Mostafa Asal takes out home hope Tom Richards
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

Top seed Marwan ElShorbagy imposed himself on the tournament as he beat fellow Egyptian Fares Dessouky in the second round of the Squash Squared Open at The Wimbledon Club.

On the same day, three top seeds fell by the wayside as Tom Richards, Cesar Salazar and Mathieu Castagnet were all beaten, with world junior champion Mostafa Asal toppling Richards, the number four seed and local favourite.

ElShorbagy and Dessouky treated the packed crowd to a special occasion, with competitive squash of the highest quality.

In the first game, both players took a while to settle but once Dessouky got into his groove he struck some beautiful winners and took the game 11-7. Marwan was much more solid and relaxed in the second, playing some trademark backhand drops and volleys and upping the pressure on Dessouky to take the game 11-7.

The third game saw both players at their best and had it all. The crowd also enjoyed great interaction with referee Steve Richardson, epitomised on one occasion when Dessouky queried a let decision and asked Steve what was going on. He replied, much to the amusement of the crowd, ‘He’s tying his shoelace’, referencing Marwan who was indeed doing just that.

One 80-plus shot rally finished off by a rolling cross court drop shot nick brought a standing ovation from an utterly absorbed crowd. Marwan sneaked it 11-9. Someone shouted out ‘Squash doesn’t get any better than this’.

ElShorbagy looked imposing in the fourth and he kept his focus superbly, weathering a ferocious attack from his opponent as Dessouky fired in some breathtaking crosscourt nick winners.

Dessouky needed a short injury break after some contact, but the top seed eventually took it 11-7 in a match that lasted 64 minutes and will go down as one of the finest matches seen at the club, and one played in great spirit.

Mostafa Asal, Baptiste Masotti and Mahesh Mangaonkar are all into the quarter finals after beating their seeded opponents.

Masotti and Mangaonkar are tied at 61st in the world rankings, but both are through, after defeating Mathieu Castagnet and Cesar Salazar, respectively.

The Frenchman got the better of compatriot Castagnet, who made it all the way through to the semi-finals of the Citigold Wealth Management Canary Wharf Classic in March.

Masotti, who has won the Carter Classic and the Crawford Fund Management Open this year, continued his good form with a victory over his countryman.

The lower ranked man held the lead twice, at 1-0 and 2-1, but Castagnet refused to go away, fighting back to level the match on both occasions. However, Masotti got over the line in the fifth, taking an 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 victory in exactly an hour.

India’s No.3 Mangaonkar got the better of Mexico’s Cesar Salazar, beating the World No.24 in straight games, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9.

He will now face Egypt’s World No.33, Asal, who overcame England’s Tom Richards, ranked 11 places above him in the world.

Asal demonstrated that he could make the move from junior to senior ranks in the Black Ball Open in December, winning two 89-minute matches against Youssef Soliman and Declan James before bowing out to Ali Farag.

At Wimbledon, he beat wild card Jordan Warne in the first round in less than 20 minutes and also overcame Richards in straight games, winning 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 in 42 minutes.

The first game was very close. Richards failed to settle and looked quite distracted, challenging a lot of decisions. Asal’s composure and focus was hugely impressive.

He wowed the crowd with his forehand in the first round but his backhand looked equally potent against Richards, who struggled to cope with Asal’s power, intensity and largely error-free squash.

PSA $51,250 Men’s Squash Squared Wimbledon Club Open 2019, The Wimbledon Club, London, England.

Second Round (top half):
[1] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt Fares Dessouky (EGY) 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 (64m)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [5] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7 (60m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [7] Cesar Salazar (MEX) 11-9, 11-5, 11-9 (44m)
Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [4] Tom Richards (ENG) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 (42m)

Bottom Half:
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) v Chris Simpson (ENG)
[8] Lucas Serme (FRA) v Ben Coleman (ENG)
[6] Daryl Selby (ENG) v George Parker (ENG)
[2] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)

