After the near-washout last week at the Rose Bowl, this weeks round of matches has the top 3 all playing home ties against teams in the bottom half of the table.
Derbyshire host basement club Glamorgan, having already won the away fixture earlier in the season.
Yorkshire, level on points with Derbyshire host Hampshire, while Northants travel to Canterbury to take on 3rd placed Kent.
The final fixture sees Leicester take on Essex, while Gloucester - who have already played 6 - take their turn on the sidelines.
For Derbyshire to maintain their top position a win is a must. Glamorgan have had a poor start to the season - they are still waiting to register their first batting point - and Derbys will feel that if they can't win this match their chances of staying in the promotion race for the duration of the season won't be great.
Yorkshire and Kent will probably feel much the same, but it's Hampshire who may pose the trickiest test. They have accumulated 15 bowling points - as many as anyone in the league - and their batsmen will think they could have done better with a bit more help from the weather.
Luchtime scores on day 1 are:
Glam..... 93/3
Northants 69/1
Hamps... 92/4
So at this early stage it will be Kent with the biggest worries about losing touch with the pace-setters.
Interesting Week in Div2
posted on 16/5/12
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 16/5/12
Lets hope we can keep him neon
posted on 17/5/12
Ayup MILF
Knowing Derbys legendary ability to snatch failure from the brink of success I'd say about 16!
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Anyway, close of day1 update.
Derbys are now in a promising position, having bowled Glam out for 236, and put on 22 without loss in reply. From Glam's point of view at least they earned their 1st batting bonus point, mainly down to North's 79.
Yorkshire couldn't sustain their pre-lunch wicket taking, with ex Derbys batsman Katich hitting an unbeaten 179 to help Hamps to a strong 350/5 at the close. Assuming they can extend the score beyond 400 tommorow it would take something pretty special from Yorks to get a win.
At Canterbury Northants reached a sedate 244/4, and with wickets rare and a slow run-rate, that match is already looking draw-ish.
All things considered, Derbyshire will be sleeping the best tonight.
Fingers crossed the weather doesn't spoil it.
posted on 17/5/12
Close of Day2 Update.
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Derbys lead Glam by 99 on 1st Innings with 5 wickets still in hand.
Kent trail Northants by 295 with 7 wickets in hand.
Yorks trail Hants by 327 also with 7 wickets in hand.
With the games at the half-way stage, both Yorks and Kent look to be running short of time to force a win. Derbyshire are at least ahead of the clock, but will be worried the loss of strike bowler Footitt to injury may harm their chances of bowling out Glam for a 2nd time. Despite this, of the 3 games, you'd want to be in derbys position the most!
posted on 17/5/12
Another 100 runs tomorrow and Davey Wainwright to tweak 'em out for an innings victory
posted on 17/5/12
I was thinking we'd want more like 150 for a lead of 250. Should be able to get there with a day and a half still left, provided we don't lose Madsen wickets in the morning.
posted on 18/5/12
Come on Hampshire!
i'm sensing win number two coming
posted on 18/5/12
A quite spectacular collapse from Derbyshire this morning, losing the last 5 wickets in the space of 19 runs and leaving Madsen high & dry on 130 not out.
But: We've already got Glamorgan 7/2 in their second innings... could it be a blessing in disguise?
Elsewhere Kent and Yorkshire are struggling, but there must be some doubt if there is enough time left in the game for their opponents to force a win (without a contrived run chase anyway).
posted on 18/5/12
End of Day3 Update
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Derbyshire have beaten Glamorgan by 8 wickets with a day to spare.
When I speculated on 'a blessing in disguise' earlier I had no idea it could be THIS big a blessing. Derbyshire missed out on the 5th batting point, so take 23 from this match.
The pressure is now firmly on Yorkshire and Kent to stay in touch.
That doesn't seem likely though. Kent still trail Northants by 138 with 4 second innings wickets intact, and it will take contrivance of a very high order to avoid a draw at Canterbury.
Yorkshire declared their 1st innings 28 behind, presumably on the sound if very improbably logic that the only way there could be a result at Headingley is if Hants 2nd innings imploded even more spectacularly than Glamorgan's did at Derby.
They were rewarded by one wicket before the close, but will still need to take another 9 in less than 3 hours tomorrow to be in with a chance.
Since it's very hard to see how any kind of run chase can be contrived that gives both teams a fair chance of winning, this fixture seems to be heading inexorably towards a draw.
Looks like Debyshire will have a little breathing space at the top by tomorrow night.
posted on 18/5/12
comment by ϟ Marco IL Fantastico ϟ (U1329)
posted 21 hours, 55 minutes ago
Another 100 runs tomorrow and Davey Wainwright to tweak 'em out for an innings victory
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Not a bad prediction eh wideboy! If we'd got the 100 runs i'd have been spot on
Derbyshire, a la la la