LONDON, Sunday - Alastair Cook marked his first match since resigning as England Test captain by scoring a century as Essex thrashed Somerset by eight wickets in the First Division of the County Championship on Sunday.
Cook is determined to continue his Test career under new skipper Joe Root and the left-handed opener, England's record Test run-scorer, was in excellent form at Taunton.
He eventually fell for 110 when he pulled a short ball from South African batsman Dean Elgar, bowling his occasional left-arm spin, to James Hildreth at mid-wicket.
Cook batted for over four hours, facing 214 balls and hitting 16 fours. The match was a personal triumph for Cook, who also made 52 in Essex's first innings 129.
His exit on Sunday left Essex 216 for two but by then the visitors were in sight of a victory target of 255, which they achieved without further loss.
Cook resigned as England's Test skipper following their 4-0 series loss in India late last year.
Now that he no longer plays international white-ball cricket, the 32-year-old Cook is not due to represent England again until the first Test against South Africa at Lord's on July 6.
- Carberry and Rossouw fall short -
While Cook had a hundred to celebrate, it was a different story at Southampton where the Hampshire duo of Michael Carberry and Rilee Rossouw both fell just short against county champions Middlesex.
Former England batsman Carberry, in his first home championship match since being diagnosed with cancer last year, resumed on his overnight 84 not out.
But on 98, Carberry was caught behind off Tim Murtagh.
South Africa's Rossouw got to within one run of a hundred while batting with a damaged left hand before he was run out by Australia-born ex-England batsman Sam Robson going for a non-existent second run.
Fast bowler Kyle Abbott, who like Rossouw has cut short his South Africa career to play for Hampshire, struck a maiden Championship fifty as the hosts made 438 in reply to Middlesex's 356.
Abbott then removed Middlesex's top three and at stumps they were 111 for four -- a lead of just 29 runs.
Meanwhile there was success for two spinners in south London as Lancashire slow left-armers Simon Kerrigan and Stephen Parry shared five first-innings wickets as Surrey were made to follow-on at The Oval.
The days when every county could be relied upon to field two specialist spinners, as Surrey did when the England duo of Jim Laker and Tony Lock ran through opposition batting line-ups on turning pitches at The Oval when the county won seven successive Championship titles in the 1950s have long gone.
Early season English conditions can often be unhelpful to modern spinners but Kerrigan and Parry played their part as Surrey were dismissed for 319 with former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara scoring a fluent 46 and Rory Burns 91 in reply to Lancashire's 470.
At stumps Surrey were 55 for one in their second innings, still 96 runs behind. - AFP
English county scores
County Championship (third day of four) First Division
At Taunton:
Somerset 209 and 174 (N Wagner 6-48) v Essex 129 (A Cook 52) and 257-2 (A Cook 110, T Westley 86 no)
Essex (19pts) beat Somerset (4pts) by 8 wkts
At Southampton:
Middlesex 356 (S Robson 84, S Eskinazi 82; B Wheal 4-98) and 111-4 v Hampshire 438 (R Rossouw 99, M Carberry 98, K Abbott 56, S Ervine 53)
At The Oval:
Lancashire 470 (S Chanderpaul 182, J Clark 140; M Footitt 5-118) v Surrey 319 (R Burns 91) and 55-1
At Edgbaston:
Warwickshire 178 (K Barker 50; B Coad 5-52) and 85-9 (B Coad 5-27) v Yorkshire 381 (P Handscomb 75, A Rashid 65, T Bresnan 61)
Second Division
At Cardiff:
Glamorgan 207 (D Lloyd 88) and 223 (A Donald 57; J Tongue 5-45) v Worcestershire 403 (T Kohler-Cadmore 102, E Barnard 59, J Hastings 51) and 28-2
Worcestershire (24pts) beat Glamorgan (4pts) by 8 wkts
At Bristol:
Gloucestershire 466-8 dec (W Tavare 101, G van Buuren 79, P Mustard 72, J Taylor 60, D Payne 54 no; G Griffiths 4-101) v Leicestershire 259 (E Eckersley 88, M Pettini 54; L Norwell 5-66) and 201 (E Eckersley 85; L Norwell 5-33)
Gloucestershire (22pts) beat Leicestershire (3pts) by an innings and 6 runs
At Derby:
Derbyshire 281 (G Wilson 72; N Buck 5-68) and 142-0 (L Reece 69 no, B Godleman 63 no) v Northamptonshire 307 (M Holden 76, B Duckett 53, R Newton 50; W Davis 4-60)
At Chester-le-Street:
Durham 162 (S Poynter 65) and 201-7 (K Jennings 82 no) v Nottinghamshire 305 (L Fletcher 92, J Pattinson 59; C Rushworth 4-54)
At Hove:
Kent 304 (D Stevens 68, S Dickson 68, W Parnell 51 no; J Archer 7-67) and 413-5 (S Northeast 173 no, S Dickson 89, D Stevens 71 no) v Sussex 291 (B Brown 90, J Archer 60 no; M Claydon 4-87 ) AFP
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