Rogers hopes to finish at Middlesex

Middlesex were able to breathe a sigh of relief after clinging into Division One status, but are now preparing for life without Chris Rogers, their top-order rock, who is likely to miss next season due to international commitments.

However, while the club will need to scour the world for a replacement - no easy task these days - Rogers gave a clear indication that he wanted to see out his first-class days with the county which helped him forge a belated Test career.

Australia have a tour of West Indies next May before travelling to England for the Ashes which will run until late August meaning there is unlikely to be a feasible window for Rogers to play but, speaking after a day spent in various stages of anxiety as his lower order held on at Old Trafford, he reiterated his affinity for Middlesex

"I owe England and county cricket a lot," he said, "I'd like to finish my career here."

At Rogers' age there is always the risk that an international career can end more quickly than a younger player, but he has made four hundreds in 13 Tests since being recalled for the Ashes in England last year and is inked in for Australia's home summer against India.

Angus Fraser, the Middlesex director cricket, admitted the task of replacing Rogers would be a priority in the off-season.

"We've been very lucky we've had Chris for the last four years - he's been magnificent as a player and a captain - but there's a very good chance of him being away next year. We've got to fill that role, which is something that will occupy a lot of our time."

Rogers was comfortably Middlesex's leading run-scorer in the Championship with 1333 at 55.54 although Dawid Malan had a solid season with 1137 at 45.38. Eoin Morgan averaged over 45 from 11 matches, but Sam Robson dipped under 40 after his lean end to the summer.

Rogers referred to a "soft underbelly" being one of Middlesex's problems which could well have been referring to Neil Dexter and Joe Denly who averaged 28.15 and 23.35 respectively with just one hundred between them although Dexter played a role with the ball.

As to how Middlesex were drawn into the relegation tussle after briefly being top following four early wins, Fraser pinpointed an abandoned Championship game against Sussex and their poor white-ball form knocking confidence.

"We didn't play very well in one-day cricket. We weren't appalling, but lost a lot of games - a lot of them narrowly - and it drew real momentum out of the squad," he said. "You suddenly find yourself on the back foot, defending your position all the time, rather than looking to build on things.

"We just got in a bit of a hole, and weren't able to get out of it and win games of cricket. Middlesex's middle order has been questioned a lot of times, but I think we had a period where we didn't bowl as well as we could. The pitches flattened out, and we found it hard to take 20 wickets in a match."

Middlesex will hope that Ravi Patel, the left-arm spinner who had a taste of England Lions this season, continues to develop - although he will need to be given a regular spot in the team, even during early-summer conditions - but they are unlikely to see as much of Steven Finn if his return to England set-up continues to gather pace between now and next April.

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Panthers and Lions make way into final

Fast bowler Imran Khan held his nerve in the final over of the match to restrict Sialkot Stallions to just five runs, as Peshawar Panthers won by six runs to make the final.

Chasing 157, Stallions needed 12 off the last over, but Imran's first two deliveries were dot balls. Immediately put on the back foot, Bilawal Bhatti swung around for a big shot, but could only manage a two. Bhatti and Shakeel Ansar exchanged singles with the next two balls, meaning that Bhatti had to hit the last ball for six to tie the game. However, he could only flick a slower ball away to fine leg for another single.

Stallions had done well to recover from a shaky start that saw both Mukhtar Ahmed and Haris Sohail dismissed inside two overs. Shahid Yousuf led a counterattack by striking a 35-ball 56 and adding 80 for the third wicket with Mansoor Amjad. However three quick wickets inside five overs, including that of Yousuf's, hampered Stallions' momentum and the lower-order batsmen could not produce the desired acceleration to guide the team home.

Panthers, having been inserted, had made 156 for 7 from their 20 overs. Their innings was built around crucial knocks from Rafatullah Mohmand (35), Adil Amin (34) and Zohaib Khan (30), which kept the team ticking at more than seven an over. Zohaib later capped off a fine all-round display by picking up two crucial wickets to dent Stallions' chase. With all his bowling partners coming out with expensive figures, seamer Hasan Ali stood out for Stallions and finished with figures of 4-0-21-2.

A four-wicket burst from left-arm pacer Mohammad Aftab meant it will be Lahore Lions who take on Panthers in the final on Sunday. He knocked the top off the Multan Tigers' batting, to put his team on their way to a nine-run win, on the same day the other Lahore Lions team enjoyed success at the Champions League T20.

