Fleming guides Nottinghamshire home
A round-up of of the latest action from the County Championship
Division One
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Kent face a final-day battle for survival after Hampshire ground them down at Canterbury. John Crawley extended his overnight 113 into 189 then Dimitri Mascarenhas struck a career-best 131 off 151 balls. He added 174 - and took five fours off one over from Dwayne Bravo - with Nic Pothas while Shane Warne flung the bat with impressive effect before calling his team in - 269 ahead - so they could have a dart at Kent's top order. David Fulton and Robert survived 12 overs but the real fight starts tomorrow where Warne and Shaun Udal will be a major threat.
Stephen Fleming guided Nottinghamshire to a vital six-wicket win against Durham at Chester-le-Street which eased their relegation worries and pulled the home side into the bottom two. The match had been dominated by the seamers, with 25 wickets falling yesterday, and Nottinghamshire's target of 214 was looking steep as they slipped to 86 for 4. But Fleming was joined by Samit Patel and the pair formed the highest stand of the match - worth an unbeaten 128 - to carry their side comfortably across the line.
Division Two
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Essex's lower-order clobbered vital runs in the morning session before Ronnie Irani declared on 399 for 8 on the third day against Somerset at Garon's Park. Irani (61) was only one of two who passed fifty, but James Foster (39), James Middlebrook (24) and Tim Phillips (29) played confidently to set Somerset a near-impossible 519 to win. And they began well, too, with Neil Edwards (20) and Matthew Wood (50) putting on 57 for the opening wicket. Essex struck back late in the day, though, to leave Somerset in the precarious position of 203 for 4 with one day to go.