Financially-challenged Sussex wiped out their 12-point deduction at the first time of asking as the opening round of Rothesay County Championship fixtures concluded on Monday.
With reigning champions Nottinghamshire and perennial challengers Surrey both held to draws, it was Paul Farbrace’s Sussex who followed early pace-setters Essex by securing a handsome 222-run win over top-flight newcomers Leicestershire.
Starting the campaign rooted to the bottom – due to their off-field issues – they finished 10 points to the good with a career-best showing from Henry Crocombe to the fore.
Crocombe took the last two wickets to fall as Hampshire were rounded up for 258, completing a maiden five-wicket haul and outstanding match figures of nine for 69.
At Edgbaston, Jamie Smith reeled off a first century since his troubled Ashes campaign as he and out-of-favour England batter Dan Lawrence made hay to ease Surrey to a draw against Warwickshire.
Smith was exposed by Australia over the winter and was an early casualty on the opening day in Birmingham but he made the most of his second innings, turning an unbeaten fifty overnight into 132.
He and Lawrence (161no) shared a mammoth stand of 217 for the fourth wicket, with hands shaken on 447 for four.
At Taunton, Somerset declined to set up a finish against 2025 champions Nottinghamshire.
They eventually declared on 407 for five, centurions Tom Kohler-Cadmore (104) and James Rew (122) having been dismissed by Liam Patterson-White.
The visitors reached 140 for three in 45 overs at the crease, with a theoretical target of 417 stifling any chances of a closer finish.
Yorkshire and Glamorgan shared the spoils in a match that could have swung either way in Cardiff, the visitors three wickets away and their opponents getting within 56 runs of a 295-run target.
In Division Two there was a solitary positive result at Lord’s, Middlesex triumphing by an innings and 14 runs over Gloucestershire, just days after a a host of former players issued a scathing open letter criticising the club’s leadership.
They took Gloucestershire’s last seven wickets for 83 runs on day four, Ryan Higgins with three for just 18, as the away side crumbled for 215 in their follow-on.
England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson missed out on victory in his first match as Lancashire’s first-class captain by a single wicket.
Northamptonshire looked certain to succumb as they lost their seventh wicket with just under 50 overs remaining in the day but their tail forged a valiant resistance.
Anderson, now 43, took it on himself to remove Lewis McManus and Louis Kimber and put his side within one ball of victory but nobody could get the best of a battling George Bartlett. He ended up 95 not out in a four-and-a-half hour rearguard to scrape a draw for his side.
Durham ran out of time to force home their advantage over Kent after losing the third day at Chester-le-Street to the impact of Storm Dave.
Declaring nine down with a lead of 356 they removed under-fire Test opener Zak Crawley for 20, lbw for the second time to international team-mate Matthew Potts, but finished five wickets short of finishing the job.
Tawanda Muyeye hit an unbeaten 109 in a stumps total of 254 for five.
Worcestershire held on at Derbyshire, closing on 314 for seven after being asked to bat again with Shoaib Bashir claiming one for 55 in 27 overs.
PA
