County Championship round-up: Joe Root makes the difference for Yorkshire

Ashes watch part one Just as the glass half-empty faction among Yorkshire supporters were wondering if promotion might be a step too far, the young England batsman Joe Root demonstrated his class with a supreme match-winning performance against Durham, leading Yorkshire to a four-wicket victory in the final session at Chester-le-Street with a brilliant 182 that lacked only the winning boundary. That was left to his England team-mate Tim Bresnan, who hit his first ball to the boundary after Root was bowled by Callum Thorp with one run needed. He had shared a stand of 101 with Adil Rashid, dropped twice in his 50 not out.

Compton shows his class

Ashes watch part two Somerset's victory chance against a depleted Warwickshire in a match that concludes today owes much to a 19th career first-class century from Nick Compton, back in the kind of form that underpinned his breakthrough tour of New Zealand, when his two Test centuries gave England a new dimension at the top of the batting order, filling the vacancy left by Andrew Strauss. Compton was unbeaten on 105, having just hit a six off spinner Ateeq Javid, when the Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick declared, setting the champions an unlikely 515 to win.

Crook hits a rich seam

Bowler of the day Australian-born seamer Steven Crook raised his haul of first-class wickets this year to 18 in three matches – equalling his score for the whole of 2012 – by stemming Gloucestershire's lower-order resistance at Bristol yesterday to set up Northants for a second win in three matches.

Out of darkness comes light

Extras Hampshire feared the weather would spite them again against Worcestershire at the Ageas Bowl but after Chris Wood had removed Daryl Mitchell for 92, seamer David Balcombe and left-arm spinner Danny Briggs, bowling under floodlights, sealed victory with two wickets each.