County cricket: Surrey v Nottinghamshire, Somerset v Durham, and more – live | Cricket

Sound the alarm: Surrey have lost a wicket! Jordan Clark is the man who’s been dismissed, Liam Patterson-White snaffling a caught-and-bowled to dismiss him for 53. It was starting to look like a procession for the Surrey duo. Cameron Steel has joined Sudharsan.

Lancashire have finally bowled Hampshire out. Phew. Abbas falls to Wells to leave Dawson stranded on 104*. Their 389 is way more than Lancs would have bargained for, mind. The hosts have a major job on their hands at OT.

Another hundred has been notched up! George Hill flags Tom Helm to the leg side to bring up three figures – and his partnership with Bairstow is now worth more than 200.

Elsewhere in Division Two, Sussex have happily gone on to 471-6 with John Simpson marshalling the lower order. Glamorgan’s third wicket pair of Colin Ingram and Kiran Carlson have taken them to 167-2. And in Div One, Essex have lost Robin Das but are 117-2 in reply to Worcestershire and Warwickshire are in total control of Kent, 274-4.

High Peak Geek corrects me BTL on my assertion that Dawson has frustrated Lancashire today:

Sorry Dominic, as a Lancs fan I think I speak for most of us when I say it is, as usual, Lancashire who have frustrated us no end.

I’m going to grab a quick coffee and then I’ll scoot around the grounds and update you on goings-on. How many will Dawson finish on?

A century for Liam Dawson! This has been a masterful display of batting with the tail. He’s gone from 46 to 100 in this first hour, with two sixes seeing him rapidly through the 90s. He’s frustrated Lancashire no end this morning.

Ah … Surrey have actually missed out on 400 within the 110 overs needed for points. They’re 398-5. Only a minor source of frustration for Alec Stewart’s boys, I’m sure.

Somerset have passed 450, which means maximum batting points – and they still have Craig Overton to come. A reminder that they started this game 35 points behind Surrey, with Essex a further three points back. Both counties would dearly love Surrey – who are approaching 400, still for five – to lose. But Surrey don’t tend to bother with that losing lark.

Jordan Clark has raced to 43, blunting Notts with a couple of straight sixes, and it’s all looking rather serene for Surrey this morning. Surrey 386-5.

There’s sure to be a few declarations in the minds of captains at the moment. Who will be first to call their lads in? (Probably not Rory Burns, to be fair).

Lancashire have allowed Liam Dawson to totally dictate matters this morning, dominating the strike to protect Mohammad Abbas and brutally hitting finding the boundary almost at will. The Hampshire all-rounder, on his 200th first-class appearance, is 77 not out.

Yorkshire are the latest side to bring their 400 up. Boy there are some runs about in this round of fixtures. YJB goes on his merry way to 122 and George Hill, with him, is not out on 70.

Kent picked up the early scalp of (England’s) Jacob Bethell, but Will Rhodes has since gone past a hundred, with Ed Barnard joining him. Warwickshire’s lead is growing and Kent’s spell in Division One looks, in the words of Alan Partridge, moribund.

Farhan Ahmed, who was born in 2008(!), is still wheeling away for Nottinghamshire. He’s eyeing a five-for on first-class debut, but Sudharsan and Clark have looked wholly untroubled this morning. Ominous signs for Surrey’s rivals.

22 February 2008, to be precise. What major cricket events are older than Farhan Ahmed then?

Goodness me, Gus Atkinson has a Test century! He’d only hit three first-class 50s for Surrey before …

Hundred and out for James Rew! He was looking to bustle things along this morning for Somerset, who have passed 400 against Durham, but the young keeper-bat has steered one straight to slip off Brydon Carse, two balls after bringing up his ton. 417-7 with the home side eyeing maximum batting points.

Notts are managing to keep the Surrey duo fairly quiet this morning. The defending champions have reached the 100-over mark on 343-5, which means they only have only 10 overs to score their batting points. Can they reach 400?

“A bright light in the gloom of pretty much everything else,” is my favourite comment BTL so far, via bewilderedpenguin. That’s cricket.

Fifty for Liam Dawson. He gets there with a lofted drive over cover with Lancashire desperately trying to get Hampshire’s last wicket this morning, and get batting. I’m excited to see how Rocky Flintoff fares with the bat later.

Thank you for your lovely introduction messages BTL, I’m humbled. The comments on my articles aren’t usually so nice …

Surrey having India white-ball international Sai Sudharsan at No 6 in the Championship is a cheat code, isn’t it? He’s in with Jordan Clark looking to add quick runs this morning.

We’re minutes away from the start of play around the country, with little to no threat of rain, I’m happy to report.

There’s a bit of chat about the Gloucestershire v Northants abandonment BTL, understandably. Ricardo Vasconcelos went to hospital with a suspected broken figure before his teammate Rob Keogh was also hit on the hand by a rising delivery from Ajeet Singh Dale.

Northants have been given 11 points for a draw, with Gloucestershire getting nil points. There’s also the possibility the home side could get a further sanction given their pitch was deemed unsafe. Will bring you more as/when we get it.

Jonny Bairstow was doing Jonny Bairstow things yesterday. He doesn’t take kindly to being dropped, that man, which is all to his credit frankly. Whether you think he still warrants an England spot or not, he remains a fine batter.

There is a Test match going on today, of course. Taha Hashim is all over the updates as Gus Atkinson eyes an unlikely Test century.

Scores on the doors

Preamble