In radiant evening sunlight at Old Trafford, Nathan Lyon was causing chaos. With the ball spitting and ripping, and four men close to the bat, squatting on top of their long shadows, Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond and Ben Compton dug into their task of survival, and digging out the 164 Lancashire had set them to win.

Lyon, sunglasses characteristically attached to his shaved head, appealed vigorously, but neither he nor Tom Hartley could make the breakthrough. Kent, despite losing Zak Crawley to the second over of the innings, lbw for one, need another 93. Earlier, Matt Parkinson and Wes Agar finished with three wickets each, despite some plucky innings from Lancashire’s young batters, Georges Balderson and Bell and Matty Hurst.

A reverse-swinging masterclass from a zinging Jayden Seales careered through Derbyshire’s second innings, sending them flying like Smarties at a children’s party, and to defeat by an innings and 124 runs.

Seales, who was twice on a hat-trick, finished with a career-best five for 29, and warm words from his head coach at Sussex, Paul Farbrace, who said: “In the four games he’s played for us, every single spell he’s run in hard. He’s never cantered in, he’s never taken it easy and never not wanted to bowl.”

Derbyshire’s New Zealand fast bowler Blair Tickner did not bat, and announced that his wife Sarah is suffering from leukaemia and is receiving treatment in the UK. Sussex lost a point due to a slow over rate.

Yorkshire flayed Glamorgan to all corners of Headingley, cantering to maximum batting points with bags of overs to spare. Joe Root cruised to 156, his second hundred in consecutive games, Finlay Bean an aggressive 173, his highest first-class score, while Harry Brook and Jonny Tattersall contributed funky fifties. Mason Crane, who took a tonking, finished with five for 152. Glamorgan lost three wickets – including Kiran Carlson unlucky to be run out off Root’s shin pad at silly point – before Sam Northeast and Colin Ingram dug in.

Hundreds for Sam Robson and Leus du Plooy helped Middlesex past 400 at Lord’s, with a couple of wickets for Leicestershire’s Rehan Ahmed.

DIVISION ONE

Old Trafford: Lancashire 92 and 332 v Kent 261 and 71-1

Taunton: Somerset 128 and 170-7 BEAT Essex 156 and 138 BY THREE WICKETS

DIVISION TWO

Derby: Derbyshire 246 and 109-9 LOST TO Sussex 479 BY AN INNINGS AND 124 RUNS

Lord’s: Middlesex 407-8 v Leicestershire 306

Headingley: Yorkshire 519-7dec v Glamorgan 221 and 171-3

Nine, ten, jack, as Hartley sweeps, misses and loses his stumps. Parkinson 3-70, Agar3-65. Lancashire 332 all out. Game on!

DIVISION ONE

Old Trafford: Lancashire 92 and 320-7 v Kent 261

Taunton: Somerset 128 and 170-7 BEAT Essex 156 and 138 BY THREE WICKETS

DIVISION TWO

Derby: Derbyshire 246 109-9 LOST TO Sussex 479 BY AN INNINGS AND 124 RUNS

Lord’s: Middlesex 312-2 v Leicestershire 306

Headingley: Yorkshire 519-7dec v Glamorgan 221 and 68-1

And a very tasty position for Middlesex at Lord’s, with Sam Robson 140 and powering onwards and Leus du Plooy 129. 66 long overs since Leicestershire took a wickets. The Middlesex lead – two.

It seems that while my back was turned Jaydon Seales decided to get this match done, roaring through the Derbyshire XI with 5-29. Derby 109-9 (Blair Tickner unable to bat), top-scorer David Lloyd 26.

Derby: Derbyshire 246 109-9 LOST TO Sussex 479 BY AN INNINGS AND 124 RUNS

An eight-wicket win with 22 balls remaining against Ireland in the qualifier semi-final takes Scotland to the final (against UAE or Sri Lanka) – and a guaranteed place in the T20 World cup in October in Bangladesh.

Just the 519-7 declared by Yorkshire, five wickets for Mason Crane’s perseverance, who picks up Harry Brook for 65 whence Yorkshire say that’s enough.

