The County Championship is delivering a magnificent season

1. Liam and Fergus lead Essex a merry jig

Almost seven weeks after their last win, reigning champions Nottinghamshire went to Chelmsford to face Essex, who have won three matches in that time. This being the 2026 County Championship, they left with a crushing victory – of course they did – and top spot for the long midsummer break.

Liam Patterson-White, the spin bowling allrounder who has been ignored by England and even by the Lions, dismantled the home side’s lower order en route to match figures of 9-109 off 53 overs, taking wickets and controlling the run rate as Graeme Swann once did for his county.

Jack Haynes’ undefeated century anchored Notts’ reply, but there were runs for Haseeb Hameed up top and Fergus O’Neill and others below, as the visitors’ posted a lead of 273, which proved far too many.

O’Neill, completing his five-match contract with a fivefer to secure the innings win, leaves with 26 wickets at 16.4 and 285 runs at 57.0. The big New Zealand-born Victorian can expect a warm welcome on his return next spring – if he’s not claimed by Cricket Australia first.

2. Cooke and company burn Surrey

Glamorgan were the only other winners in the tight top eight that started the round, walloping Surrey who, in football terms, are close to being labelled a “crisis club”.

The match turned largely on late-order runs. Glamorgan’s slump to 79-6 in their first innings was pretty much matched by Surrey’s 70/6, but the contributions of those last four wickets varied from 279 to 35. The home side got 80 from Colin Ingram, a ton from fellow 40-year-old Chris Cooke, and Mason Crane scored the maiden first-class century he has been threatening all summer long.

As is so often the case, the side invited to follow on made a much better fist of things, Rory Burns notching his first three-figure score of the season and Tom Lawes, called in for a Test-bound Gus Atkinson, joining the rest of the lower order cashing in on a tiring attack.

The always-impressive captain, Kiran Carlson, and wise old owls Ingram and Sean Dickson showed plenty of nous to chase down the 195 that sent their county fourth in the table, just nine points off the top. Who saw that coming?

What the England selectors should see coming is 18-year-old Abergavenny-born Tom Norton, who took a maiden fivefer in the first-innings rout and a couple more in the second dig to give him 21 wickets at 22.8 in his first senior season. He may be a bit raw but, if Sonny Baker is the bar, I suggest he is well clear of it.

The England selectors should be monitoring the 18-year-old Glamorgan bowler Tom Norton.

3. White flag from White Rose

Just when eight counties began to feel a degree of safety, with Hampshire and Leicestershire all but marooned in the two relegation slots, they both won to leave Yorkshire (and plenty more) sleeping a little less easily across July and August.

And it was Yorkshire themselves who got something of a pasting at Grace Road, losing by an innings and 39 runs as Leicestershire won in the top flight for the first time since Tony Blair was prime minister.

Six home bowlers picked up wickets as the visitors were shot out in 55 overs and Leicestershire closed the first day just eight in arrears, three down. Rehan Ahmed and Nick Kelly led the charge with tons on the second day and that long-awaited win was wrapped up on the third, with just some late-order resistance sparing the Tykes’ blushes.

The Foxes’ chances of staying up may depend on Ahmed’s availability for the late-season matches, a top-order bat doubling as a frontline spinner the key to their side’s balance. Yorkshire, with only Joe Root averaging more than 40, clearly need runs. And soon.

4. Hants not pants at last

Two teams whose fortunes have diverged all season flew at each other like angry seagulls in a low-scoring slugfest in Hove.

Sussex had the best of day one, dismissing Hampshire for 191 and then knocking off 121 of those, three down. Day two dawned with seven wickets gone in an hour or so and Hampshire securing an unexpected lead. But the wickets kept falling, the home side knocking over six Hants bats for 66 runs and were big favourites again.

But, as is often the case in a bowlers’ match, the poor sods had to do the batting too, Delano Potgieter and Felix Organ leading the fightback to set the hosts 253 for the win that would take them top. Another horrendous middle- and late-order collapse saw the points go west, as Kyle Abbott added three second-innings scalps to his six in the first innings, 20-year-old pacer Eddie Jack his chief accomplice.

After a tremendous show of resilience this season, Sussex will return in August and face Warwickshire and Somerset – both of whom will be gunning for the pennant. They don’t want to lose those games or their very promising season might unravel quickly.

5. No Stokes? No problem – at least for Durham

Chester-le-Street witnessed a tremendous arm wrestle of a match. Durham beat Northamptonshire with 16 balls to spare to go 32 points clear at the top of Division Two.

With Ben Stokes in the Durham XI (until England withdrew him) the home side looked rather better suited to giving New Zealand a match than the hotchpotch that were sent out at the Oval. That didn’t stop Ricardo Vasconcelos batting seven hours for 187 to put Northants in the box seats, posting 450. The home side lost three quick wickets but Stokes made 95 and inspired plenty of resistance down the order as Durham limited the deficit to 45.

The wholly admirable Matthew Potts was among the wickets as usual, but Durham went out to bat with the task of making 296 in 80 overs – a perfect recipe for exciting cricket.

At 107-4, they were second favourites, but David Bedingham and Colin Ackermann (in for Stokes) have 29 and 28 first-class tons, respectively, and it’s hard to think of a pair more suited to the job at hand than these two South Africans. An unbroken stand of 189 runs got it done.

Ben Stokes was bowled for 95 in Durham’s match against Northamptonshire.

6. Another happy Canterbury tale

When does something stop being news? Kent, after so long in the doldrums, cannot stop winning to the extent that it feels more a “dog bites man” story than a “man bites dog” when they do. Nevertheless, it was another thriller in Division Two as Middlesex fought to the bitter end at the St Lawrence Ground – so that is news enough.

You don’t often get over 400 if your top score is 70 (that from another South African enjoying a fine season, Chris Benjamin) but consistent scores down the card is a sign of strong morale – and that’s what Kent have just now. Sebastian Morgan was the standout bowler, a maiden fivefer his reward.

Middlesex were soon in severe trouble, four down in no time, but Max Holden stood firm for 182 and Zafar Gohar made 95 and a slim lead was secured. Another young Middlesex and England Under-19s bowler, Naavya Sharma, led the effort as Kent were again solid through the card, but lacked the century a match defining innings usually needs. Cue the old stager, Matt Milnes, who knocked over both openers on his way to a five-wicket haul and, despite Gohar again defying the attack, Kent were home with 49 runs to go into the second promotion slot.