First Round:
[1] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bye
Fares Dessouky (EGY) bt Asim Khan (PAK) 11-3, 11-2, 11-0 (27m)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [WC] Tom Walsh (ENG) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4 (30m)
[5] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bye
[7] Cesar Salazar (MEX) bye
Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 11-9, 11-3, 11-2 (38m)
Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [WC] Jordan Warne (ENG) 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 (19m)
[4] Tom Richards (ENG) bye
[3] James Willstrop (ENG) bye
Chris Simpson (ENG) bt Olli Tuominen (FIN) 11-7, 11-4, 16-14 (47m)
Ben Coleman (ENG) bt Carlos Cornes (ESP) 11-6, 11-2, 11-1 (59m)
[8] Lucas Serme (FRA) bye
[6] Daryl Selby (ENG) bye
George Parker (ENG) bt Patrick Rooney (ENG) 11-13, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 (66m)
Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) bt Sébastien Bonmalais (FRA) 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3 (70m)
[2] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bye

Pictures from Squash Mad files

MONTEREY, Calif. — The three-day Ferrari Racing Days event concluded with winners crowned in the third round of Ferrari Challenge North America and demonstrations from the Corse Clienti F-1 and XX programs capturing the imagination of the fans in attendance.

The Corse Clienti Formula One cars brought racing machines once driven by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello during a successful 2004 season to the iconic 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

While the F-1 cars brought high-speed thrills and familiarity to racing fans, the supercars in the XX program evoked curiosity and wonder to an audience that had largely never seen them before.

The XX cars are developed to be driven by exclusive customers on race tracks only. They are developed free of the homologation restrictions of a road car and series-implemented technical restrictions of a race car. Ferrari engineers created marvels of engineering that demonstrate mind-blowing levels of horsepower, handling and downforce.

Ferrari explains cars in the XX program as being “aimed at a small, highly select group of Ferrari clients: supercar enthusiasts eager to share the development of technologically innovative content with the Prancing Horse technicians, through driving a closed-wheel laboratory car.”

Nearly 20 cars from the XX program hit the track between the FXX K Evo, 599XX Evo and FXX models. The 1,036-horsepower V12s of the most populous group – FXX K Evo – roared through the undulating circuit to the delight of the crowd.

The third round of the Ferrari Challenge North America championship series concluded with winners being crowned in Race 2 for Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell. Martin Burrowes took the overall Trofeo Pirelli win and was joined by Joseph Rubbo and Thomas Tippl on the podium. Race 1 winner Cooper MacNeil, who turned the fastest lap at 1:29.667, finished fourth. Karl Williams won the Pro-Am class.

The Coppa Shell victory went to Mark Issa for the second day in a row with Joe Sposato winning in the Amateur category.

While Ferrari wrapped up its only annual celebratory racing event of this caliber in the United States, World Superbike racers completed their Pirelli Italian Round at the circuit named after Enzo Ferrari – Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy.

Alvaro Bautista, Jonathan Rea, Tom Sykes and the rest of the grid come to the United States for the only time this season during the next premier event scheduled at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship GEICO Motorcycle U.S. Round with MotoAmerica July 12-14.

JIM FALLS, Wis. — Eagle Valley Speedway and JP Mechanical presented the WISSOTA Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, Midwest Modifieds, Super Stocks, Modifieds and EVS Hornets on Sunday night.

Once again, it was a beautiful early season night and the Mother’s Day crowd was greeted to good racing action in each class. The feature winners were Michael Truscott, Curt Myers, Derrek Haas, Danny Richards, Dean Pronschinske and Jason Junker.

Grant Southworth and Michael Truscott won the WISSOTA Modified heats as Truscott went on to sweep the night in an impressive feature win.

It was Mike Anderson moving out front at the start of the feature and he continued to guide the field for the first five laps.  As Anderson ran up high, Truscott showed him the lower groove was faster and he drove under him to take the point.  Anderson dropped down behind Truscott and set chase but a late caution flag flew for pole sitter Mike Knopps as he hit the turn one wall hard.

The restart saw Truscott cruise to the win as Anderson and Darrell Nelson restarted side by side behind him.  Nelson was able to overtake Anderson on an impressive lap coming back to green and they followed Truscott home as Grant Southworth and Sam Fankhauser rounded out the top five.

Curt Myers and Terran Spacek won the WISSOTA Super Stock heats and it was Tony Falkner leading the feature impressively early in the action.  Falkner lead the pack by several car lengths for the first five laps when he spun coming off of turn two on his own.  Curt Myers inherited the lead and although second finishing Tommy Richards challenged at various moments, Myers went on to win his third feature of the weekend and fifth in his las six races.  Terran Spacek finished third.

