Surrey and Lancashire still battling for County Championship Division Two title

Surrey hold an eight-point lead over Lancashire going into the final round of LV= County Championship Division Two fixtures after playing out an exciting draw at Emirates Old Trafford.

Lancashire were set 492 for victory by the league leaders and it was teenage batsman Haseeb Hameed who proved to be Surrey's main tormentor before bad light intervened with nine overs remaining in the game.

Hameed batted all but three overs of the day's play and faced 234 balls in his match-saving innings of 91 on a day which also provided another illustration of the precocious talents possessed by Surrey brothers Tom and Sam Curran.

Tom Curran struck after Lancashire had added 10 runs to their overnight 22-0, trapping Karl Brown in front for 16, and Matt Dunn dismissed key pair Alviro Petersen (13) and Ashwell Prince (11) to leave the hosts in trouble on 71-3.

But Hameed and captain Steven Croft put on 91 for the fourth wicket before the latter was caught behind off Tom Curran for 40.

Phil Mustard and Jordan Clark fell cheaply and Hameed's innings came to an end when he was caught by Tom Curran off the bowling of Sam three overs before the game was brought to a conclusion by bad light.

The players finally shook hands at 5.45pm, leaving Surrey eight points ahead of Lancashire going into the final games in which Surrey entertain Northamptonshire and Lancashire visit Essex.

An outstanding career-best 151 not out from opener Nick Browne helped Essex to a five-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Asked to score 307 to win from a minimum of 65 overs after Leicestershire declared on 73-1 in their second innings, the visitors knocked off the runs needed with three overs to spare to move up to third in Division Two.

The key partnership was the third-wicket stand of 157 between Browne and Ravi Bopara, compiled off just 29.5 overs.

Browne passed 1,000 championship runs for the season during his stay while Bopara's 69 was his highest score of the season in the competition.

The exciting finish was made possible in a morning session that saw three declarations - Essex after just five overs and Leicestershire 14.

Northamptonshire and Glamorgan played out a leisurely draw on the final day of their match at the County Ground after the weather had scuppered any chance of a positive result.

After less than 85 overs were possible in the opening three days, morning discussions were held between captains Alex Wakely and Graham Wagg, the latter standing in for the injured Mark Wallace, but no agreement on a contrived finished could be reached.

Instead the match petered out into a draw with both sides going through the motions for much of the day, Northants taking their overnight 128-5 on to 278 with half centuries for Adam Rossington and David Murphy, and Glamorgan reached 99-3 before the teams shook hands.

Kent's final game of the season ended in a damp squib without a ball being bowled during the final three days of their clash with Gloucestershire.

Match umpires David Millns and Paul Baldwin inspected the conditions at 10.30am and decided the Canterbury outfield was too wet for any further play.

Only 15 overs were bowled in the game as Kent were left on their opening day score of 67-1. The teams banked five points apiece for the stalemate.