Loye rallies Lancashire as support fails to fire

Sri Lanka 456-7 Zimbabwe 199

Mal Loye's century lifted Lancashire to 236 in their First Division County Championship match against Middlesex at Lord's. The former Northamptonshire man hit 101 from 156 balls, including 14 fours and a six, but received little support.

Chad Keegan took five of the wickets - at a cost of 36 runs - for Middlesex, who lost the toss but replied with 78 for 2 before bad light intervened. Sven Koenig and Ben Hutton were out cheaply but Owais Shah, with 34, and Ed Joyce, with 32, remained unbeaten.

There was another one-man show with the bat at Northampton, where Usman Afzaal's unbeaten hundred stalled Sussex's progress. Afzaal scored 102 as the hosts made 294 for 7 before bad light stopped play. Afzaal shared a stand of 88 for the fifth wicket with Graeme Swann (54) and had put on 108 with Ben Phillips, who made 58 not out, at the close. Sussex shared the wickets around, with Jason Lewry and Mushtaq Ahmed taking two each and Mark Davis claiming three for 34.

Gordon Muchall fell six runs short of a century as Durham amassed 332 for 9 on the opening day of their Second Division match with Essex. Essex's Pakistan Test leg-spinner Danish Kaneria took three wickets.

Pacesetters Hampshire were in command at the Rose Bowl after captain Shane Warne won the toss and chose to bat against Derbyshire. Derek Kenway shone with 101 before Nic Pothas (86 not out) and Dmitri Mascarenhas (46) teamed up in a sixth-wicket stand of 119 which was only split near the end of play. Hampshire closed on 333 for 6.

Glamorgan reached 196 for 5 on a rain-interrupted day against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. David Hemp (62 not out), Michael Powell (53) and Matthew Elliott (41) led the way, although from 167 for 2 the hosts hit back on a day which saw only 62.3 overs' action.