On a scorching day in Manchester, as the swifts arrived from the south, Somerset batted all day until the teams shook hands at ten to five. There was a fifty for Steve Davies and an unbeaten 66 for Jack Leach – his highest first‑class score – as Somerset overcame a post-lunch quiver to finish on 269 for eight declared.

There were five wickets for the 21‑year‑old leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, who had the ball spitting with spleen at times and who collected a career-best match tally of eight for 181 in strangely spin‑friendly conditions in late spring. James Anderson took one wicket in his first match back for Lancashire, though he was perhaps unlucky not to have more.

In the Somerset dressing room Marcus Trescothick was padded up and ready to bat with a broken metatarsal which, according to the Somerset captain, Tom Abell, “tells you everything you need to know about Tres”.

Nottinghamshire collected their third victory of the season in defeating Hampshire despite a valiant rearguard innings from Hashim Amla, who batted more than five hours for 112 against his old club before being the last man to fall, to Jake Ball. Ball, Stuart Broad and Harry Gurney took three wickets apiece and Nottinghamshire squat on top of the table, 17 points above Somerset.

There was a draw at The Oval, where the 19-year-old Amar Virdi took the last four wickets to fall to produce his best bowling figures of six for 105. Scott Borthwick was top‑scorer with 82 not out in Surrey’s second innings of 173 for three declared but there were no eye-catching runs for Mark Stoneman, lbw for 20. It was the first time Worcestershire had avoided defeat this season.

At Hove Sussex managed a finger-nibbling run chase, to beat Middlesex by three wickets just before tea. Runs came from Stiaan van Zyl (45) and an unbeaten 65 from the wicketkeeper Ben Brown, who steadied the ship after Sussex lost four for 15. It is Sussex’s first victory under their head coach, Jason Gillespie.

On a drama-heavy day at the Riverside Durham beat Leicestershire against the odds and the clock and won for the first time in their history after following on. At lunch the game had seemed destined for a draw, until Gavin Griffiths took five wickets in 24 balls as Durham collapsed from 323 for three to 345 for eight.

A precious 38 from James Weighell eked out valuable runs to give Leicestershire a target of 148 from 46 overs. Leicestershire were bowled out for 101 with a first-class-best seven for 32 – and an afternoon to remember – for Weighell.

In the tour match the Pakistanis made 134 for one to beat Northamptonshire by nine wickets after Northants were bowled out for 301; Mohammad Abbas took four for 62 and Shadab Khan four for 80.