Lancashire extended their lead at the top of the LV= County Championship Division One to 27 points by hurrying to a 10-wicket demolition of Hampshire on the third morning at the Rose Bowl.
Kyle Hogg, who took seven first-innings wickets, claimed four more today as the hosts’ remaining five fell in 15 overs, leaving the Red Rose seven for victory.
Resuming on 163 for five - 32 behind - Hampshire lost Nic Pothas for nought, opener Benny Howell bowled for three more than his overnight 68, Dimitri Mascarenhas lbw and Dominic Cork - all to Hogg, who finished with 4-31 and match figures of 11-59 in 31 overs. Gary Keedy ended the innings by bowling David Griffiths with the total 201.
Paul Horton twice struck Cork for four in the only three further balls faced by unbeaten Lancashire, who have now won five out of six games this season.
Durham, who sat joint-second heading into this round of fixtures, have already claimed eight bonus points from their match against Warwickshire and would move to within three points of Lancashire should they claim victory at Edgbaston.
The north-east county were held up by rain today but still managed to make significant strides towards claiming a fourth win of the season.
Warwickshire failed to add to their overnight score of 186 for nine and trailed by a whopping 416 runs on first-innings.
Only 14 overs were possible thereafter, during which the hosts, following on, slumped to 35 for three. All-rounder Ben Stokes added two wickets, including the scalp of Mohammad Yousuf for a king pair, to his four in the first innings.
Somerset came up against determined resistance from Yorkshire on the third day of their match at Taunton, although two late wickets for Arul Suppiah left the visitors in a position of peril.
After a delayed start, Marcus Trescothick’s side resumed on 389 for six, a lead of 31, and added a further 63 before being dismissed.
James Hildreth was the last man to fall, having struck 87 from 125 deliveries, while Adil Rashid finished with 4-100 for Yorkshire.
Joe Root moves past 50 as Yorkshire look to fight back at Taunton. Two late wickets for Arul Suppiah dented the visitors' progress
Joe Root and Andrew Gale both registered half-centuries in Yorkshire’s second-innings and the in-form Bairstow reached stumps on 80 not out.
However, Suppiah struck twice in the penultimate over of the day to remove Gary Ballance and Steven Patterson as the White Rose stumbled to 249 for six, a lead of 155.
Each of the four Division Two fixtures were affected by rain to varying degrees.
The weather came to Surrey’s rescue at the Kia Oval after they conceded a first-innings lead of 135 to Glamorgan.
Surrey were bowled out for 284 on a rain-interrupted third morning, having started the day on 240 for six, with Chris Ashling claiming career-best figures of 4-47.
However, Glamorgan could only reach 46 without loss in their second innings before further showers brought play to a premature halt.
Derbyshire were also frustrated by showers at Canterbury as they looked to set Kent a challenging final-day target.
The visitors ended day three on 85 for one, leading by 193, with first-innings centurions Wayne Madsen and Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 43 and 32.
Kent had earlier progressed from 198 for four to 352 all out, thanks to a series of useful contributions from the tail. Tim Groenewald was the pick of Derbyshire’s attack with figures of 4-64.
Only 31.5 overs were possible at Chelmsford, where Middlesex dismissed Essex for 291 to claim a first-innings advantage of 94.
The visitors then moved on to 39 for one, thanks largely to a quickfire unbeaten 32 from Chris Rogers, but appear to be running out of time in their bid to force victory.
Not a single ball was bowled at Wantage Road, where Leicestershire are 53 ahead of leaders Northamptonshire with all 10 second-innings wickets still intact.
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