County Championship round-up: Steve Magoffin becomes leading wicket-taker as Sussex beat Northamptonshire

Steve Magoffin of Sussex celebrates with team mate Luke Wells (Getty Images)

Bowler of the day

Sussex could not have asked for better value from an overseas player than Steve Magoffin has delivered in three years on the South Coast. The tall Australian pace bowler became the clear leading wicket-taker in the First Division with match figures of 8 for 40 as Northamptonshire slumped to their sixth defeat by an innings this season.

Magoffin had taken 5 for 12 as the visitors were bowled out for 116 in their first innings and three more wickets as they were dismissed for 205 following on. The 34-year-old has 169 first-class wickets since he joined Sussex in 2012 and his tally of 47 for the season is bettered only by Worcestershire’s Saeed Ajmal. Yorkshire’s Jack Brooks (45) and Lancashire’s Tom Smith (42) are Magoffin’s closest pursuers among First Division bowlers.

Batsman of the day

Dawid Malan’s unbeaten 154 against Northamptonshire last week ended a wait of almost two years for a Championship century for Middlesex but now he has two in nine days after making 124 against Somerset at Uxbridge, taking advantage of a drop on 55 when Peter Trego failed to hold a difficult return catch. Malan eventually fell when he was caught behind off Alfonso Thomas. He shared a stand of 59 with Paul Stirling, who added a further 40 with Toby Roland-Jones before being bowled by Craig Overton for 56, helping Middlesex recover from 220 for 5 to 338 all out. Somerset lost openers Marcus Trescothick and Chris Jones cheaply, both dismissed by Steven Finn.

Extras

The Kent fast bowler Mitch Claydon followed his 5 for 77 with the ball with a career-best 77 with the bat against Leicestershire at Grace Road, hitting 14 fours and a six to give his side a lead of 85 on first innings.