​Eighteen wickets fell on day two at Taunton as the match between Essex and Somerset twisted and turned – and that’s not just the ball spinning out of the rough I am talking about as the Eagles have been set a tricky looking score of 255 to chase down. Time, of course, won’t be an issue for the visitors with two full days still to come but with wickets tumbling on the first and second day they will be under no illusions of the magnitude of their task. Chris Silverwood’s men began the day in the healthy look position of 60/2 but that soon turned into a perilous position as a cluster of wickets fell before lunch to a mixture of good bowling and brainless batting from the Eagles batting line-up. Dan Lawrence was the first to go soon after the resumption pinned leg before off the bowling of Craig Overton to fall for a duck. Ravi Bopara joined former England skipper Alastair Cook at the crease and the pair looked to be beginning to steady the ship when Bopara, by now on a battling eight attempted a paddle sweep only to bowled around his legs by Jack Leach. Cook was the next to fall soon after reaching his half-century (85-balls and nine fours) playing on to his off-stump off the bowling off Lewis Gregory. Wickets continued to tumble as Essex became more and more bogged down and they lost two quick wickets with the score on 91. Skipper Ryan ten Doeschate played a loose shot to offer up a catch to James Hildreth off the bowling of Gregory before Van der Merwe bowled Adam Wheater for four. Only Ashar Zaidi threatened to halt the procession of wickets striking a defiant 23 that included 2 fours and a solitary six. He couldn’t find any partners though and soon after lunch Essex were dismissed for a disappointing 129. In reply, some more brainless batting occurred, this time from Somerset who looked to add plenty of runs to their already decent looking lead of 80. Jamie Porter struck twice early to remove the dangerous Marcus Trescothick (8) and skipper Tom Abell (0) to give the visitors early hope of scuttling their hosts out. Hildreth and Dean Elgar becalmed any nerves around the County Ground by adding 45 for the third wicket before Elgar was pinned leg before for 27 to become the only man to fall to spin off the bowling off Simon Harmer. But it was the dismissal of Steven Davies that really opened the floodgates for Essex and Neil Wagner specifically who went on a solo mission to give Essex a sniff. He took the final six wickets to fall. He took an aggressive short bowling approach to leave Somerset 124/9 at the time a lead of just over 200. But a final wicket stand of fifty frustrated the visitors and could well have taken the game away from Essex on a pitch that is seemingly hard to score runs on. When Wagner returned to the attack to remove Craig Overton it left Essex with a tricky seven overs to face before close. They safely survived the late onslaught to close on 10 without loss to leave them requiring a further 245 to win. 

Elsewhere in Division One, at the Ageas Bowl Hampshire and Middlesex continues to be an even game with Hampshire closing on 209/4 147-runs behind their visitors. Middlesex began the day on 290/6 but lost skipper James Franklin early on edging a ball from Kyle Abbott into the hands of James Vince to fall for 19. Toby Roland-Jones and Ollie Rayner offered some late order resistance to frustrate the hosts sharing 55 for the eighth wicket before Brad Wheal collected his third wicket of the innings to remove Roland-Jones for a well-made 39. As so often the case one brings two and that thought was proved when Rayner fell to the very next ball being trapped LBW by Liam Dawson. Just seven runs later the innings was brought to an end by the impressive Wheal who pinned Steven Finn in front to wrap up the innings with Middlesex all out for 356. That brought Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams to the crease and the pair shared yet another half-century stand before Adams fell to Rayner. Vince fell soon after caught off the bowling of Franklin for eight, but Carberry continued to look in fine touch finding the boundary regularly and his brought up his half-century in the 51st over with the score on 128/3. Sean Ervine joined him and the pair shared an important stand on 93 with Ervine hitting a half-century during the duo's vital partnership. The Zimbabwean fell soon after though bowled by Finn for 53 with the score on 206/4. Importantly for the hosts though Michael Carberry remained at the crease until the close finishing on an impressive unbeaten 84. 

Meanwhile, in Birmingham, Yorkshire continued to dominate against Warwickshire as the visitors closed 117-runs ahead of their hosts. Resuming on 152/8, the hosts added thirteen runs before losing their ninth wicket when Chris Wright became Ben Coad (remember the name) took his fifth wicket to leave the Bears on 165/9. There was enough time for Keith Barker to reach his fifty off 87-balls but he fell immediately after to the bowling of Tim Bresnan to close the innings with the hosts on 178. Wright struck early for the hosts to remove the struggling Adam Lyth for eight. But Peter Handscomb and Alex Lees steadied the ship to lead the White Rose to 97/2 when Lees found the safe hands of Rikki Clarke off the bowling of Keith Barker. Australian Handscomb – who had called for his new side to be more ruthless before this clash continued to impress though striking his maiden 50 for his new county reaching 75 before being bowled by the experienced Wright. That brought Jack Leaning to the crease and the Yorkshireman produced a dogged defiant display to tie up and end whilst others around him batting with more freedom, Leaning reached 40 off of 114-balls before becoming the fifth man to fall with the score on 225. Whilst Leaning may have been dogged the same couldn’t be said for the imperious Tim Bresnan (61) who flayed twelve fours around the ground on his way to a half-century before he became the final man to fall on the day with the total sitting on 279/6. Adil Rashid (35*) and Andrew Hodd (8*) safely saw the visitors through to close to leave the Tyke firmly in control on 295/6. 

