Rose Bowl fails to rise to occasion

The Rose Bowl has attracted many favourable mentions in its first season-and-a-half as a first-class venue. It has already been given one-day international status for 2004, but life did not seem so rosy yesterday after the ECB imposed an eight-point penalty, deeming the pitch used for Hampshire's County Championship Division One match against Lancashire as "poor".

Hampshire, who had drawn their previous six matches, crashed to defeat by 111 runs as neither side managed to reach 200 in either innings of a match that lasted little more than half of its allotted time.

It was a welcome victory for the Red Rose county, who had also failed to win any of their previous six. The home side resumed on 54 for 4, requiring a daunting 185 runs to win, and the innings subsided to 127 all out after only 33.5 overs. John Wood picked up 4 for 17 and the promising fellow pace bowler James Anderson, who turns 20 on Tuesday, added 3 for 27 to his haul of six cheap scalps in the first innings.

Kent rose to second place with a six-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Grace Road, replacing their hosts in the runners-up berth. The win will have boosted Kent's confidence after their excruciating defeat by Surrey at Canterbury last week. Having let the league leaders off the hook in such dramatic fashion, Kent had also seen Leicestershire claw their way back into this game. But resuming on 66 for 1, Kent only needed 127 with nine wickets in hand, and duly reached 193 for 4 with Ed Smith unbeaten on 48.

In Division Two the Derby-shire captain, Dominic Cork, vented his frustration at being omitted from the Lord's Test squad by engineering a 177-run win over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road. First he struck a rapid 88 to lift his side's total from 188 for 6 to 282. A target of 461 was massive and once skipper Mike Hussey, the Australian who was the first to reach 1,000 runs this season, was dismissed first ball of the innings, it effectively became impossible. The lethal new-ball partnership of Cork and Kevin Dean captured the first five wickets, and only Tony Penberthy and Toby Bailey showed staying power with 62 and 50 not out respectively as the hosts succumbed on 283 all out.

Zimbabwe's wicket-keeper Andy Flower produced his most durable innings so far in Essex colours, 172 not out off 317 balls with 24 fours and a six, as his county continued to fight back against Glamorgan at Chelmsford. They had been 344 runs behind on first innings but Flower joined the openers in reaching three figures as Essex successfully achieved a draw on 514 for 4.

Middlesex, the leaders of Division Two, were set a target of 362 after the England left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell completed his one-man demolition of Gloucestershire for 230 at Cheltenham, taking 8 for 66. Ben Hutton made 88 and the South African Sven Koenig hit 53 but the chase ended in a draw on 265 for 5.