Div2 Round7 Matches.

After the 'excitement' at Lords less exalted cricket returns to centre stage with the 7th round of the County Championship Div2 matches.

This week it's Yorkshire's turn to sit on the sidelines, which must make their followers pretty annoyed, as for the first time all season the weather forecast offers a fair chance of avoiding interuptions for rain and bad light.

The tie of the round sees 4th placed Essex hosting leaders Derbyshire. Neither side has suffered defeat yet this season, but while Essex have forced only one win, Derbyshire have 3 from their 6 outings.

Essex need a win to close the gap - currently 32 points - to bolster their promotion hopes, whilst for Derbyshire a win would give them a substantial lead over all comers, and a draw would not be terrible provided it came with a full complement of bonus points.

Elsewhere 5th placed Hants take on rock-bottom Glamorgan. The Welsh side are the only ones without a win, and have lost on 4 out of 6 outings. So far only one batting bonus point clerly highlight's their main weakness, though the return to action of North may begin to improve their performances. From Hants point-of-view this will be a must-win if they wish to be contenders this season.

Third place Kent take on bottom-but-one Leicester. Despite being more than half a table apart, the clubs have similar records. For both the problem so far is converting draws to wins, with kent having drawn 5 from 6 and the Foxes 4 from 6.

The final match of the round is the meeting of 7th placed Northants with the team directly above them in the table, Gloucs. Both teams have w1, d2, l3 records, and Gloucs superior position is down to a single batting point more than their opponents. A draw doesn't really suit either side here, so expect both sides to be willing to take a risk in the hope of getting back in contention at the right end of the table.

Current state of play - approx 15 minutes before lunch on day 1:

Essex....... 68/3 [25.1 overs] - Essex won toss
Hamps..... 84/2 [27.2] - Glam won toss
Leicester. 57/4 [24.4] - Leicester won toss
Northants. 78/0 [26.0] - Northants won toss

So Kent and Northants will be best-pleased at present.

End Day1 Update.
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Essex 182. Derbys 37/1
Hants 316. Glam 13/0
Leicester 141. Kent 104/2
Northants 302/4

So far then, Kent are already in a strong position to claim the win, while Northants are at the minimum in a position from which it's hard to lose.

There is a temptation to see Essex's score as below par, but they did take 79 overs to compile it, so it may be its just a difficult pitch to score runs on. We should have a better idea about where the balance of power is in that match by lunchtime tomorrow.

The other way round for the final match. 316 looks about par... but will Glam's batting be able to rise to the occasion?

End Day2 Update.
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Essex trail Derbys by 95 with 8 2nd inning wickets left. So Derbys are well on top, and surely a draw is very unlikely now.

Hants lead Glam by 14, with 10 2nd innings wickets left. Too close to call, with all 3 results still real possibilities.

Kent lead Leicester by 263, still with 4 1st innings wickets in hand. Kent have a good chance of victory by an innings.

Gloucs trail Northants by 255 but still have 4 1st innings wickets in hand. Northants are on top, but they will need to take the final 4 1st innings wickets by lunch tomorrow, otherwise anxieties about drawing from a winning position will start to grow.


End Day3 Update.
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Derbys claim a 10 wicket victory with a full day to spare, racing to 98 off only 18 overs to claim an extra day off. 22 pts in the bag!

Still to close to call between Hants and Glam, with the latter needing 210 tomorrow to record a 1st win of the season, and Hants needing another 8 wickets. Hard to see it ending in a draw now, unless there's a massive thunderstorm!

Kent have humiliated Leicester, winning by an innings & 279 runs with a day to spare95 with 8 2nd inning wickets left. Kent also take 22pts so Derbys cushion over them is unchanged.

Gloucs need to bat all day tomorrow to salvage a draw from their match with Northants. Will they have the gumption to dig in and do so?