Jason Quarders also was involved in a late spin which forced him to the back of the pack but both he and Tony Falkner had fine runs to recover from their bobbles.  Falkner finished fourth and Quarders rounded out the top five.

Nick Koehler and Derek Haas won the WISSOTA Midwest Modified heats and Hass blasted from the pole position to absolutely dominate the event which ran nonstop from start to finish.  He was very impressive in his first ever feature win.  Calvin Iverson started dead last in the feature after having a flat tire in his heat and he too was a stand out as he carved his way all the way to the runner up position.  Shane Halopka, Nick Koehler, and Josh Smith rounded out the top five.

Danny Richards and C.J. Wagner led the WISSOTA Street Stock heats to the checkered flags and the two eventually battled each other throughout the feature with Richards earning the victory.  It was Braden Brauer leading the first three laps before Richards drove low to take over the point.  At the halfway point, Wagner had worked his way through traffic after starting in eighth to take over the runner up position.

A spinning Leslie Jackson drew a caution flag just as the leaders were in very heavy traffic resetting the field.  Wagner used the restart to pull even with Richards but was not able to overtake the position.  Wagner regrouped and at the white flag, had a nice run and was able to pull side by side with the leader down the backstretch.  There was contact as the two entered into turn three, but both were able to continue.  Richards gained a slight advantage through the turns and was able to power home to the victory.  Throughout all the excitement, Parker Anderson was immediately in their shadows waiting for an opportunity, but he settled for third at the finish.  Travis Hazelton and Braden Brauer rounded out the top five.

The WISSOTA Pure Stock heat was won by George Richards but he was not able to capture the feature win.  Dean Pronschinske took the early lead of the finale and Richards set chase.  Pronschinske looked very good as he led cover to cover even though Richards took a look both inside and outside on several occasions.  Richards faded on the last lap as Pronschinske, coming off his first ever feature win on Friday night, scored number two on this evening.  Richards finished second, the rookie Cole Richards finished third, and Nicholas Hazelton was scored in fourth at the finish.

The EVS Hornet heat was topped by Jason Bauer as it was Jason Junker being the only repeat feature winner from last week.  The first lap saw the Hornets two wide for the lead and three wide directly behind them.  It was Bauer leading lap two and Junker taking the point at the end of lap three.  Jake Halterman was racing through the field as he moved into the top three and then overtook second.  Halterman began to challenge for the lead and as they were coming to the white flag, the two were side by side and there was contact on the front stretch which caused the only caution flag of the event.  The restart saw Halterman relegated to the rear as Junker led the pack to the checkered flag.  Jason Bauer and Chad Halterman rounded out the top three.  Jake Halterman rebounded to finish fourth and Dean Butler was scored in fifth.

The Hurricanes are in an 0-2 hole after a 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday, and Carolina captain Justin Williams dropped a pretty epic postgame quote about how his team can climb out of it.

Here's a recap of last night's action (check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+) and what to watch for tonight, in today's edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily:

Jump ahead: Last night's game | Three stars
Play of the night | Today's game | Social post of the day

About last night ...

Game 2: Boston Bruins 6, Carolina Hurricanes 2 (Bruins lead the series 2-0)

After Matt Grzelcyk opened the scoring with about five minutes remaining in the first -- on a goal Canes goalie Petr Mrazek probably wants back -- the Bruins cruised. Boston goalie Tuukka Rask admitted it was probably the best, full game the Bruins has played in a while, maybe throughout the playoffs. Carolina's offense was stagnant; they were credited with just nine scoring chances for the entire game. And many wondered why Rod Brind'Amour never pulled Mrazek. The coach said Mrazek wanted to stay in, but it would be surprising if there wasn't a goalie change for Game 3.

Three stars

1. Matt Grzelcyk, D, Boston Bruins. After absorbing a gnarly hit by Micheal Ferland early, Grzelcyk bounced back with two goals to lead the Bruins. Not bad for the local kid, who scored only three goals all regular season.

2. Marcus Johansson, LW, Boston Bruins. Johansson and linemate Charlie Coyle were buzzing all game. They probably deserve a co-shoutout here, flexing the Bruins' depth with a combined five assists.

3. Connor Clifton, D, Boston Bruins. Scoring your first career NHL goal in the playoffs? Have yourself a day, Connor Clifton. The 23-year-old rookie played in only 19 regular-season games and 10 playoff games (three total assists). And he nailed the answer of what he's doing with the puck, given the day on which he scored it:

Connor Clifton was asked where the puck for his first NHL goal is going.

