Cricket Round-Up: Ramprakash shines with bat and ball

NEXT to the names of Warne and May, write in that of Mark Ramprakash. In one of the more remarkable bowling performances of the day, he helped Middlesex to an eight-wicket victory over Leicestershire. His unbeaten 89 with the bat merely complemented his performance with the ball earlier on: eight overs-worth of occasional off-breaks reaped a return of five wickets for just 38 runs.

Sussex moved up into third position behind Kent and Glamorgan by way of a 29-run win over Worcestershire. They put together an impressive target of 261, thanks to an 86-run haul off 81 balls by Alan Wells, and despite having the innings polished off by a Richard Illingworth hat-trick. Graeme Hick scored 66 in return but Worcestershire fell short with Franklyn Stephenson and Keith Greenfield taking three wickets each.

For thrilling finishes, Cheltenham was the place to be as Gloucestershire snatched a draw with Lancashire by taking three final-over wickets. Lancashire needed just three to pass a total of 202 when Mark Alleyne was brought back to the attack; Mike Watkinson and Warren Hegg were caught and two singles followed before Ian Austin was bowled out looking for the winning single.

Richie Richardson struck his first one-day century for Yorkshire to pave their way to a six-wicket victory over Nottinghamshire. Graeme Fowler was another of yesterday's century-makers, posting his Sunday-best score of 124 to lead Durham to a 112-run win against Derbyshire.

Sri Lanka overcame a first-innings deficit of 95 by scoring 132 for 1 on the fourth day of the third Test against India in Colombo yesterday. Roshan Mahanama regained his form by making an unbeaten 67