County Cricket Live 2012

We've got a huge chunk of the season out of the way already, these round of matches are flying by. The only thing significant today was this morning with Warwickshire's victory at the The Oval - they're suddenly big favourites for the title already. But Notts, in control at Hove after two days, will have something to say. Lancashire out of the bottom two but couldn't force the win against Middlesex, who are showing they're good enough to stay up this season.

Down in the Division Two, Northants grabbed a last gasp win and Hampshire bagged their second win of the year - or should that be, Glamorgan failed to win again?

This match will finish tonight, you suspect, but it is still not clear who wins.

Warwickshire's fifth wicket added 111, which clearly tipped the balance in their favour, but Gareth Batty has claimed his fourth wicket of the innings and 10th of the match by pushing one through to trap William Porterfield leg before and the visitors suddenly face a tricky passage of play.

Porterfield made 66, Tim Ambrose has 64 but Rikki Clarke will have to take care if Warwickshire are not to start twitching a little. At 156-5, they need another 66, with 11 overs left of the scheduled allocation, but the extra half-hour will probably come into play one way or another.

That's it for another day. It didn't look as though we would have any results today, but George Dockrell's wonderful spell at Taunton changed all that and set up Somerset for a very significant victory. Meanwhile, Lancashire are on top against Middlesex and there's a very tight game emerging at The Oval. In Division Two, Leicestershire are in a heap of trouble against Kent while Derbyshire have taken charge against Essex.

Another fine day of championship action. Lancashire are showing signs of getting over their early season wobbles, Warwickshire look to be nailing down their title credentials and Somerset and Durham continue to show that perhaps they're good but not good enough this season? No-one taking hold of that match at Taunton, at the end of day two down in the Westcountry.

Division Two action centred on the revelation of the season, another five-for for David Wainwright, could he bowl Derbyshire to promotion this year? Hampshire are trying to get their campaign going and Kent too are trying to get right back on course after a good start. Northamptonshire piling on the runs n'all.

Round seven all over with not a lot of movement. A whole host of draws around the country. The only winners this week have been Derbyshire, they hammered Glamorgan to move top of Division Two and look in good shape. That lower tier is packed with average squads and finding a way to win matches will be the key, unlike the first division where you expect certain teams to come good given their quality.

In Division One, Warwickshire will be disappointed to have not gone on to beat Lancashire in such a commanding position but they top the table, a couple point ahead of Nottinghamshire. But I reckon Durham can also get involved in the mix.

At last, the batsmen have had a decent crack - which will probably only serve to deepen Mark Ramprakash's funk this evening. All seven County Championship matches went uninterrupted today and of the sides that batted first this morning, only Glamorgan failed to make it through the day. Even then, they picked up their first batting point of the season, thanks in part to Marcus North's 79 on debut.

With the West Indies about to start their Test series against England, the currently-exiled Ramnaresh Sarwan issued a reminder of his abilities with his second ton of the season for Leicestershire in their match against Essex. There was also an unbeaten century for David Sales at Canterbury, as Northamptonshire built a solid platform in their first innings against Kent, while in Division One, Chris Nash's 84 helped push Sussex towards 300 against Worcestershire at New Road.

Another heavily weather-affected round of matches with, bar one, draws all around. But some of them more interesting than others. Surrey and Lancashire lost three days but Leicestershire only just held on against Northamptonshire and Surrey came so close to a famous win after following-on at New Road.

Talking of famous wins...i've watched a thriller here in Bristol. The sun has shone, the cider has flowed and the cricket matched the glorious afternoon. Phil Jaques and Gary Ballance seeing Yorkshire to a target of 400 in 108 overs, a fantastic chase that sends a message to all that Yorkshire are back.

If learning quickly is the secret to success, it should be no surprise that Kevin Pietersen has enjoyed such a fine career. Pietersen has not played on too many surfaces like this in recent years. This New Road pitch is slow, low and offering seam assistance to the bowlers and his second innings here was only his seventh in championship cricket since he became a Test player in 2005.

But, having fallen in Surrey’s first innings when he was drawn into a loose drive against one that left him - the sort of shot that may well have brought four on the flat tracks of Delhi - Pietersen learned the lessons and demonstrated his fine form with a much-improved second innings performance. Coming in with his side in some peril, against a ball just 37 deliveries old and with his team two down and 161 behind, he took the game by the scruff of the neck and may well have played its defining innings. Playing straight, advancing down the pitch to negate the seam movement, leaving anything away from his body and showing the confidence to hit the ball over the top when the opportunity arose, was his highest first-class score for Surrey and his highest championship score since 2008. It was a performance that bodes well for England.