Stephenson to the rescue

John Stephenson pulled off a rescue act for Essex yesterday after Devon Malcolm and the captain, Phil DeFreitas, helped put Leicestershire in a strong position in their County Championship First Division match.

Malcolm had Darren Robinson caught by David Masters for four with the score on nine, before DeFreitas claimed Nasser Hussain, on six, caught by Darren Maddy. DeFreitas finished with 3 for 34. Essex's No 9, Stephenson, scored a welcome 50 – including five fours and three sixes – to bring Essex round to 188 all out.

Leicestershire replied strongly with Trevor Ward reaching 44 before being caught by James Foster off Stephenson as the hosts made 114 for 3 before bad light stopped play.

Richard Johnson took 4 for 47 and Andrew Caddick grabbed 4 for 66 as Somerset took control of their Second Division match at Derbyshire, but a partnership of 72 by the opener Andrew Gait and Dom Hewson has given the home side some hope as Derbyshire were dismissed for 190 in 52.1 overs.

In response, Somerset saw Peter Bowler fall for one, caught by Luke Sutton off Kevin Dean, but Michael Burns put on 40 before being trapped lbw by Dominic Cork as the visitors reached 60 for 2 before rain stopped play.

Vikram Solanki scored 79 to help Worcestershire to 236 all out. Northamptonshire's John Blain and Stephen Peters claimed 5 for 85 and 4 for 45, respectively.

Northamptonshire had reached 108 for 1 when bad weather halted proceedings with Mark Powell run out for 31 and Mike Hussey and Philip Jaques on 39 and 27.

Yorkshire's started badly against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl when Matthew Wood was caught by Nic Pothas off Alan Mullally for five and Michael Vaughan was dismissed for just one, bowled by Wasim Akram. Michael Lumb (60 not out) led a recovery, but he was running out of partners with Mullally claiming 3 for 22 as Yorkshire slumped to 174 for 7.

At the Riverside Durham's Javagal Srinath took the early wicket of Gloucestershire's Craig Spearman before Danny Law claimed Phillip Weston, Tim Hancock and Mark Alleyne – but the visitors fought back with South Africa's Jonty Rhodes top scored with 60 as Gloucestershire reached 285 for 9 at close of play.