Finally, Shiv Chanderpaul and Jordan Clark continued to frustrate Surrey at the Oval as Lancashire batted themselves into a commanding position in London. The pair shared a remarkable 243-run stand for the seventh wicket before Clark finally fell for a career-best and quite magnificent 140. Chanderpaul, though, continued to shine striking twenty-two fours and two sixes on his way to a mammoth 182 before becoming the final man to fall caught by Scott Borthwick off the evergreen Gareth Batty. That left Lancashire on 470 all out, which represented quite the recovery given the fact they found themselves labouring on 122/6 midway through the first day. Out strode Mark Stoneman and Rory Burns to the middle knowing they would need to score big if they were to force a chance of a result. They shared 67 for the opening stand before the former Durham opener Stoneman was trapped by the impressive Clark who proved to be more than handy with the ball as well as the bat. Borthwick was left with the task of supporting Burns and getting through to the third day without any further loss and they almost managed it until Kyle Jarvis struck with the final ball of the day to remove Borthwick for a stubborn 19. Burns will continue unbeaten on 48 with Surrey on 118/2. 

In Division Two, Jofra Archer continued his fine game to strike an unbeaten 60 from number 11 to help Sussex to near parity on first innings. Resuming on 11/1 the hosts struggled to handle the pace of Wayne Parnell, Mitch Claydon and Matt Coles as Sussex collapsed to 97/6 with Parnell and Claydon sharing four of the six wickets to fall. Ben Brown though looked to be the only man to be able to handle the express pace of the trio sharing vital partnerships with David Weise, Delray Rawlins. But it was the stand between Brown and Archer that really stole the headlines, the pair added 99-runs for the final wicket with Brown smashing 12 fours in his 90 and Archer hitting 10 in his unbeaten 60 to lead Sussex from 97/6 to 291 all out a deficit of just 13 on first innings. By close Kent had stretched that lead to 95 after Bell-Drummond (35) and Sean Dickson (34*) added some vital late day runs for the visitors, who definitely hold the upper hand going into day three. 

At Chester-Le-Street the ball continued to better the bat as eleven further wickets fell on the second day. But the day will be remembered for a remarkable 92 from nightwatchman Luke Fletcher who helped guide his county to 305 all out. With every media outlet out there urging him on after he has fought off everything thrown at him striking thirteen fours in the process disaster struck for the mean fast bowler, James Pattinson batting with Fletcher called him through for a run before sending him back, the big bustling Fletcher turned back only to slip and fall flat on his stomach and be run out by Keaton Jennings. Pattinson reached his second half-century in as many games to push the visitors passed the 300 mark before becoming the ninth man to fall. Chris Rushworth finished the innings off soon after bowling Harry Gurney for a duck to leave Nottinghamshire all out for a handy 305. In reply, Durham got off to the worst possible start losing overseas pro Stephen Cook for a duck off the sixth ball of the innings, and they were soon two down when Jake Ball collected his second wicket of the innings to remove Jack Burnham for four. Richardson was soon back in the hutch with the score on 24 as Fletcher trapped him leg before and suddenly Nottinghamshire were sniffing an innings success. The experienced Paul Collingwood though offered some much-needed support to England hopeful Keaton Jennings. Jennings. The duo added 71 for the fourth wicket before Collingwood fell for 40 caught behind off Pattinson. Jennings continued to impress though and reached a half-century before the close. Paul Coughlin became the final man to fall in the day when he was pinned leg before by Pattinson to fall for 36, but Jennings lasted through to close to finish on 62 as Durham closed on 162/5, a small lead of 19. 

Gloucestershire continued to dominate their encounter against Leicestershire at Bristol. David Payne, Phil Mustard and Jack Taylor all struck half-century to push the hosts through to a very competitive total of 466/8 declared. Taylor and Payne were both in particularly aggressive move strike 15-fours and two sixes between them. Taylor hit a 73-ball 60 before falling to Gavin Griffiths whilst Payne stuck a 51-ball unbeaten 54 to push Gloucestershire into a winnable position. It looks even more likely after the visitors collapsed to 165/6 (effectively 7 with Ackerman retired hurt) by the close. Payne (2-38) and Liam Norwell (2-41) the pick of the host's attack. 

Elsewhere, Glamorgan face a battle to save their match against Worcestershire after Tom Kohler Cadmore (102), Ed Barnard (59) and John Hastings (51) put the Pears into a dominant position. Kohler-Cadmore top scored for the visitors striking seventeen fours during his 159-ball stay before he fell soon after reaching treble figures edging Australian Michael Hogan behind. Barnard and Hastings though pushed Worcestershire passed the 400 past and into a dominating position on day two. Glamorgan finally showed some fight with the bat closing on 141/3 with Colin Ingram unbeaten on 41 going into the third day, 

Finally, the match between Northants and Derbyshire swung back and forth as the visitors were thankful for late runs from Max Holden and Nathan Buck after a middle order collapse. Serenely going about their business on 105/2 Northampton would’ve had an eye on a big lead, but they soon found themselves 171/8 as Derbyshire produced a fine spell of bowling post-lunch to have the visitors on the ropes. It was young Will Davis who was doing the damage as he collected 4-55 to bring the hosts back into the encounter. But late order runs from Holden (68 not out) and Buck (43) frustrated Derbyshire who now trail by 10-runs after they were dismissed for 281 earlier in the day with Buck collecting a five-wicket haul. 

Reports by David Bowden (@Bowdenwhu)