Notts tie up first win

Darren Pattinson claimed eight wickets © Getty Images

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Weather-ruined draws between Hampshire and Sussex and Surrey and Lancashire mean Nottinghamshire’s dominant showing against Kent puts them top of the LV County Championship table after the first batch of fixtures.

Only bad light prevented Nottinghamshire from wrapping up the win against Kent inside three days at Canterbury and when they came back to knock off a tiny winning target this morning, it took them just 22 minutes and 5.4 overs to move to 24 without loss and take the win.

Will Jefferson had five runs from 15 balls faced, one of which he flicked to the mid-wicket boundary off Martin Saggers in the fifth over.

His partner, Matthew Wood, struck two boundaries from the 20 balls he faced and he had an all-run four in the fourth over.

His first boundary was a lovely extra cover drive off Azhar Mahmood, also in the fourth over and the next one was the match-winning drive to cover, again off Mahmood.

Darren Pattinson finished the match with eight wickets while Charlie Shreck took six for the victors.

Reigning champions Sussex were again denied the chance to press for serious points as their game against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl fell victim to the weather, with just 200.1 overs possible in the match and not a ball bowled on the final day.

No play was possible at the Brit Oval either, where Surrey were frustrated not to have been given the chance to drive home their advantage after making 537 for five in the first innings and reducing Lancashire to 241 for six.

Lance Klusener was not able to prevent defeat for Northants

The same fate befell the match between Gloucestershire and Derbyshire at Bristol, but elsewhere in Division Two play - and results - were possible.

Essex completed a nine-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Chelmsford.

Resuming after lunch on 147 for six, Northamptonshire moved on to 195 on which they lost the wickets of both Steven Crook and David Wigley.

Shaun Bailey and Lance Klusener were the last men out as Northants reached 237 - Klusener the top-scorer on 92 as David Masters finished with 4-69.

Essex then returned to the crease and reached their target of 15 for the loss of Jason Gallian.

Leicestershire also started the season with a win, beating Middlesex by six wickets.

Resuming on 253 for eight after lunch, the visitors were all out for 258 although they were grateful to Shaun Udal who got 55 as Nadeem Malik tore through the innings with 5-51.

They lost four wickets on their way to a match-winning final innings total of 168, with opener Matthew Boyce (66) and Jim Allenby (69 not out) putting on 124 for the fourth wicket. Udal and Chris Silverwood each claimed two wickets for the visitors.

At Edgbaston, Warwickshire staved off defeat by Worcestershire with a defiant partnership between wicketkeeper Tony Frost (46no) and Ant Botha (18no).

The hosts’ second innings closed on 164 for seven, well short of a never-likely victory target - instead it was a case of wicket preservation, a task for which Frost in particular showed his aptitude.

Former England spinner Gareth Batty was the chief threat for Worcestershire, claiming 4-34 as he pushed his side towards a final tilt that was curtailed by an early halt to proceedings in unhelpful conditions.