Chris Read starred as LV County Championship Division Two leaders Nottinghamshire disposed of Essex with a day to spare at Trent Bridge.

The Notts wicketkeeper followed up his 165 in the second innings with three catches as the home side dismissed Essex for 235 to seal victory by an innings and 12 runs.

Mark Ealham was the pick of the bowlers, taking four for 47, and it was the 37-year-old who caught Essex's top scorer, Ryan ten Doeschate (102) off the bowling of Paul Franks.

After a weather-affected morning, the visitors always looked in trouble having being reduced to 35 for four and ultimately had no answer to Notts' mammoth 664 for seven.

In Division One, Darren Stevens' century helped Kent build a commanding lead in their clash with Hampshire at Canterbury.

The home side added another 310 runs to their overnight total before declaring on 533 for eight, 443 clear of their opponents going into the fourth and final day.

Stevens, who knocked 12 fours along the way to 105 before eventually being bowled by Jimmy Adams, joined team-mates Robert Key (120) Martin van Jaarsveld (109) on three figures.

Andrew Hall and Stevens made 83 between them before Hall became Shane Warne's first victim of the second innings on 48.

Ryan McLaren (25no) and James Tredwell (27no) moved Kent beyond the 500 mark before they eventually declared, with Adams and Jimmy Brown moving Hants to 18 without loss at stumps.

Spinner Mushtaq Ahmed took five for 22 to put Sussex on course for a crushing victory over woeful Worcestershire in a one-sided match at New Road.

The Pakistani star was in deadly form to rip out the hosts for a grim 100 when they replied to the reigning champions' bumper 512 for eight declared.

Following on 412 behind, bottom-of-the-table Worcestershire were on nought without loss when bad light ended play early with 12 overs remaining.

In Division Two, Grant Hodnett hit his maiden first class century as Gloucestershire fought back hard on the third day against Somerset at Taunton.

The 24-year-old opener was run out for 108, made off 138 balls, with 17 fours.

And, with Marcus North contributing an unbeaten 101 and Kadeer Ali a patient 95, the visitors ran up 389 for four to lead by 95 at the close.

At Wantage Road, Derbyshire's unbeaten start to the season looked under threat as Northamptonshire defied the weather and Stephen Stubbings' brave century to move towards victory.

Stubbings hit an impressive 107 but the visitors were made to pay for their poor first innings total of 160 as they were dismissed for 283 second time round.

Simon Katich (85) also contributed with the bat but there was little resistance elsewhere as the final five wickets fell for just 32 runs.

Derbyshire trio Davey Jacobs, Usman Afzaal and David Wigley were all bowled out in the closing six overs - leaving Northants requiring just 60 more runs on the closing to day to wrap things up.

An unbeaten 138 by Wasim Jaffer led India to a masterful batting performance on the opening day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur, where they closed on a massive 326 without loss.

Jaffer, who completed his fourth Test century, and Dinesh Karthik (82 not out) then both retired ill with the only thing threatening the Indians' charge being the soaring Dhaka temperatures as captain Rahul Dravid (88) and Sachin Tendulkar (nine) took the tourists to stumps.