Aftab claimed four of the top five Tigers' batsmen to reduce them to 35 for 4 in a steep chase of 180. While a couple of partnerships of 40-something followed, the damage done at the top was enough to hold off Tigers. Rizwan Haider with 42 off 25 and Naved Yasin with a more sedate 39 off 31 were the biggest contributors for Tigers.

Fast bowler Mohammad Irfan had jolted Lions in the very first over, earlier on, getting Abid Ali for a duck. However half-centuries from Kamran Akmal and Imam-ul-Haq made sure the innings stayed on track. The pair added 114 in 11 overs, with Akmal top scoring with 77 off 43. His innings included 11 fours and three sixes, and set Lions on their way to 179 for 7, which proved to be enough in the end.

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Super Kings move closer to semifinals with 13-run win

Chennai Super Kings 155 for 6 (Jadeja 44*, Dhoni 35) beat Perth Scorchers 142 for 7 (Coulter-Nile 30, Ashwin 3-20) by 13 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Having made a slow start on a slow Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, a late-overs blitz from Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni muscled Chennai Super Kings to what proved an amply defendable target, and moved the team a step closer to a semi-final spot. From 69 for 4 at the end of the 14th over, Super Kings more than doubled their score, clouting 86 runs off a ragged Perth Scorchers attack in their last six overs.

That point on, there were no more swings in momentum. From the moment Craig Simmons under-edged a slog into Dhoni's gloves in the third over of Scorchers' chase, wickets fell regularly. With dew barely making an appearance under the lights, the pitch remained sluggish, and the scoring rate was somnolent.

Scorchers made 35 in the Powerplay overs, and were still going along at under six an over at the 10-over mark. By then, they had lost Mitchell Marsh, probably the batsman Super Kings feared the most in the line-up. Having been caught behind off a no-ball in the ninth over, he top-edged a sweep against R Ashwin in the tenth, holing out at deep square leg.

Scorchers had beaten Dolphins in their first match of the tournament courtesy Marsh, who had struck back-to-back sixes when 12 had been required off the last two balls of their run-chase. The only glimmer that Scorchers would be able to force a similar finish came when Ashton Turner and Nathan Coulter-Nile added 50 for the sixth wicket in 33 balls, leaving them needing 33 from 13 balls, but then Turner was run-out trying to sneak a bye, and Mohit Sharma and Dwayne Bravo sealed a comfortable win for Super Kings with their slower balls in the last two overs.

For most part, Super Kings' batsmen had struggled just as much after they were sent in by Adam Voges, the Scorchers captain. The dismissals of their openers - Brendon McCullum chopping Joel Paris on, Dwayne Smith slogging across the line of a slower ball - spoke of their difficulty in coming to terms with the pitch, and the loss of Suresh Raina to a run-out sucked out even more momentum.

The spinners tied down Mithun Manhas and Dwayne Bravo - Brad Hogg looked particularly difficult to get away, with the batsmen straining to pick his variations - and the pair added 23 in 34 painstaking deliveries. Jadeja's entry, following Manhas' dismissal in the 12th over, didn't immediately spark Super Kings to life: their boundary drought, which began early in the sixth over, lasted till Bravo swung Turner away over the midwicket boundary off the first ball of the 15th over. He lofted him down the ground for four and was bowled immediately after, but those two big blows signalled the start of Super Kings' revival.

Dhoni swatted an Arafat full-toss away for a big six over the leg side in the 17th over and Hogg, who had seemed unhittable till then, went for 14 in his final over as Jadeja charged him and swung him over long-off and wide of long-on for a four and a six.

Super Kings' run-rate, though, was still just six an over, and it took a truly gargantuan over for 150 to even become a speck on the horizon. It came off the bowling of Arafat, who lost his length and lost the plot. Twenty-seven came off the over, the last three balls of which Dhoni sent sailing over the leg side boundary. The second of these sixes disappeared over the roof of the stadium and the word 'immeasurable' appeared on the big screen. The person keying in the text was referring to the distance of the hit; he or she might as well have been talking about its game-changing impact.

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Hafeez reported for suspect action

Lahore Lions offspinner Mohammad Hafeez has been reported for a suspect bowling action by the umpires, following the team's Champions League T20 match against Dolphins in Bangalore on Saturday evening. Dolphins offspinner Prenelan Subrayen was also reported.

