Somerset face 287 chase as County Championship reaches final day
Somerset need 214 runs with seven wickets left to beat Yorkshire at Headingley on the final day.
Somerset closed on 73-3 on 18 September 2026, chasing 287 to win the Rothesay County Championship match played at Leeds on 15-18 September. Yorkshire had won the toss and chosen to bat in the Division One fixture, which started at 10:30 local time. The Guardian
It was a rescue act. Yorkshire made only 212 in the first innings, with Jonny Bairstow scoring 79 to lift the total. The second innings looked shaky too until George Hill and Dom Bess came together.
Hill made a season’s best 89 before falling to a top-edged pull off Craig Overton. Bess added 77 alongside him. Their seventh-wicket stand, the partnership for the seventh pair to bat, was worth 166 runs and set up the declaration that left Somerset chasing 287.
At Hove, Nottinghamshire led Sussex by 31 runs with three second-innings wickets left. The scores were Sussex 358 against Nottinghamshire 240 and 149-7. That leaves the game finely balanced going into the last day.
Sussex seamer Ari Karvelas took four top-order wickets after being diverted from a teaching job. Jaydev Unadkat, the experienced India left-arm seamer, took three Nottinghamshire wickets at the County Ground, Hove. Nottinghamshire had made 240 in 84.4 overs in reply to Sussex’s 358 in 110.2 overs.
Elsewhere, two games finished quickly. Kent beat Lancashire by seven wickets at Canterbury, making 214 and 142-3 to Lancashire’s 161 and 192. Warwickshire beat Essex by eight wickets at Chelmsford, making 191 and 138-2 to Essex’s 134 and 189. The Guardian
Warwickshire’s win took only two days and sent them top of the table in the penultimate round of nine games. BBC Sport
At Grace Road, Leicestershire were 156-3 at stumps, chasing 334 to beat Hampshire. Rehan Ahmed made 55 with eight fours. Rishi Patel made 27 in his last innings at Grace Road before moving to Southampton.
Leicestershire are playing under a 27-point penalty imposed by the Cricket Regulator. The chief groundsman at Grace Road attributed some pitch problems to filming at the ground for ‘Dada’, the Sourav Ganguly biopic starring Rajkummar Rao.
What makes this stand out is the spread of it. One rescue partnership, one low-scoring scrap, two sharp finishes and one long chase still to settle. For fans, this means the last round will decide plenty.
