Play Underway at Last!

Glamorgan may be the luckiest team in the 2nd division this week. It's their turn to not have a fixture, while the other 8 teams have all seen significant time lost to the weather.

It's hard to see three of the current round of matches producing a positive result without some serious deal-making between the captains.

In the case of Derbyshire vs Hampshire a forfiet of an innings each would seem to be the only way. However, if that is the case, it's an odd decision by Derbyshire to field first after winning the toss, since that means they are playing for only 3 bowling-points while Hampshire can chase 5 batting-points.

(As an aside from the main article, why is batting worth 66.67% more than bowling? I really don't like how this unbalances the game. It smacks too much of the 'gentelmen / players' era for my taste).

Worryingly the only game that looks like it may produce a result is Kent vs Essex (2nd vs 4th). At the moment Essex are struggling - 5 wickets down from less than 30 overs - so if wickets keep falling at that pace a result inside 2 days may be on. A win for either team would take them ahead of Derbyshire, unless we also pulled off an improbable victory.

However, the table is tighter than it seems. With up to 24 points available for a win, even 2nd bottom Leicestershire could be only one point behind our current total if they recorded a 'maximum' in their match against Northants.