"I guess to my mom, right?"

- Marisa Ingemi (@Marisa_Ingemi) May 12, 2019

Play of the night

MOJO TO CLIFTON! Marcus Johansson with a beaut of a pass to Connor Clifton for the geno! #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/PIh0rvofik

- Casey Baker (@CaseyBake16) May 12, 2019

Just a gorgeous pass from Johansson.

Dud of the night

Brad Marchand is toeing the line of peskiness yet again.

Brad Marchand draws a penalty on Justin Williams, signals for Williams to go to the penalty box and taunts him with the "C" pic.twitter.com/1UukK3ZeQt

- Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) May 12, 2019

After baiting Justin Williams into taking a holding penalty -- "I'm old enough, I gotta know better," Williams said -- Marchand mocked the Canes' captain by miming a "C" on his chest and pointing to the penalty box.

Marchand has remained clear of the NHL's Department of Player Safety this season, but he's still getting under opponents' skin this postseason like only he can.

On the schedule

Game 2: St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks (Sharks lead the series 1-0)

The Sharks' offense is looking mighty scary these days. In 15 playoff games, San Jose has scored five goals on at least five occasions. The Sharks spread the wealth by flexing their depth scoring in a 6-3 win in Game 1. The Blues, by contrast, have yet to hit the five-goal mark in any game. They need to amp things up -- there's been some talk about how to get star winger Vladimir Tarasenko more involved -- but also rediscover their stingy defensive structure that got them to this point.

Social post of the day

Mrazek's night, in a photo.

I'm no goalie coach but I think Petr Mrazek lost his net there pic.twitter.com/z1UoMJId1R

- Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) May 12, 2019

Quotable

Incredible postgame commentary -- and imagery -- from the Canes' captain.

Justin Williams on Canes' 0-2 hole �� "You spend all this time leading up w/ everyone writing articles about how great we are. You come out and sometimes you gotta eat a poop sandwich. It doesn't taste good. You have to chew on it for a couple days & hopefully get the taste out"

- Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) May 12, 2019

Manchester United forward Alexis Sanchez has taken to social media to apologise for his below-par performances this season.

Sanchez, who admitted the whole team struggled under former boss Jose Mourinho, also found himself on the fringes of the team after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was appointed as caretaker in December, then permanent manager in March.

- Mitten: Is there any way to fix Sanchez at United?
- Keep or dump: Who should Man United sell?
- Ratings: Greenwood shines in Cardiff defeat

The Chile international scored just one goal in 20 Premier League games (11 of which came off the bench) this season, after arriving in a swap deal with Arsenal's Henrikh Mkhitaryan last summer. He was handed a reported £400,000-a-week contract which has allegedly caused issues in the United dressing room as the team finished sixth and out of contention for a place in the Champions League.

"It was a very tough season..." he wrote. "The fans are the ones who deserve an apology as they always support you no matter what happens. Personally, I didn't perform as much as I was expecting because of unpredictable injuries.

"Press and people were speculating of things that were not even true. I was always a professional in all aspects. I apologise to the fans for not be able to achieve our goals. Nevertheless we are Manchester United!

"Players and staff are questioning if we were doing the right thing and if we were giving our best for this football shirt... I'm certain that Manchester United one day will return to be the club, as it was in the old days with Mr. Alex Ferguson."

View this post on Instagram

Fue una temporada muy complicada, pero ellos los fans, son los únicos que se merecen unas disculpas, te apoyan siempre a pesar de todo por este club. En lo personal, no jugué todo lo que esperaba, me lesioné de cosas que nunca me habían pasado. Hay cosas internas que la gente y periodistas hablan sin saber. Siempre fui profesional en todo sentido, ofrezco disculpas a los fans ?? por no estar peleando cosas importantes, siendo que somos el Manchester United. Jugadores y Staff saquemos conclusión, si hicimos lo correcto y entregamos lo mejor de cada uno por esta camiseta... Estoy seguro que el Manchester United, volverá a ser el club, que algún día fue, con el señor Alex Ferguson. ⬇️ ?? It was a very tough season...the fan are the ones who deserve an apology as they always support you no matter what happens. Personally, I didn't perform as much as I was expecting because of unpredictable injuries. Press and people were speculating of things that were not even true. I was always a professional in all aspects. I apologise to the fans ? for not be able to achieve our goals,Nevertheless we are Manchester United! Players and Staff are questioning if we were doing the right thing and if we were giving our best for this football shirt ... I'm certain that Manchester United one day will return to be the club, as it was in the old days with Mr. Alex Ferguson. ??....

