County Cricket Live 2012

First ball was a yorker, just dug out past the bowler for a single that could well have been a run out...then a low full toss that Woakes can only drive to deep cover...5 off 4 balls...bowled him! Blackwell swings across the line and misses...Neil Carter to the crease, what a fairytale this could be for him...5 from 3 balls needed...goes to sweep, gets struck on the pad, huge appeal for lbw, not out, they go for the run...but don't! And Woakes has to scramble back to the non-striker's end...5 from 2 balls...four!! Low full toss and it's cracked past extra cover to the grandstand! Amazing stuff this...1 from the final ball of the season...the field all come up...and Carter misses and is run out!! Hampshire win by losing fewer wickets! What a final this has been, fabulous cricket...

He bowled superbly earlier on but didn't quite get it right in the penultimate over. A dot ball followed a scramble two into the leg side, a wide followed before a single to point which brought Ian Blackwell onto strike...but he could only dab it to leg for one...15 from 8 balls...and then Woakes goes across his stumps and takes four past short long leg, just tucked it past the fielder...11 from 7...and takes four more over point, what a couple of balls...7 off the last over, needed what a thriller...Kabir Ali with the last over...

Derbyshire are Division Two champions, winning by six wickets with Usman Khawaja 72 not out and man of the moment Ross Whiteley 38 not out, having hit five sixes, winning it with a slog sweep for six off Liam Dawson.

Derbyshire's momentous day has attracted a fairly healthy crowd to the County Ground, where nails would be being bitten were the scoreboard not rolling round at enough of a lick to suggest that the win Derbyshire need to be sure of clinching the title is only a matter of time.

We could do with a booming announcer here. The news that Kent had been bowled out at Cardiff, leaving Glamorgan to score 61 to ensure Derbyshire's promotion, might have been greeted with greater excitement if the PA man here would remove the sock that is evidently covering his microphone.

Yorkshire seem to have given themselves a day plus about 11 overs to bowl out Essex at Chelmsford after declaring 387 in front, but Derbyshire will be champions if they win this match. To that end, they have Hampshire 117-4, which means the lead is 114. Liam Dawson was caught behind driving at a ball from Mark Turner outside off stump before James Vince popped up a return catch to David Wainwright. Bilal Shafayat has 34 off 112 balls.

Glamorgan 390 Kent 150-6 (48 overs)

In a moment which pleased the home supporters greatly and depressed Kent’s followers considerably, Robert Croft had Sam Northeast lbw for 62 with what turned out to be the ball before tea. Fatally, Northeast was on the back foot when he should have been forward, the ball turned just enough and that was that. Croft is doing what he has done for many long years and it is enough to reduce Kent’s chances of making the tall score they need.

Events got worse for the home team shortly after tea as first Mike Powell and then Brendan Nash were snaffled by fine slip catches off Reed and Croft, both of them before the deficit had been reduced to under 250. This is the sort of passage of play which could pretty much extinguish Kent’s chances. Darren Stevens and Geraint Jones are together now; Kent need them to be there at the close. But they won't be! As I was posting this, Jones drove Croft straight back to the bowler and was out for five. The follow-on beckons...if Glamorgan enforce it.

Derbyshire completed the first part of their mission by taking all three bowling points as Hampshire were all out for 272 but are not making the best job of the second part, losing both their openers with only 14 runs on the board. Wayne Madsen was caught behind down the legside as a ball from James Tomlinson climbed on him and Paul Borrington added to local anxiety when another testing delivery, this time from David Balcombe, found the shoulder of the bat and looped to Michael Carberry in the gully. Derbyshire were 23-2 from 11 overs with seven left in the day.

Charl Willoughby has announced his retirement. The 37-year-old, who played international cricket for South Africa, has not made much of an impression at Essex having been released by Somerset at the end of last year and has finally ended a career that stretched back over two decades. He was a fine bowler, for sure, with 848 first-class wickets, but he must also have been one of the worst batsmen of recent times. He only scored 25 more runs in his first-class career than he took wickets.

Lancashire are relegated to Division 2, after being bowled out for 194 – 110 runs shy of the 304 they needed to take their Division 1 stay into another week.

Play ended 30 minutes ago at Lord’s. I want to say the game is interestingly poised, but all I can think about is how comfortable it would be to sleep under the Lord’s hover-cover.

It looks so warm and safe, like an inflatable, J.P. Morgan sponsored womb. I’m sure someone’s slept under it before, surely?

Spinners Wes Durston and David Wainwright have struck back by taking three late wickets. At 59 for three, Kent are 120 ahead and hold a good advantage. But there is a lot of fascinating cricket left in this match.

There are bucket loads of runs in this pitch. Sure, it takes a while to get used to the two-paced nature of it, but with little lateral movement, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t fill your boots (an expression I’ve never totally understood – fill them with what, more feet? – but regularly throw about in these situations).

The necronomicon is a book written by the mad poet Abdul Alhazred in 738AD. It’s a book used by many people who believe in the occult to find spells and such. Some Satanists claim it is the most important book in history. Famed explorer Ash Williams was a reader of the book. You can buy it on Amazon. And it’s been mentioned in many songs and films.

The only problem is, the book isn’t real. It does not exist, at all. There was no Abdul, mad or otherwise. It was invented as a plot point by HP Lovecraft, the racist often-brilliant sci-fi writer.

To surmise, Surrey have got a batting point this morning. The question is, just because you can earn them, see them on the table and teams crawl painfully towards them, do batting points really exist?

The Warwickshire supporters have appropriated their opponents' songs this sunny afternoon and their cricketers are currently giving Lancashire a thorough pasting. At few stages in the second half of this match have Glen Chapple's batsmen suggested that they are capable of chasing down 251 in 40 overs to win this game. At the moment they are 124 for 6 after 26.4 overs and, barring utterly improbable assaults, the Bears are home in some comfort.

Jim Troughton's bowlers have applied pressure and Lancashire have cracked under the weight of it. Chris Wright dismissed both Croft and Brown, and Ashwell Prince skied Ian Blackwell to straight cover, where Troughton judged the catch superbly. Horton and Cross were batting busily but this is looking for all the world like another victory in a memorable year for the Bears.

As for special days, Jonathan and Danielle in Hove have had one more than many Lancashire fans in 2012 but several fewer than those who watch their cricket at Edgbaston. It'll take something very special to change that script. Cross is just out and you can stick a fork in this one too.