Under Champions League guidelines, both players could request for an official assessment from the BCCI's suspect bowling action committee. For now, while they can continue to play for their teams without assessment, they have been placed on the tournament's 'warning list' as per its rules. If they are reported again, while still on the warning list, the players will be suspended from bowling in the tournament - and in any cricket organised by the BCCI - until their actions are cleared.

The reports were made by umpires Kumar Dharamsena, Vineet Kulkarni and Anil Chaudhary, who had officiated in the Dolphins-Lions match. Both bowlers had opened the bowling for their sides and gone on to bowl a full quota of four overs. While Hafeez claimed 2 for 18 as Lions successfully defended 164, Subrayen did not pick up wicket while conceding 39 runs.

Earlier Lions' Adnan Rasool, another offspinner, had also been reported. He has continued to turn out for his team.

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Trott and Chopra secure second place

Warwickshire 413 for 8 (Chopra 160, Trott 104, Rushworth 5-94) lead Durham 201 by 212 runs
Scorecard

Warwickshire have secured a second-place finish in the County Championship and with it and top-two finish in all three competitions.

Centuries from Varun Chopra and Jonathan Trott helped them accrue the bonus points they required to ensure that - excepting the unlikely event of a points reduction for slow over-rates or similar - they cannot be overhauled by Sussex. It means Warwickshire's players will add £159,000 - the reward for second-place in the Championship - to the £45,000 they won as runners-up in the Royal London Cup and the £175,000 they won for lifting the NatWest T20 Blast trophy.

They also earned themselves an excellent opportunity of finishing the season with a victory. With the first-innings lead over Durham already well over 200, they retain hopes of batting just once in this match

While there may be a temptation to look at isolated moments - such as the poor weather that robbed them of victory at Old Trafford in April - and dream about what might have been in this Championship campaign, the result of head-to-head meetings with the champions should produce a sobering effect. Yorkshire crushed Warwickshire by innings margins both home and away this season and are, without doubt, the deserved champions. Warwickshire have some improvements to make if they are to challenge them next season.

With that in mind, though, the return to form of Trott and Chopra is heartening. Both players, the senior batsmen in this side, endured tough starts to the season with Trott coming close to retirement after his abortive comeback against Sussex in April.

Thanks to the support of the club, the England set-up and the highly-respected sports psychologist Steven Peters, Trott has returned to something approaching his best and has been in prolific form in recent weeks.

This was his second Championship century in successive innings, his third in eight innings and his fifth century in all competitions dating back to July 21. He also finished the Royal London Cup as the highest England-qualified run-scorer. Had he started the season in such form, there is little doubt he would have been in the England ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour.

It might still prove unwise to discount him from future squads. While the England management are, wisely, keen not to feed any speculation that could burden him with undue pressure at this stage, they have kept in touch with Trott and reassured him that the door has not been shut on him.

"Trott has done brilliantly well," James Whitaker, the national selector said when announcing the ODI squad. "He's been through some tough times in the last 12 months and he's worked himself into a position, with help from ECB and other people around him, to feel comfortable enough now to play for Warwickshire.

"Not only that but perform exceptionally well. So he's now in a position where we're looking at him as someone who could be considered again in the future.

"But let's take each stage at a time. We'll be having conversations with him in the future and seeing what the best way forward is for him next year. Well done to him but slowly, slowly. Let's see how the winter goes. It's a delicate situation and we respect the way he's come back into consideration. We have a duty of care towards him."

By Trott's own reckoning, he is playing at his best when the straight drives only just miss the stumps on their way to mid-on. So to see him here, leaning into those familiar cover drives, flicking off the legs and easing the ball down the ground imperiously was to see a class act somewhere near its best. Perhaps even more reassuringly, Trott was furious with himself after his dismissal, spooning a long-hop to midwicket; a sure sign that the insatiable hunger for runs had returned.

But, bearing in mind the state of mind in which Trott found himself in Australia and, again, after that match against Sussex, it might well be considered a triumph that he has simply returned to the game. Many in these parts are content to see him back on the field, with a bat in his hand and a smile on his face. The rest is a detail. Besides, if England do not recall him, Warwickshire may benefit from Ramprakash-esque feats on run-scoring over the next few years.

