- Gloucestershire under pressure
- Bad Light caused an early end at Northamptonshire
- But looking a close game
Day two of the County Championship Division 2 games promised, and delivered so much in both games.
Gloucestershire v Lancashire
Seventeen wickets fell at Bristol as Gloucestershire ended the day on 58-3, trailing by 46 runs. Gloucestershire only added 12 runs to their overnight total, as they were bowled out for 136.
George Balderson added one wicket to his overnight tally to finish with 5-34, and the evergreen Sir Jimmy Anderson took 3-12 in nine overs.
Lancashire started their innings well and got to 140-2, when Keaton Jennings was out for 70. Lancashire then lost eight wickets for 100, as they ended up all out for 240, 104 ahead on first innings.
Matt Taylor starred with the ball, as he took 6-43 in 18.2 overs. Gabe Bell chipped in with 2-56. Gloucestershire then fell to 58-3, still trailing by 46 runs. Miles Hammond (10*) and James Bracey (16*) will be hoping they can get over the deficit and pile on the runs. However, with Jimmy Anderson in top form (1-10 off 6 overs), that might prove to be difficult.
You can read the full scorecard here
Northamptonshire v Middlesex
This is shaping up to be a cracking game, if only the weather would stop interfering. Bad light brought play to an early end again with Northamptonshire 112 runs behind with six wickets remaining.
Middlesex started the day 284-6 with Joe Cracknell and Zafar Gohar looking set for big innings. However, Cracknell only added 13 runs and Gohar only 21 as Middlesex were bowled out for 341.
Ben Sanderson was the star with the ball, as he took 5-62, ably helped by Harry Conway with 3-74.
Northamptonshire were in a little trouble as they were reduced to 98-4, but Nathan McSweeney (87*) and James Sales (78*) have put on 131 for the fifth wicket so far, as Northamptonshire ended on 229-4 when bad light stopped play. Toby Roland-Jones (2-49) has taken two of the four wickets to fall so far, with Tom Helm (1-49) and Naavya Sharma (1-37) helping out. They will need to take early wickets to keep Northamptonshire from taking the lead.
You can read the full scorecard here
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