There was no shortage of Irish involvement in England this week with the start of T20 action, but we start with a review of  the County Championship games first.

George Dockrell made his first appearance in the longer format for Somerset, and played an integral part as they beat Durham.

The left-armer took 2 for 26, which saw him pass the 100 first-class wicket milestone - the sixth Irish cricketer to do so.

Dockrell followed that up with 3-82 in a marathon 30 overs spell in the second innings.

Marcus Trescothick's quick-fire 133 ensured an easy seven wicket win chasing 250.

Tim Murtagh's Middlesex sit proudly at the top of the table after their innings win at Northants.

He claimed 1-67 and 2-40 as they romped to victory - Toby Roland-Jones taking 12 wickets in the game.

Niall O'Brien's Leicestershire didn't fare so well, slumping to a 278 run loss to Hampshire. O'Brien made 8 and 0, but enjoyed better fortunes with the gloves - taking four catches and a stumping.

His team started their T20 campaign with a 27 run over Derby - unfortunately for 'Nialler', he was dismissed first ball.

Younger brother Kevin suffered the same fate on Friday playing for Surrey against Sussex.

Gary Wilson top scored with a fluent 50 off 39 balls (6 fours, 1 six) as Surrey posted 171/7.

Ed Joyce was dismissed for 7 in the chase, while O'Brien bowled superbly taking 2/22 which looked set to give the Oval side the win.

However, a six run time penalty proved costly, and Yasir Arafat struck the last two balls to the boundary to seal the win.

There was better news for Wilson, who has been named Surrey's T20 captain following a knee injury to South African opener Graeme Smith.

Sussex were also in action on Saturday, when they travelled to Lord's and came away with a 13 run win, defending 128.

Ed Joyce scored 14 in the Sussex innings, with Paul Stirling taking 1-13.

Stirling made 13, Eoin Morgan 30, and Andrew Balbirnie 0 in the unsuccessful run chase.

This was part of a Middlesex double-header at Lord's, and they slumped to a 8 wicket loss to Essex.

Eoin Morgan hit 77, but both Stirling (3) and Balbirnie (2) failed in their total of 181.

Essex made light of the chase with Mark Pettini hitting an unbeaten 95 from 54 balls.

George Dockrell (2-36) claimed the bragging rights dismissing Gary Wilson (18) when Surrey travelled to Somerset, but he and Kevin O'Brien (3) had the last laugh in a 14 run win.

Dockrell was up against another Irish colleague when his Somerset side beat Gloucestershire by 18 runs. He took 0-16 in two overs, with Graeme McCarter scoring 4 and taking 1-33.