Bowler leads fightback

Durham lead Somerset by 85 runs at Chester-le-Street, in the First Division where the veterans Peter Bowler, with 107, and Graham Rose, with an unbeaten 82, guided the visitors away from the perils of 88 for 6 to 280 - a first-innings deficit of 12. John Wood claimed five wickets before Durham managed 73 for 3 second time around.

Durham lead Somerset by 85 runs at Chester-le-Street, in the First Division where the veterans Peter Bowler, with 107, and Graham Rose, with an unbeaten 82, guided the visitors away from the perils of 88 for 6 to 280 - a first-innings deficit of 12. John Wood claimed five wickets before Durham managed 73 for 3 second time around.

Kent also staged a fightback at Canterbury, declaring on 251 for 9 against Derbyshire thanks to an unbeaten 80 from Paul Nixon and 60 from Min Patel after Kevin Dean had almost single-handedly reduced the home side to 111 for 7.

The left-arm paceman Dean took a career-best 8 for 52 and Derbyshire reached stumps at 54 without loss - an 82-runadvantage.

In the Second Division the one-day specialists Gloucestershire did not fare so well in the longer version of the game, folding for 184 to leave Worcestershire well-placed in the leading pack.

Jason Brown won the battle of the spinners and proved to be the match-winner at Edgbaston, the Northamptonshire off-spinner claiming 6 for 90 - for an 11-wicket match haul - as previously unbeaten Warwickshire were beaten by 54 runs.

Brown's contribution outweighed that of left-arm twirler Ashley Giles, who also claimed 11 victims in the match, with the home side dismissed for 204.

Captain Neil Smith - who had earlier taken 5 for 66 - threatened an unlikely counter-attack with 67 as Warwickshire rallied from 48 for 6 but Brown ultimately had the last word.

Wavell Hinds warmed up for this week's third Test against England with an eye-catching 150 for West Indies against Leicestershire in the drawn match at Grace Road yesterday.

Ridley Jacobs struck a fluent 78 and Franklin Rose hit 41 off 31 balls, then took 2 for 8 in four overs as Leicestershire slipped to 26 for 3 in their second innings, after which the teams shook hands on a draw.