Kent were surprise leaders after the first weekend’s action of this season’s County Championship Premier Division, played at Ashford TTC in Surrey.

The first round of matches saw reigning champions Nottinghamshire ease to a 7-3 win over newly promoted Berkshire with former championships Sussex recording a solid 8-2 win over another newly promoted side in Worcestershire, with the remaining two matches being 6-4 wins by Yorkshire over rivals Leicestershire and Kent, who beat Hertfordshire.

The second round of matches saw Kent pull off a major coup as they beat Nottinghamshire, who suffered their first defeat in four seasons, while Yorkshire also took their second win with another 6-4 win against Worcestershire who let a 3-0 and 4-1 lead slip against the Yorkshiremen.

Leicestershire opened their account in the second round with a hard-fought win over Hertfordshire and the round was completed as there was nothing to separate Sussex and Berkshire, who drew.

The third round of matches was played on Sunday morning and saw Kent record yet another 6-4 as on this occasion they beat Leicestershire to complete the weekend on maximum points. Nottinghamshire returned to winning ways as they thumped Sussex 8-2.

Yorkshire and Berkshire played out an epic drawn clash and Worcestershire recorded their first win with a 6-4 win over the luckless Hertfordshire, for whom Jimmy Walsh was injured during the men’s doubles and had to conceded both the doubles and his last singles, which may have had an influence on the result.

The division completes in Draycott in January.