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CC Division 2 - 10-15th Sept

Tuesday, September 16 2003

Worcestershire kept their place on top of the second division with a 71 run win over Yorkshire. Chasing only 236 for what would have been a crucial win, the tykes fell well short, mainly due to Hayward and Batty who each took 4 wickets.

Northants maintained their challenge for the championship with a narrow 20 run win over Glamorgan. As always, Mike Hussey made the major contributions with the bat, with scores of 147 and 50. Set an improbable 382 to win the game, Glamorgan looked out of it when their ninth wicket fell for 263. However, a last wicket partnership of 78 brought them close before Northants eventually brought matters to a close. Spin twins Swann and Brown were once again amongst the wickets.

Gloucestershire comfortably beat Durham by 126 runs. Jonty Rhodes top-scored with twin tons of 103 and 102, and Jonathan Lewis and Ian Fisher did most of the damage with the ball. For Durham, Martin Love twice fell just short of hundreds with scores of 98 and 97, but he lacked any support and Durham were never in the hunt.

Ian Blackwell produced the performance of the week. Coming in at 31 for 4, he blasted 247* off 156 balls and almost single handedly took the Somerset score past 400. When Derbyshire matched the home side’s first innings score and then dismissed them cheaply second time around, they were favourites to win. But a target of 224 proved beyond them, and they fell 27 runs short, with Blackwell chipping in with 4 wickets. Not a bad way to celebrate his recall to England’s ODI side!

With only one round of games to go, Northants and Worcestershire are promoted and vying for the championship. They play each other in their final game of the season, and Worcestershire will be champions if they avoid defeat. Yorkshire and Gloucestershire also play each other to decide the third promotion place, the white rose county needing a win to claim a place in the top three. The bottom two sides in the table also play each other later this week, with Derbyshire needing to beat Hampshire to avoid the wooden spoon.

Posted by David