Glamorgan poised for innings victory

A solid batting performance from Sussex in reply to a strong one from Warwickshire has all but ensured a draw in their Championship match at Edgbaston. Warwickshire's last pair of Chris Woakes and Imran Tahir extended their overnight score of 349 for 9 to 407 before Tahir was caught and bowled by Ollie Rayner for 22. Woakes remained unbeaten on 49. Sussex did not have a stand-out performer in their innings but all of their batsmen got starts and three converted them into half-centuries. Ed Joyce fell in bizarre fashion when his pull shot lodged in the pocket of short leg who was taking evasive action. Michael Yardy made 57 while opening the innings and Carl Hopkinson and Luke Wright stabilized the innings from a shaky 151 for 4. Hopkinson remained not out on 64 while Wright was on 59 at stumps to lead Sussex to 276 for 4.

The contest at Northampton between Northamptonshire and Derbyshire was also headed for a draw after the visitors' powerful batting performance on the third day. Resuming on 11 for 0, in reply to Northamptonshire's 433, Derbyshire's openers added 82 for the first wicket. Andrew Hall gave Northamptonshire their first wicket, trapping Chris Rogers lbw, and he and Johan van der Wath struck again to reduce the visitors to 132 for 3. Any hopes of a collapse, however, were wiped out by Daniel Redfern and Wavell Hinds who added 237 for the fourth wicket. Redfern missed out on a century, bowled by Nicky Boje for 95, but Hinds got his, and was unbeaten on 133 when Derbyshire ended the day on 371 for 4.

Glamorgan's bowlers gave their team a fantastic shot at victory after bowling Essex out cheaply in the first innings and making significant strikes during the follow-on at Chelmsford. Essex were on 34 for 0, replying to Glamorgan's 515, at the start of the day but lost Varun Chopra, bowled by Adam Shantry, with the score on 53. Thereafter, wickets fell regularly with Shantry dismissing four more middle-order batsmen to finish with 5 for 62. James Harris also chipped in with 3 for 37 as Essex were skittled for 200, trailing by 315 runs in the first innings. Glamorgan stuck them in again and this time it was David Harrison who picked up both openers with only 17 runs on the board. Hashim Amla offered resistance and remained unbeaten on 44 but Essex lost two more wickets to end the day on 132 for 4. They need another 183 runs to avoid the innings defeat and have only six wickets in hand.