County Championship day three: Stokes 53 and two wickets, Stone six for 44, 20 wickets at Edgbaston

On day three of the county championship on 22 August 2026, Ben Stokes scored 53 and took two wickets at the Racecourse Ground, Olly Stone claimed six for 44 at The Oval, and 20 wickets fell in a seam-dominated day at Edgbaston.

Stokes struck 11 fours, including a cross-legged lofted drive that drew warm murmurs from the crowd, and was eventually out to a leading edge, caught by Anuj Dal. He came on first change and made the breakthrough with his first ball; Derbyshire took an early tea and finished the session six wickets down. Durham’s innings folded with the new ball as Ben Aitchison, Division Two’s leading wicket taker, picked up his second five-fer of the year against them.

At The Oval Olly Stone collected an outstanding six for 44 and accounted for Ollie Pope for a duck; the ground proved as much a minefield for Surrey as it had been for Nottinghamshire.

Seam bowlers dominated at Edgbaston where 20 wickets fell in the day: Sussex’s last seven contributed only 44 runs and Chris Woakes took four for 36 as Warwickshire were dismissed for 161.

At Southampton Hampshire took a 24-run first-innings lead, propelled by Tom Prest’s 46 and contributions from the lower order, while George Hill finished with five for 29. Adam Lyth’s fifty provided support for Yorkshire in their second innings.

At Merchant Taylor’s Kent removed seven Middlesex wickets in the afternoon session, Matt Milnes taking five of them, before Kent themselves lost two wickets, one of which was Zak Crawley for a duck.

At Taunton Lewis Gregory reduced Essex to two for three in his first eight balls; Essex reached 158 courtesy of Paul Walter and Matt Critchley but were then made to follow on. Earlier at the ground a tenth-wicket stand of 72 between the No 11 Migael Pretorius and James Rew (74 not out) pushed Somerset past 450.

At Cheltenham the injury replacement Rehaan Edavalath top-scored for Worcestershire with 63, while Ben Allison produced a career-best five for 19 as Gloucestershire were all out for 150.

George Bartlett’s 92 helped shore up Northamptonshire at Old Trafford, and 15 wickets fell at Grace Road in a tightly fought match between 2025’s promoted teams, Leicestershire and Glamorgan.

The matches reported above were played as part of day three of the county championship on 22 August 2026.