Surrey v Essex, Notts v Warwickshire, and more: county cricket, day three – live

April 26, 2026
7:47 pm

Key events

Fifty for Joe Root

Root purrs into the season, with fifty in his first innings. Yorks 289-4.

Crawley, however, is out. A flamboyant drive his downfall, for a hard-fought 31. Kent 82-4.

100 for Dom Sibley!

After being stranded on 99 for a good 15 minutes, Sibley sprints a single to his first hundred of the year – from 281 balls.It’s the 27th f-c century of his career and will taste sweet after scores of 25, 27, 4 and 32 . He gets a generous round of applause from the crowd and a cuddle from Dan Lawrence. Ah, I hope he enjoyed that applause as he’s now out, off a brutish ball from Cook, that climbs up and brushes the bat, for 101.

YJB comes and goes, props forward to James Coles and is bowled through the gate. Middle stump flat. He turns on his heel and picks up a bail and chucks it away in disgust.

100 and out for Sam Whiteman!

A second Yorkshire centurion at Headingley, but not for long, caught behind off Henry Crocombe for 101. YJB bristles out to join Joe Root, who has already eased his way to 36, with five fours.

Haseeb Hameed hasn’t had a fruitful start to the season, but he’s 11 not out in Notts’ second innings – 22-0. Fellow out-of-England-favour opener Dom Sibley has moved onto 99 at The Oval…

Zak Crawley may carry his bat at this rate – a third wicket for Tom Taylor, Muyeye lbw for four. Kent 38-3

“May I just say that it’s nice to see Glos playing properly,” writes Andrew Benton. “Its been a tough past three weeks! The new additions are clearly now starting to settle in.”

This is their best match, for sure. Will Williams now has two wickets to go with yesterday’s 98. Martin Andersson (17) and Wayne Madsen (65) the Derbyshire men out this morning. Derbyshire 173 for five, 325 behind Glos.

Lancashire too are having a tricky start to their second innings – 16 for two up at CLS. Balderson and Jennings the men out, Harris trudges out in familiar role. Replacement Minto took one of the wickets.

Crawley is still in at New Road, but Northeast is out – a second wicket for Tom Taylor. Kent 34-2 and in deep trouble.

New ball at The Oval

Cook and Porter to winkle out an immovable object (84) and his sidekick (56). The crowd are slowly settling into their Oval seats. Surrey 226-3.

Kent are batting again and Zak Crawley has whizzed along to 14, although he’s just lost his opening partner, Ben Compton’s injury replacement, Ben Dawkins. Kent 20-1.

Enter Joe Root

A second wicket for Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Finlay Bean for a cracking 105.And now what Headingley has been waiting for – Joe Root. Enough to get Ollie Robinson licking his lips. Yorkshire 200-2, 302 behind Sussex.

Thanks to Tim Maitland who has an eye on the Headingley stream. “Lengthy stoppage after the first ball of the day at Headingley, after Tom Price injured an ankle fielding on the boundary.”

Fifty for Dan Lawrence

Lawrence tucks into Simon Harmer, muscling him to the rope to reach fifty off 74 balls.

I read a moving interview with Chris Smith, brother of Robin, by Nick Hoult yeseterday.

One for your elevenses if you are a subscriber, otherwise here is a short extract.

“For the last period of 17 years I tried to straighten him [Robin] out. In my office there is a photo of him raising his bat having scored a century at Old Trafford with Ian Healy standing behind him in the 1989 Ashes Test [Robin scored 143, the next highest England score was 39 by Neil Foster]. He often asked me: ‘Why do you have that photo in your office and it is the only one?’

“I said: ‘I have it on my wall because I want the photo to remind me every day of what you were like at the height of your career and I will try every day to get you back there.’”

The players are out at The Oval, milky blue skies and short shadows. Essex have opened with Simon Harmer and Noah Thain, hoping to chip out one of these two before they take the new ball.

Ben Foakes warms up before day three at the Oval. Photograph: Philip Brown/Getty Images for Surrey CCC

“Gutted not to get over the line”

Glamorgan’s Mason Crane on being stumped for 99. “It was cool to be in the position [of coming close to a century]. Obviously, gutted not to get over the line but I would’ve taken that at the start. It was tough to know what to do [when nine wickets down], I was wary the game wasn’t really moving but Hads [Ryan Hadley] did his bit.

“The start of our innings looked hard to bat, you never know what hybrid pitches are like, a bit unpredictable. Hopefully something happens and it starts to spin but at the moment looks good to bat.”

The Oval mowers are chugging to and fro (to and fro) and music from the Sunday church service held above my head is pumping away. Dom Sibley will resume shortly on 74, Dan Lawrence a little more frisky on 38. Surrey trail by 217.

Free entry at The Oval for marathon runners

Just present your medal at the gate. If you’re not lining the streets, you can follow the day here.

And best of luck to previous CCLive! writer Will Macpherson who is running today!

Saturday’s round-up

An absorbing day at the Oval, where the sun smiled on Dom Sibley, who stabilised the Surrey motorcade with an unbeaten 74 after Essex had reduced them to 29 for two.

Ollie Pope also worked hard for his 69, a third consecutive score of over 50, largely disciplining himself against tight bowling. But just after tea Tom Westley brought Jamie Porter back into the attack and Pope popped him back an easy catch. He sloped off like a man made of jam. Earlier, Dan Lawrence was the surprise assassin, polishing off the Essex ininings with three for 18 against his old club.

Elsewhere, it was a tale of what might have been. Mason Crane became the third Glamorgan player, and one of eight players in the round, to be removed in the nineties, after being left only with the company of the last man, Ryan Hadley. Crane crawled towards three figures until on 99 he swung at Ajaz Patel and was stumped, slumping over his bat like a fed-up gentil knight. Leicestershire’s openers then enjoyed the generous Cardiff pitch, Jake Weatherald going five better than Crane, retiring hurt on 104.

Gloucestershire’s Will Williams was run out for 98 at Derby despite a hurdy-gurdy dive, scampering for a second. He and Henry Brookes (89) had frustrated Derbyshire with a ninth-wicket stand of 191. Shoaib Bashir wheeled through 31 overs and finished with three for 116.

At New Road, Brett D’Oliveira gave catching practice to second slip as Worcestershire tormented Kent, kicking the turf in frustration as he walked off for 90. Matt Milnes, hero of Kent’s first innings, finished with four but 81 Worcs had a lead of 245 at stumps.

With just two overs of the day to go at Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire’s Joe Clarke paddled Michael Booth (three for 59) to deep square leg to perish for 94, which precipitated a flurry of wickets and left Warwickshire on top. Ben Duckett (62) had earlier been lured to his doom by the part-time spin of Rob Yates. Earlier Josh Tongue’s figures had taken a pounding.

Runs galore at Headingley, where John Simpson went on to 136, before holing out to Joe Root, and Sussex passed 500. Yorkshire’s Finlay Bean reached his own hundred as the shadows lengthened.

Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson ruined any hopes Ben McKinney might have had of an eye-catching innings, sending his off stump tumbling towards the slip cordon after eight balls. Anderson also removed Alex Lees cheaply, but Durham’s tail, shepherded by Matthew Potts (66), ensured the first-innings deficit was only 75. The new cricket substitute rule continued to raise eyebrows as Lancashire were refused their choice of replacement for the second time, on the basis that Tom Hartley was too experienced to replace Arav Shetty. Lancs had to plump for George Bell instead.