County cricket talking points: two sides pull away in each division

A first-class cricket match can lounge across days in the sunshine, chewing on a blade of grass as the world goes by – many championship matches in the now completed spring tranche had that feel to them. Or mayhem can erupt as one team tumbles down a rabbit hole to swift defeat – such was the fate of Somerset at home to Hampshire.

Keith Barker was the Lord of Misrule with six for 27, as the home side could merely match their first-innings deficit of 69 runs second time round in a sorry 25 overs. The left-armer has long been a favourite of this column (few cricketers make things happen more consistently with bat or ball), but I was disappointed to see him in the first round of matches looking a little stiff in the back and barely following through after his delivery – albeit on a merciless Oval strip. But, seven weeks on, he tops Division One’s wickets table with 27 and has extended the gap between his first-class batting and bowling averages to almost +4. At 35, he remains a very classy operator indeed.

Hampshire are second, just three points off Surrey, as the red ball is exchanged for white.

The mayhem came a little earlier in the match at Old Trafford, after Dan Lawrence had made a century and, not for the first time this season, Essex’sNetherlands international Shane Snater had added a very handy 70-odd from No 9. But Sam Cook got a tune out of the strip and the home side were soon 60 for eight and, despite making more of a fist of it following on, they went down to a rare defeat in Manchester by an innings.

Both clubs are in mid-table, Lancashire 18 points off the leaders and 29 behind Surrey. Perhaps an unforeseen impact of the additional points for a draw this season is the likelihood that not only will Lanky need