A post shared by Alexis Sanchez (@alexis_officia1) on May 12, 2019 at 11:04am PDT

Sanchez, 30, has played more than 700 games for club and country since making his senior debut as a teenager, raising suggestions that he has already peaked and may not recapture the outstanding form he showed at Barcelona and Arsenal.

He has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford already, and Juventus are reportedly ready to make a move for him this summer. Calciomercato reported last week that Sanchez's agent Fernando Felicevich has met with Juve sporting director Fabio Paratici.

From start to finish, a whiff of panic lingered over the way the Big Bash League and its clubs handled AB de Villiers' brief and ultimately dead end flirtation with the tournament. As the most game-changing addition to Australian cricket, and indeed sport, in well over a decade, the BBL deserved better than to play host to a saga that had no winners.

Whether it was Cricket Australia, the clubs or their broadcasters Seven and Fox Sports/News Corp, the eagerness to secure de Villiers after he declined to take part in the tournament last season seemed motivated as much by worry about the summer to come as it was by robust belief in the strength of the competition that already exists.

De Villiers and his management, having fielded offers by more than half the clubs, indicated on Friday that he was no longer interested, providing no concrete reasons other than to complain about the "repeated media leaks" about his interest and then the terms by which he would be secured.

Given the length of the tournament, the constraints of the BBL salary cap and the close proximity of news that Australia's best white-ball players would be away in India for an ODI tour during much of January, thus depriving the league of much of its best homegrown talent, the sense that it was "AB or bust" left plenty of questions hanging in the air.

ALSO READ: AB de Villiers pulls back from BBL interest

For one thing, the sort of money that needed to be cobbled together, via the successful club, CA's marketing funds and the broadcasters - both of whom were involved in discussions around signing de Villiers to "value-add" deals to help get him to the figure he desired - made a mockery of the payments usually available to players taking part in the tournament, while raising the issue of whether de Villiers would be in Australia as a cricketer or a billboard.

A figure in the region of A$350,000 for a handful of games made even the headlining five-year, A$1 million deal signed by Chris Lynn with the Brisbane Heat in 2017 look puny. Global market pressures from the BPL and elsewhere forced CA, the clubs and broadcasters to raise their eyes above the usual sorts of deals, but there were plenty of voices questioning the integrity of an arrangement that would allow the successful - most likely major market - club to benefit from one player being paid so much outside the cap in broad daylight.

Not for the first time, tails seemed to be wagging dogs. The first indications of de Villiers coming to Australia only became apparent after it was clear that the BCCI would insist on a tour of India in mid-January, duly depriving Fox Sports of the exclusive ODI content on home soil it had paid the lion's share of a A$1.18 billion rights deal to secure. ESPNcricinfo understands that broadcasters were contacted and asked to put in lucrative commentary offers to de Villiers' management by way of sweetening the deal, this after CA had itself written to the clubs to indicate it was willing to put in extra funds in the region of A$50,000 to help add ballast to any club's offer.

Such exchanges bore the stamp not of the maturing and successful league that the BBL now is, but instead of the nascent exhibition tournament that it was eight years ago. Back then in 2011, similar package deals ensured Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen, to name two, were secured as high profile talent.

Elsewhere Chris Gayle was attracted to the Sydney Thunder on a deal that was believed to constitute near enough to half the club's entire salary cap. Entering season number eight, having grown from a start-up as part of Fox Sports' then modest domestic rights deal to being worth roughly half of the total $1.18 billion rights value, the BBL really should be past such dealings.

Imagine, for a moment, a salary capped league such as the AFL in which broadcasters were approached to offer extra money outside the cap to a particular player to ensure their arrival at a club in the league's preferred market. While the constraints of the BBL cap are determined as much by CA's wider strategic goal of maintaining the primacy of international cricket as by any cash shortage, there has to be a more systematic and professional way to go about things.

That, of course, is if the BBL is to be viewed as a league with genuine club support, and not an exhibition tournament where the overall "product" watched by as many viewers as possible regardless of the competing teams or their context means more than anything. This tension has been evident in discussions about the shape of the competition for next season, from whether the finals series should include the current four teams or be raised to five out of eight, as well as the aforementioned issues around marquee recruitment.