It may be that Chopra now has the more realistic chance of an England call-up. Certainly the position of opening batsman has yet to be nailed down in either Test or ODI cricket and, after a modest start to the season, he has returned to the sort of form that renders him a serious contender.

He has a wider range of stroke than either Sam Robson or Alastair Cook and, if a propensity to fence outside off stump remains a concern, it has been overcome to the effect that he was the only Warwickshire batsman to reach 1,000 first-class runs in each of 2011, 2012 and 2013 and will once again finish this season as the club's highest first-class run-scorer.

After failing to pass 52 until July 21, he has now made two centuries in his last four Championship innings and looks as if the burden of captaincy sits easily on his shoulders. He may, in time, even be considered an alternative captain of England.

With Warwickshire racing to claim the fifth batting bonus point, and with it the second-place finish, they sacrificed a few wickets in the final session. Sam Hain, who bats so like Trott you wonder if a paternity test should be taken, played across a straight one, Rikki Clarke was bamboozled by a slower one and Tim Ambrose was adjudged to have edged a pull. By the time Keith Barker steered one to the cordon, Chris Rushworth had another five-wicket haul and his 20th first-class victim in 10 days.

His batsmen will have to offer equally strong support, if his success is not to go to waste.

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Cotton takes limelight from Footitt

Derbyshire 289 and 162 for 1 (Slater 73*, Madsen 66*) lead Leicestershire 141 (Cotton 4-20) by 310 runs
Scorecard

Derbyshire's young seamer Ben Cotton took the bowling honours away from Mark Footitt at Derby as Leicestershire's batting folded again to leave them facing the prospect of another defeat.

Footitt's position as the country's leading wicket-taker was rewarded with a place in England's Performance squad but it was Cotton's 4 for 20 and Tony Palladino's 3 for 34 which undermined Leicestershire, who were skittled for 141 to trail by 148 runs.

It could have been much worse but for 34 from Ben Raine and an unbeaten 24 from Charlie Shreck, which lifted their side from the depths of 63 for 7 and edged their team past the follow-on target of 140. However, by the close, Derbyshire held all the aces at 162 for 1, a lead of 310.

It means the bottom club in Division Two will have to stage a remarkable recovery to avoid becoming the first county since the Second World War to go two seasons without a Championship victory.

They will have to improve considerably on another lamentable batting performance in sunny conditions which offered no excuses for the rash of reckless strokes that started an ignominious collapse to leave the innings in ruins by lunch.

Ned Eckersley set the tone by going hard at a wide ball from Palladino in the fourth over of the morning and former Derbyshire batsman Dan Redfern failed on his return when he tried to cut a ball that was too close to him and played on.

Tom Wells was dropped at square leg but it was only a brief reprieve for the visitors as three wickets fell in the space of 19 balls with the score on 63. Wells was caught behind down the leg side, skipper Niall O'Brien edged a firm-footed flash at Cotton before he had scored and Angus Robson drove low to gully with the follow-on still 77 runs away.

But Raine showed the application and selectivity which had previously been lacking and, with Rob Taylor, took the total into three figures before Taylor was hurried by a short ball from Footitt and played on.

Raine and Shreck added 33 but with Leicestershire only two away from their target, Raine was caught in the covers trying to hit Cotton over the top and showed his dismay as he walked off.

Atif Sheikh just cleared point to get the runs required but was bowled next ball to leave Derbyshire with a lead of 148 and they stretched that to 201 by tea for the loss of Billy Godleman, who was stumped giving James Sykes the charge.

Ben Slater and skipper Wayne Madsen enjoyed themselves in the evening sunshine with the former providing an object lesson to Leicestershire's batsmen by adding a half-century off 125 balls to his first innings century.

Madsen passed 1000 Championship runs for the season on the way to his 50, which came courtesy of a dropped catch at deep square leg by Redfern which summed up another chastening day for Leicestershire.

O'Brien said: "The batsmen let the team down today, there was no reason why we couldn't have batted the majority of the day but unfortunately there was a severe lack of concentration and application, there were too many loose shots from the top and middle order."

Footitt admitted his inclusion in the performance squad was a great end to a memorable season. "I am really excited and can't wait to get out there. When I set out at the start of the season my main aim was to get 50 wickets.

"When I went past that the aim was to see how many I could take and now it's been capped off by being told I'm in the performance squad to go to South Africa."

