Yorkshire, at least, will be relieved at the rain that brought their match
at Derby to an untimely conclusion in the 22nd over,
John Ward writes. The
Derbyshire seamers had put their team well in the ascendancy, on course for another victory, but in the end it was the weather that had the last word.
Yorkshire were put in to bat on a greenish pitch in a damp atmosphere, and were in trouble right from the start. Charl Langeveldt quickly found the conditions to his liking, whipping out Craig White, caught at slip for 1, and Anthony McGrath, caught at the wicket for 0; 6 for 2. Andrew Gale (11) chipped Graham Wagg low to mid-on to make it 23 for 3.
Jacques Rudolph got his head down and fought it out, but Adam Lyth ignored the conditions and played some handsome drives, most notably a cover drive that was through the fielder before he could react effectively. His 18, a little cameo, came to a cruel end: he was hit a crippling blow in the box, and when he eventually decided he was fit to face up again, he was immediately bowled by a beauty from Tom Lungley.
Shortly afterwards the rain came, and Derbyshire could only survey the dismal landscape with regret. Rudolph finished unbeaten with 14 and, had the rain stopped, he would have carried quite a weight on his shoulders.
Stephen and Ben Harmison conspired for
Durham to consign
Scotland to a 38-run loss
at Chester-le-Street. Fifties for Phil Mustard and Neil McKenzie lifted Durham to a useful 230 and as soon as Gavin Hamilton fell to Callum Thorp, the visitors started slipping - they slid from 22 for 1 to 51 for 5, the Harmisons doing most of the damage with three wickets apiece. Neil McCallum and Richard Berrington essayed a mini-rescue - McCallum was in good touch with 60 - but their efforts were, in the end, cosmetic.
South West Division
Gloucestershire and
Hampshire got in some early Twenty20 practice
at Bristol - and it was a thriller, Gloucestershire emerging winners and new table-toppers with two balls left. Somehow they picked themselves up from 15 for 3 and 27 for 4 - Shane Bond the chief wrecker with 3 for 11 from four overs - and gradually began to pick up the run-rate chasing 145 through Craig Spearman (67 from 44 balls) and Mark Hardinges, who made 49 not out off 44 deliveries. Michael Lumb topscored with 76 to push Hampshire to 144 for 6, while Jon Lewis shone with 3 for 17.
Glamorgan continued a gloomy week
at Swansea: after being crushed by Northamptonshire in the Championship,
Worcestershire outplayed them on Sunday. The visitors restricted them to 135 for 9 from their revised 31 overs; hardly even a competitive Twenty20 total. Worcestershire made light work of the ask, losing only Steve Davies, Moeen Ali and Vikram Solanki, who made 69, as they completed the job comfortably with 17 balls remaining.
South East Division
Surrey wasted no time hunting down
Essex's 215 in a match reduced to 40 overs, with their captain Mark Butcher and Usman Afzaal leading the charge in an unbroken 109-run stand, each reaching fifty, after Scott Newman's half-century. James Benning also made 38. Varun Chopra's 79 from as many balls was the platform from which Essex had built their total but even lower-order contributions from James Middlebrook and David Masters were not enough
at Chelmsford and Surrey were home with 22 balls remaining.
Middlesex's tie with
Sussex called off very early
at Southgate, leaving Sussex rooted to the bottom with only one win in six.
Midlands Division
The Midlands league was hardly the joy division, with both scheduled fixtures abandoned through rain without a ball bowled.
Northamptonshire and
Nottinghamshire stay joint second in the Midlands Division after watching the rain
at Northampton, while
the wash-out between
Warwickshire and
Ireland at Edgbaston confirmed the sides' status as the bottom two. The wooden spoon slot is yet to be determined.