Cricket / Round-Up: Johnson whacks the shine off Kent

KNOCKING off the odd 167 in one-day games is becoming almost an everyday occurrence, writes Mark Burton. Hard on the heels of Robin Smith's vain attempt to end England's losing streak at Edgbaston came Paul Johnson's spectacular innings at Trent Bridge yesterday in Nottinghamshire's AXA Equity & Law League victory over Kent.

Johnson joined forces with his captain, Tim Robinson, in a scintillating, unbroken second- wicket stand of 213 off 28 overs as Kent's 264 was overhauled with more than 14 overs to spare. His 167 came off 106 balls and included seven sixes and 20 fours. It was a bit tough on Trevor Ward, who had underpinned Kent's innings with 131.

A Gloucestershire win at Bristol looked unlikely when Dean Hodgson was joined by his captain, Tony Wright, at 38 for 3 with Durham's total of 215, built on 91 from Graeme Fowler, looking a long way off. But he and Wright put on 135 and when Wright departed for 61, Hodgson was aided by Jack Russell.

Runs were harder to come by at Chelmsford where Derbyshire stayed among the early-season leaders by beating Essex by two wickets with only four balls to spare. The ninth-wicket pair of Matt Vandrau and Simon Base took Derbyshire to their target with a stand of 31 off 25 balls.

Yorkshire beat Hampshire by 30 runs at Southampton, where Richie Richardson, with 81, outshone his fellow West Indian, Malcolm Marshall, who led the Hampshire scorers with 59.

Elsewhere, Nick Cook took 4 for 22 as Northamptonshire beat Glamorgan and Worcestershire's Steve Lampitt and Neal Radford took three wickets apiece in the defeat of Somerset.