In other news, Paul Edwards recommends Kevin Howells’ lunchtime interview with Alan Higham on Five Live extra:

DIVISION ONE

Old Trafford: Lancashire 92 and 224-6 v Kent 261

Taunton: Somerset 128 and 170-7 BEAT Essex 156 and 138 BY THREE WICKETS

DIVISION TWO

Derby: Derbyshire 246 and 19-0 v Sussex 479

Lord’s: Middlesex 158-2 v Leicestershire 306

Headingley: Yorkshire 458-4 v Glamorgan 221

Twenty-one dreamy fours. Yorkshire are going to collect maximum batting points with about a zillion overs to spare. Brook 35 off 41 balls.

Small beer for the man who made 441 in a second-XI Championship match, but his highest Champoinship score off just 166 balls.

At a run a ball! Brings it up with an off drive, then celebrates by kissing the ball straight back past bowler James HArris. Centuries in consecutive matches for Root. Yorkshire 316-2 in just 55 overs, a lead of 95 runs, Harry Brook next man in. Chin up Glamorgan.

Lancashire collapsed in spectacular fashion under floodlights , all out for 92 and forced to follow-on against Kent. With the sky interchangeably frowning and fretful, they were taken apart by outstanding seam bowling, the odd lackadaisical shot thrown in for good measure. Wes Agar thundered in from the Statham End entreating Luke Wells to edge to second slip, then removing Keaton Jennings and Tom Bruce in successive balls.

Nathan Gilchrist also operated with steely menace, picking away at the middle order to finish with a career best six for 24. It was only Matty Hurst, swinging the bat with abandon until he picked out Zak Crawley on the rope, who took Lancashire past their lowest score against Kent – 61 in 1884.

Lancashire’s second attempt looked to be running more smoothly, until they lost three for three just before stumps, Josh Bohannon caught driving, Jennings suffering a rush of blood against Matt Parkinson which left him splayed on the soil as Harry Finch pulled off a spectacular stumping, and nightwatchman Will Williams bowled for one. They remain 50 runs behind.

While waiting for the outfield to dry in the morning, Saqib Mahmood was spotted going through his paces. After a second stress fracture in two years wiped out his 2023 season, Mahmood has been working his way back to fitness in the Lancashire second XI, captaining the side and bowling four- and five-over spells.

Somerset wrapped up a three-wicket victory in two days at Taunton, first bowling Essex out for a second time for 138, whipping out the last four wickets for one run, then knocking off the 167 required. Despite Matt Renshaw and Sean Dickson putting on 75 for the first wicket, a partnership that defied previous batting efforts on a green pitch, the chase was full of jeopardy almost until the end. It was Somerset’s first win of the season.

On a turning pitch, Joe Root and Finlay Bean clattered 201 for the third wicket at Headingley as Yorkshire drilled their heels into Glamorgan hopes. Root was only eight runs short of a second consecutive elegant Championship century at stumps, while Bean danced along to a career-best 140.

Earlier, Dom Bess and Daniel Moriarty pocketed four wickets each as Glamorgan were bowled out for 221 – the first time Yorkshire had fielded two front-line spinners at Headingley since Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq in 2013. Bess’s four for 25 was a timely fillip after a torrid 2023 – dispatched on one-match loans to Somerset and Warwickshire, and a winter spent playing in Zimbabwe.

Leicestershire’s Peter Handscomb made a painstaking first century against Middlesex, and Rehan Ahmed hit 42, on a day when the ball kept going out of shape at Lord’s. Cheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten hundred, alongside fifties from James Coles, Tom Haines and Tom Alsop, put Sussex in a handy position against Derbyshire.

DIVISION ONE

Old Trafford: Lancashire 92 and 119-4 v Kent 261

Taunton: Somerset 128 and 170-7 BEAT Essex 156 and 138 BY THREE WICKETS

DIVISION TWO

Derby: Derbyshire 246 v Sussex 357-5

Lord’s: Middlesex 64-1 v Leicestershire 306

Headingley: Yorkshire 295-2 v Glamorgan 221

Hello! May is just perfection this morning, wild garlic, a hint of elderflower and a circling barn owl, all before breakfast! Just four games left after Somerset pulled it out of the bag against Essex yesterday, and it might not last too much longer at Old Trafford…