Durham Take Charge

With two consecutive victories - over Lancashire and Warwickshire - Durham eased into pole position to defend their County Championship crown. Both wins owed much to the bowling of Graham Onions and Steve Harmison who both must now be in contention for the Ashes first XI.

Somerset also picked up their first two wins of the first-class season, overcoming Yorkshire then, in a close contest, Sussex. A few good innings from Trescothick and some useful performances with the ball by Thomas and Willoughby took the county to third place. However, both games were away from the placid batting track of Taunton where they really need to bowl sides out if they are to challenge seriously for the title.

He may have finished on the losing side this time but Sussex's new leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has made an incredible impact within two weeks of arriving in England. In two Championship matches he has taken 19 wickets and scored a century! Could he do what Mushtaq Ahmed did just a few seasons ago and help Sussex to top spot?

Nottinghamshire only played once in the past fortnight but remain in second place. They beat Hampshire, with the aid of centuries by Ali Brown and Chris Read, plus a solid all-round bowling display. If they win their game in hand they would probably regain top spot.

Hampshire did recover to beat Lancashire by ten wickets, with Tim Tremlett and Imran Tahir taking many of them and spoiling VVS Laxman's arrival in the Lancashire batting line-up. The Red Roses also wilted against Durham, despite Saj Mahmood's 6-30 and Andrew Flintoff's match stats of 6-77.

Worcestershire are fixed to the bottom of Division One and the news that Simon Jones will miss the rest of the season will only make matters worse. They were well beaten by Sussex and drew with Yorkshire, their bowling just not up to the task. Ashley Noffke has been a good all-rounder but Kabir Ali hasn't yet made a convincing return to form.

In the second tier, Gloucestershire remain at the top, a full 22 points ahead of second-place Surrey. They owe a great deal to the skill and nous of veteran seamers Jon Lewis and Steve Kirby who have also both excelled at Twenty20 this summer.

Nel and Schofield each helped themselves to wickets, and Afzaal to a double-century in Surrey's innings defeat of Northants, then in the following match Dernbach took 6-47 to leave Leicestershire in trouble. However, a triple-century stand by South Africans Dippenaar and Ackerman rescued a draw for the Midlanders who remain rooted to the bottom. Essex moved ahead of Kent by winning at Tunbridge Wells. Thanks not to Alistair Cook, but bowlers Masters, Napier and Danish Kaneria whose 6-92 from 42 overs proved decisive.

It's back to Twenty20 for the counties this week. How many would love to splash the cash for Dilshan or Umar Gul right now?