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Keogh and Stone offer rare bright spots

Northamptonshire 251 for 7 (Keogh 104*, Duckett 60) trail Sussex 368 (Zaidi 88, Wells 81, Yardy 56, Magoffin 51, Stone 5-48) by 117 runs
Scorecard

Rob Keogh led a fightback by Division One basement club Northamptonshire against Sussex on the second day at Wantage Road.

The home side are 251 for 7 at the game's midway stage, with an unbeaten 104 from Keogh moving them to within 117 of Sussex's first innings score of 368.

The visitors began briskly after resuming on 300 for 7 with Ashar Zaidi and Steve Magoffin bringing up a century partnership. Despite James Middlebrook's offspin offering turn and with Graeme White off the field with a finger injury, bat dominated ball early on, with Sussex going at a run a minute.

Olly Stone's introduction ceased the flow as the first hour ended, when he bowled Zaidi 12 runs short of his maiden Championship century. However, Magoffin reached his half-century with a flashing cut off Neil Wagner - his first for Sussex, four overs later,

Stone induced the edge to have Magoffin caught behind by Adam Rossington and five balls later Chris Liddle followed as Sussex's innings ended on 368 - with the 21-year-old Stone finishing with career-best figures of 5 for 68.

When Magoffin had the ball in his hand, the leading wicket-taker in Division One ripped out Stephen Peters and James Kettleborough to leave the home side 17 for 2 at lunch.

However, Middlebrook and Keogh led Northamptonshire to calmer waters and two straight drives from the former off Zaidi's left-arm spin signalled their sense of control. It would be ended in bizarre fashion half an hour before tea.

With Magoffin brought back to break up the partnership, umpire Peter Willey deemed the Australian to have broken the stumps in the delivery stride. Willey initially signalled no-ball, but after consultation with both sides, he changed his mind after it was felt the strong westerly winds had blown a bail off and dead ball was then called.

However, with the seventh ball of the 30th over Middlebrook, on 48, drove to Zaidi at mid-off, and was run out comfortably thanks to a direct hit.

This was the last match in which Willey and fellow umpire George Sharp, will officiate thanks to an ECB age limit, unless their legal challenge is successful. Neither would want to exit the first-class scene with such an incident in their final game, particularly on a ground where they both served Northamptonshire with distinction as a player.

Keogh, at the non-striker's end at the time, said: "I don't think anyone realised at the time. I know Peter was asking the scorers whether there was one ball left and there was a delay - but they decided to get on with the game. It's just one of those things.''

Rossington soon followed Middlebrook, but a partnership of 99 between Keogh and 19-year-old Ben Duckett kept the hosts interested.

Although Duckett fell before the close, followed by Andrew Hall, Keogh would reach his century in the final over of the day.

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Compton rains on Yorkshire's parade

Somerset319 for 3 (Compton 156, Abell 71*, Trescothick 66) lead Yorkshire 253 (Lees 83, Leaning 57*, Trego 4-69) by 66 runs
Scorecard

Barely 24 hours after Yorkshire's chairman Colin Graves announced his plans for world domination - perhaps that is paraphrasing a bit, but you get the general idea - the Championship celebrations are not going awfully well. Rather than do the decent thing and surrender before Yorkshire's might, Somerset have been stirred into one of their best displays of the season. They might even ensure the champions finish with a poke in the eye.

Dominate English cricket for the next ten years was actually the target that Graves has given his coaching staff - and why not, as recently the impression is that their production line of England cricketers is substantially more impressive than the attempts made in certain other counties who Shall Remain Nameless.

Nevertheless, Somerset played the role of party poopers with skill. With the Championship already secured, presumably Yorkshire intend to begin world domination next April. Over the first two days, their ambitions have faded and curled like the leaves that are already beginning to fall prematurely on the roads to Headingley.

Such was the clatter of wickets around the country as the final round of the Championship season began with autumn officially upon us that Yorkshire's below-par first innings went unremarked upon. Realisation dawned, however, as conditions eased further and, by the close of the second day, Somerset's lead was 66 with seven second-innings wickets remaining.

Yorkshire's coach, Jason Gillespie, had sought to maintain his side's focus ahead of this match by listing the statistical achievements that were still in their grasp, chief among them being the lure of a record points score in Division One if they made Somerset their ninth victims of an impressive season.

