. Warwickshire's day got no better as they lost three top-order wickets in reply to Chad Keegan, who is making his first Championship appearance of the season.

Kent had the upperhand against Hampshire on another rain-affected day at Southampton. The big wicket of John Crawley fell to Robbie Joseph before Dimitri Mascarenhas unleashed some powerful blows. Nic Pothas remained solid as wickets continued to fall and Hampshire will still harbour hopes of a batting point.

Honours were even on a truncated third day at Worcester. The delay was caused by damp run-ups, which frustrated the crowd who were then allowed to inspect conditions for themselves. When play finally got underway, Worcestershire eked out a slender first-innings lead of 13 thanks to Phil Jaques and Kabir Ali, which Glamorgan's batsmen erased without too much trouble. However they suffered the blow of Mark Cosgrove having to retire hurt with a back problem and with their shaky batting can't afford to take a sizeable lead for granted. Even with just a day left there is still every chance of a result.

Varun Chopra coursed to his maiden century on his debut to move Essex just short of Gloucestershire's first-innings total at Chelmsford. Chopra, still a month away from his 19th birthday, became Essex 's second youngest player to make a ton, behind only Stephen Peters. He eventually fell for 106 as Essex were finally bowled out for 388. Gloucestershire made a bright start to their second innings, but slipped from 48 to 0 to 57 for 3, with Andre Adams striking three times in quick succession and they stumbled to the close five down with a lot resting on Ian Harvey.

Matthew Nicholson clubbed a destructive century at No. 9 as Northamptonshire engineered a fine recovery against Derbyshire. Nicholson and Graeme White, the England Under-19 player making his first-class debut, turned the innings around from 232 for 8 with a stand of 127. Ben Phillips then built on the impressive work of the lower order with two early wickets to complete a very satisfactory day for Northants.

Stuart Broad gave produced another display of his promise with a three-wicket burst against Somerset which left Leicestershire with the chance of a lead at Taunton. He tore out Cameron White, James Hildreth and Kevin Parsons as Somerset stumbled to 31 for 4. Arul Suppiah and Ian Blackwell added 98 to steady the innings before Darren Maddy struck a vital late blow. Paul Nixon, with 73, had been the main source of runs for Leicestershire as they extended their total past 250.