Undoubtedly the exponential increase in the number of games per team has created problems, but so too the vagaries of pitches such as problematic drop-ins at Docklands Stadium - home to the Melbourne Renegades - and the Sydney Showgrounds - home to the Thunder.

Among the most intriguing learnings from last summer was that some of the biggest television ratings for the entire tournament took place when the Heat's Ben Cutting and Max Bryant laid waste to the Melbourne Stars by chasing down 156 inside 10 overs - an audience not for a contest, but for freakishly big hitting.

That sort of display was most certainly in the minds of all those parties working to get de Villiers to Australia. In their future decisions, the integrity and longer term growth of a competition must take greater precedence. All the scrambling made the BBL look less like the biggest addition to cricket down under in decades, and more like a league struggling to stay afloat.

Toss West Indies chose to bat v Bangladesh

West Indies captain Jason Holder has chosen to bat first against Bangladesh at Malahide. Holder said he would like to see a better fielding performance from his team, after what he felt were poor displays in that aspect in the previous games.

West Indies have dropped Shannon Gabriel to bring in Raymon Reifer for his his ODI debut. Reifer is a left-arm pace bowler and lower-middle-order batsman, and has so far played a single Test against New Zealand in December 2017.

Bangladesh too have an ODI debutant with Abu Jayed brought in to replace Mohammad Saifuddin who is out with back spasms. Jayed has played five Tests and three T20Is.

Bangladesh are reportedly considering replacing Jayed with Taskin Ahmed in the main World Cup squad, although BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the decision will be taken closer to the ICC deadline to change the squad, which is May 23.

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Shakib Al Hasan, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 5 Mohammad Mithun, 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 10 Abu Jayed, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

West Indies: 1 Shai Hope (wk), 2 Sunil Ambris, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Jonathan Carter, 6 Jason Holder (capt), 7 Raymon Reifer, 8 Fabian Allen, 9 Ashley Nurse, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Kemar Roach

Follow the latest from the third round of County Championship matches here with our live blog. Send your messages in to the team via twitter with #countycricketlive to join the conversation. If the blog doesn't appear, please refresh the page.

Jamie Overton, Somerset's highly-rated fast bowler, has joined Northamptonshire on a one-month loan deal, in a bid to guarantee him first-team action while he continues his recovery from a back injury.

Though Overton has played a role in Somerset's march to the Royal London Cup final on May 25 - for which he will remain available - the club feel that cannot guarantee him selection in four-day cricket, which resumes in earnest this week with a run of fixtures through to mid-July.

And, with Somerset currently top of the table and preparing for a marquee clash against the reigning champions, Surrey, at Taunton this week, they've decided that the best option is to offer Overton a chance to get overs under his belt elsewhere, rather than bring him back to fitness in their own Championship campaign.

"Since working his way back from an early season injury, Jamie has recently and successfully returned to First XI action in the Royal London One-Day Cup," said Somerset's director of cricket, Andy Hurry.

"We've made an impressive start to this year's County Championship, and whilst Jamie is certainly in contention for selection, we can't guarantee him a starting place at present.

"Therefore, we feel that both he and the club would benefit from him playing competitive First XI red-ball cricket."

The arrangement will run from May 14 to June 13, and means that Overton will be available for Northamptonshire's County Championship matches against Lancashire, Sussex, Glamorgan and Durham.

"As I've stated previously, it's important to us as a club to ensure that we are providing opportunities that support our player's needs whilst considering our club's mid-term needs," said Hurry.

"The terms of this loan agreement will enable Jamie to be available for selection for the Royal London One-Day Cup final and return to Somerset if we incur an injury to one of our seamers."

Overton, who could yet be in contention for a Test call-up this summer, with the Ashes looming in August, recognised the value of his time away from his home club.

"Obviously, I'm hungry to be playing First XI cricket and currently opportunities are limited," he said. "When the opportunity to play First XI Championship cricket at Northants came about, I felt it was a great chance for me to show what I can do. After this loan period I'll return to Taunton and I look forward to contributing to winning games for Somerset."

He is the second Somerset player to make a loan move this season, after Dom Bess - their spin understudy to Jack Leach - was sent to Headingley for a month's loan with Yorkshire.