Cricket: 2011 County Championship Division 2, Round 1

There were wins for Gloucestershire, Kent and Leicestershire in the opening round of the 2011 LV County Championship while Surrey and Northamptonshire played out a draw.

Gloucestershire are top of the table after a seven-wicket victory over Derbyshire in Bristol. However, the home side were 56-5 before recovering to post 343 thanks to Jonathan Batty (70) and Will Gidman (89), with Jonathan Clare taking 4-84.

Derbyshire could only respond with 157 as captain Luke Sutton top-scored with 35, but Liam Norwell took 6-46 on his first-class debut. Following on, Derbyshire improved thanks to knocks from Greg Smith (130) and Chesney Hughes (60) to post 331 and set the home side a target of 146 for victory. David Payne's 5-76 was a personal highlight from a first-class debut for Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire held their nerve despite losing three quick wickets as Ian Cockbain, also on debut, made 59 not out and Alex Gidman 70 not out to see them home.    

Kent sit in second after a 57-run victory over Essex at Chelmsford. Kent had Sam Northeast to thank as he made 112 in their total of 247. David Masters and Maurice Chambers took three wickets each.

Essex were in all sorts of trouble at 48-6 but recovered to post 201 thanks to James Foster's 88 not out. Alastair Cook made just six and Ravi Bopara was out without scoring as Darren Stevens took 6-60.

The away side got up to 238 second time around as Robert Key (61) and Martin van Jaarsveld (63) made half-centuries. Reece Topley took 5-46 on his Championship debut.

Chasing 285, Essex fell just short with 227 despite Billy Godleman making 58, Bopara 39 and Cook 31. Topley had the dubious honour of getting a pair on his championship debut. Robbie Joseph's 4-25 helped seal the win for Kent less than an hour into Day Four.   

Leicestershire are third following an 89-run win over Glamorgan at Grace Road. The home side batted first and posted 238 thanks to Claude Henderson's 80 not out, while Dean Cosker took 4-41.

Despite Alviro Petersen's 91, Glamorgan were dismissed for just 146. Petersen was the only man to score more than 11 as Matthew Hoggard (3-28) took a hat-trick.

Leicestershire had Will Jefferson (112) and Jigar Niak (67) to thank for them getting up to 245. Dean Cosker was again the pick of the bowlers with 4-50 while Graham Wagg took 3-59.

Chasing 338, Glamorgan fell short with 248 as Ben Wright top scored with 65. Niak followed up his half-century with 5-36.

Northamptonshire are fourth in the league after drawing with Surrey who are fifth. Surrey batted first at the Kennington Oval and made 322 thanks to 74 from Rory Hamilton-Brown and 64 from Graham Batty.

Lee Daggett took 3-63 and James Middlebrook 3-78. In reply, Northamptonshire struggled to 163-7 but Middlebrook (103) and Andrew Hall (73) built on the earlier good work from Rob White (78) to recover to 376. Tim Linley (4-53), Graham Batty (3-66) and Stuart Meaker (3-100) shared the wickets.

Surrey compiled 342-6 before declaring as they chased victory. Zander De Bruyn left stranded on 91 not out while Daggett bowled his way to 3-69.

Chasing 289, Northamptonshire reached 221-5, with Mal Loye hitting 52 and Meaker taking 3-46, before a draw was agreed.

Middlesex begin their campaign at home to Essex on April 14, Derbyshire host Leicestershire, Glamorgan play Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire face Kent in the same round of fixtures.