But the statistics that flashed on the scoreboard 19 balls from the close of the second day were those of Nick Compton: 156 from 232 balls with 23 fours and a six. Around 16 months ago, Compton's nine-Test career ended on this ground when he entered a strange, strokeless trance against New Zealand. England, fearing a disturbing effect on their captain Alastair Cook, and somewhat suspicious of his dressing room individuality, dropped him.

The irony of his latest replacement being Sam Robson, who had even fewer shots, was apparent to some. Compton seethed, protested, responded and became demoralised, as much as he tried not to be. He has had a pretty ordinary season. His Test career is over. But as he shared successive century stands with first Marcus Trescothick, who passed 66 in making 1,000 Championship runs for the season, and then Tom Abell, Headingley saw his more expansive range. On days like this he plays with true stature.

Compton's previous best score of the campaign was exactly 100 against Durham and his composure at the crease was such that it left one wondering why he has not achieved much more. Against the quicks, he stood as guardsman erect as if he was one of the Duke of Wellington's ablest lieutenants. Yorkshire's attack was committed enough, but as the sun bathed down upon north Leeds, the Headingley crowd had to pretend that they were perfectly content with the way their celebrations were going.

Trescothick was assisted by a dropped chance at third slip by Joe Root when he was 28, and as his innings progressed he discovered, unusually, that Compton was bounding ahead of him. The shock eventually was too much and a gentle dab in Root's first over fell to Lyth at slip. Root immediately withdrew himself from the attack.

Root's experience as a Yorkshire captain has explored the extremes. Middlesex murdered a supposedly safe declaration at Lord's; Nottinghamshire capitulated as Root stood in for Andrew Gale at Trent Bridge for the victory that brought the title.

As Abell, a product of Taunton, only 20 and with a few weeks of first-class cricket behind him, joined Compton in a stand of serene domination - 154 in 43 overs - and Yorkshire felt the end of the season upon them, Root must have feared a repeat of the former.

They say Root will captain England, and they are probably right, but nobody can create miracles to order. Even when they said that about Mike Brearley, it was part miracle, part paper talk. Reclining patiently, beginning to twig that world domination was not going to plan, the cognoscenti faked that they were not overly concerned. If they thought "tek him off" as Yorkshire's bowlers flagged in the final session, they never shouted it. That a touch of reality had crept in, however, could not be denied.

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Slater maiden ton props up Derbys

Leicestershire 25 for 2 trail Derbyshire 289 (Slater 104, Durston 52, Raine 3-47) by 264 runs
Scorecard

Leicestershire's hopes of ending a two-year wait for an County Championship victory were frustrated by a maiden first-class century from Derbyshire opener Ben Slater on a controversial day that saw India Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara given out for handling the ball.

Pujara became only the 59th player in the history of the first-class game to be out in that manner and the first in England since 1996, when Derbyshire wicketkeeper Karl Krikken was dismissed in the same fashion against the Indian tourists at Derby.

But Slater's first hundred in his 23rd game, and 52 from Wes Durston, lifted Derbyshire from 62 for 3 to 289 before Mark Footitt took his 100th wicket in all cricket this season as Leicestershire closed on 25 for 2.

For a game with so little riding on it, tempers flared after five overs when umpires Martin Saggers and Jeff Evans had words with Billy Godleman and Leicestershire captain Niall O'Brien after the Derbyshire opener was involved in a collision with Ben Raine, who was also spoken to. Godleman lasted only five more overs before he edged Raine low to third slip and there was a big wicket for Leicestershire when Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen was trapped half-forward by Charlie Shreck for eight.

That brought in Pujara for his home debut - but it was one to forget as he wrote his name in the record books for the wrong reasons in the 20th over of the day. Pujara played a ball from former Derbyshire fast bowler Atif Sheikh down into the pitch and then knocked it away with his glove as it threatened to bounce into his stumps. Leicestershire's fielders appealed immediately and after the umpires consulted, Pujara was sent on his way to mark an unusual chapter in what has been a disappointing summer in England for one of the world's most highly-rated batsmen.

At that stage, Leicestershire's decision to put Derbyshire in was looking a good one but inconsistent bowling helped Slater and Durston mount a recovery that saw the home side reach lunch at 120 for 3.

Slater was dropped on 59 at slip off James Sykes in the last over of the morning and that proved a big moment in the day as he and Durston took advantage of some generous width offered by the seamers. They added 124 in 27 overs before Durston swept Sykes to backward square leg and Sheikh struck in the next over when Alex Hughes was lbw one ball after he was hit in the box.

