Four teams of the Group 1 were in action on the final day of the sixth round of the County Championship 2021-22.
Durham vs Worcestershire, Chester-le-Street
Durham 246 (Lees 99, Tongue 5-39) and 389/5 decl. (Young 103, Burnham 102*; Tongue 2-59) beat Worcestershire 213 (Fell 44; Rushworth 5-56) and 164 (Mitchell 62, Rushworth 4-52) by 258 runs
Chris Rushworth took 4-52 to guide Durham to a mammoth 258-run victory against Worcestershire and help them climb to the second spot in the points table. Rushworth’s 5-56 in the first innings had helped him go past Graham Onions as the all-time leading wicket-taker for Durham. He now has 532 wickets, four more than Onions.
He might have bettered the record early in the day, but Jack Burnham dropped a catch off him at mid-wicket. Rushworth, however, did not have too much for his record-breaking scalp as he had Jack Haynes caught on 24.
Resuming the day on 60/0, Daryl Mitchell and Jack Libby could only add 19 runs before the former got out to Mark Wood (3-47). Libby stood tall amidst the chaos and toiled hard for his 32 before getting pinned leg-before by Wood. Thereafter, none of the batters could offer a fight, and Worcestershire were skittled out for 160.
Essex v Derbyshire, Chelmsford
Essex 412/3 decl. (Lawrence 152*, Westley 106; Stanlake 2-91) beat Derbyshire 146 (Guest 49; Harmer 9-80) and 251 (Guest 65; Porter 3-41) by an innings and 15 runs
Essex climbed to the top of the points table after beating Derbyshire by an innings and 15 runs. The hero of their win was Simon Harmer, who added 3-122 to his first-innings haul of 9-80. Jamie Porter (3-41) and Sam Cook (3-45) also picked up three wickets each.
A 97-run partnership between Brooke Guest and Willy Godleman was not enough for Derbyshire to avert defeat. A change in ball did the trick as Godleman got pinned on the front pad off Porter. Guest put up a gritty display for his 65 before he too got lbw to Cook.
The rest of the batters got the start but one of them could convert into an innings of weight. Leus du Plooy was dismissed on 39 and Wayne Madsen made 36.