Ashwell Prince contributed 43 to Lancashire’s roller-coaster second-innings total of 253 against Gloucestershire in the English County Championship on Tuesday.

Only five batsmen and the extras (29) went into double figures. One of them was not Alviro Petersen, who went early in the day for six. Prince battled on through 88 balls, hitting six fours and sharing a 77-run partnership with Karl Brown for the third wicket.

Gloucestershire were 26-1 at the close, needing 226 for victory.

Richard Levi added just 11 runs to his overnight 157, but it was nonetheless the backbone of Northamtonshire’s first-innings offering of 444 against Essex.

He walked off having hit 21 fours off 231 balls, and the last four wickets went down for 47 runs. Still, it was a healthy lead of 168.

Rory Kleinveldt raised hopes when he took the first Essex wicket with five runs on the board, but by the time he took the second, another 77 had been added.

He added a third, but at the close Essex were 300-3, holding a lead of 132 runs. There will be an interesting declaration.

It was from hero to zero, literally, for Johann Myburgh as Somerset collapsed to 158 and went down by 120 runs to Durham. A disappointing end for Myburgh, particularly, who put Somerset in a good position with a 61 in the first innings. But he was bowled for 0 in the second. No one offered any real resistance. Tim Groenewald  at least took six Durham wickets in the match for Somerset, who were offered a target of 279 with two days to go.

Down at Hove Gareth Berg, can look back with great satisfaction on Hampshire’s six-wicket win over Sussex. His 99 (run out) was a massive boost to Hampshire’s challenging total of 392, one which Sussex were not able to match , especially with Fidel Edwards in top form. He ended with 5-58 as Sussex were bowled out for 266. That left Hampshire with a target of 126 runs, which the reached with six wickets to spare.

Compiled by Mark Salter