Harvey Hosein gloved a hook at Raine but Slater reached an accomplished hundred off 195 balls when he drove Sykes through the covers for his 15th four.

Former Leicestershire seamer Wayne White chased a wide ball from Raine and was caught behind without scoring before Slater's innings ended when he edged Sheikh low to second slip.

After a 75-minute bad light delay, Tony Palladino chipped Rob Taylor to mid-on and Ben Cotton had his off stump knocked back by Shreck which left Leicestershire with eight overs to negotiate before the close.

Greg Smith did not survive, edging a firm-footed drive which saw Footitt become the first Derbyshire player to take 100 wickets in a season since Geoff Miller in 1984 and Sykes was lbw to Palladino in the final over to leave Leicestershire in an all-too familiar position.

Slater's hundred came a day after he signed a two-year contract: "It's a nice little present if you can put it like that to top it off," he said. "I'm delighted to get my maiden first-class hundred and it's a good feeling."

Raine added: "It's a very good pitch. We bowled on the overhead conditions, it was a bit cloudy and we thought it might do something off the pitch but it didn't do much. Even so, we've had a positive day which is something to look forward to for next season."

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Claydon five skittles Gloucestershire

Kent 83 for 4 trail Gloucestershire 179 (Payne 54*, Claydon 5-61) by 96 runs
Scorecard

Mitchell Claydon bagged his third five-wicket haul of the season as Kent dismissed Gloucestershire for 179 on the opening day at Canterbury. Responding after tea, Kent fared badly in reaching 83 for 4 in 32 overs, to trail by 96 going into the second day of a Division Two clash that counts for little in the promotion shakedown.

Claydon's stint of 5 for 61 wrapped up the Gloucestershire innings within two sessions but Kent fared little better thereafter. With Rob Key and Ben Harmison sidelined through injury, emergency opener Fabian Cowdrey lasted seven overs before he played down the wrong line to go lbw to David Payne. Ten overs later, the in-form Daniel Bell-Drummond called for a suicidal single to cover to be run out by Benny Howell, then Howell took the ball to trap Brendan Nash lbw for 15.

Just before bad light bought about an early close, Kent's acting skipper Sam Northeast blotted his copybook by chasing one from Liam Norwell to go for 2.

The day started with Gloucestershire batting first after winning the toss on a bright Canterbury morning. But the visitors made a disastrous start in losing five wickets within an hour, including both their opening batsmen for ducks.

Claydon was first to strike from the Pavilion End when, after just 16 deliveries, Chris Dent sparred outside off stump to snick a comfortable catch to Darren Stevens at slip. Six deliveries later and with only five on the board, Stevens struck to remove Will Tavare, also without scoring. Running one down the Nackington Road slope, Stevens snared Tavare lbw after the willowy right-hander's late decision to shoulder arms.

Alex Gidman, Gloucestershire's only player with 1000 runs for the campaign and who recently announced his departure to Worcestershire, stroked a couple of crisp boundaries in his 12 before he too went lbw, this time to Claydon. His hesitant prod, half-forward and outside the line, leaving umpire Neil Bainton with little option but to raise his finger.

Claydon picked up a third scalp in his next over. Getting one to lift and leave Gareth Roderick, the right-hander found a thick edge to James Tredwell at second slip for 11. Gloucestershire's opening hour demise continued when a Stevens' outswinger squared up Hamish Marshall and found the edge through to third slip to send the Kiwi packing for 5 and leave the visitors on 29 for 5.

Claydon, effective and dangerous despite his shortened run-up, bagged his 50th Championship wicket of the summer when he had Ian Cockbain well held by Tredwell for 6 in the cordon diving in front of first slip.

Claydon took a breather after his 11-over stint of 4 for 21 to be replaced by Calum Haggett who struck with his first delivery of the match by having Tom Smith caught in the gully from an ill-advised back-foot force. Then, in the final over before lunch, Benny Howell was turned in defence by another Stevens awayswinger that flew off the edge to second slip where Tredwell took another spectacular one-handed catch, this time to his right, to make it 62 for 8 at lunch.

Though Payne, with an unbeaten 54 from 89 balls, and Craig Miles, 48, proffered resistance after the break, Miles chipped one for Adam Riley to mid-off, then Claydon returned to have last man Norwell caught behind for his 51st scalp of the summer.

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