Cricket 2011: English County Championship Division Two, Final Round

Middlesex and Surrey held their nerve to secure promotion to Division One as Northamptonshire missed out on promotion by a single point.

Champions Middlesex won eight, drew six and lost two games in their total of 240 points after a five-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Leicestershire were 4-3 in their first innings before Greg Smith (108) and Ned Eckersley (106) helped them to 319. Gareth Berg claimed 3-32, Tim Murtagh 3-63 and Corey Collymore 3-79.

Middlesex piled on 502 in reply as Berg hit 130 not out and Dawid Malan 97. Jigar Naik took 3-156 and Wayne White 3-54.

The home side posted 314 thanks to James Taylor's 80 but Olly Rayner's 4-43 gave Middlesex control.

Chasing 124 to win and secure promotion as champions, Middlesex wobbled to 90-5 before holding their nerve to win by five wickets.

Twenty20 champions Leicestershire recorded only one win in this format of the game and lost 11 in their total of 88 points as they finished bottom of Division Two.

Surrey won eight, drew four and lost four games in their total of 227 points after three-day innings and 126-run victory against Derbyshire at The Oval.

Tom Maynard's 123 and Steve Davies 73 set up Surrey's first innings score of 468. Mark Footitt took 3-99 and Wes Durston 3-100 for the away side.

Only Paul Borrington (87) resisted in a total of 190 for Derbyshire, as Pragyan Ojha picked up 4-48 and Tim Linley 3-34.

Following on, Derbyshire again subsided to just 152 with Ojha (6-42), again the chief destroyer to give Surrey the win by an innings and 126 runs and promotion to Division One in second place. 

Derbyshire finished fifth on 181 points after winning five, drawing five and losing six of their matches.

Northamptonshire finished on 226 points and agonizingly missed out on promotion by one point in their total of seven wins, seven draws and two defeats after a nine wicket victory against Gloucestershire inside three days in Northampton.

Northamptonshire recovered from 50-4 to post 343 as Andrew Hall hit 86 and Kyle Coetzer 84. Will Gidman claimed 5-74 and Jon Lewis 4-61.

Gloucestershire fell from 96-1 to 183 all out with David Willey taking 5-29 and Lee Daggett 4-69.

Following on, the away side stumbled to 185 as Hamish Marshall made 42. David Willey picked up 5-46 and Chaminda Vaas 2-35.

Northamptonshire reached their target of 26 runs for the loss of one wicket but have to settle for Division Two cricket next season.

Gloucestershire finish in fourth on 198 points, with six wins, five draws and five defeats from their 16 games.

Sixth-placed Glamorgan won five, drew five and lost six in their total of 178 points after they won the first County Championship match to be played with a pink ball by eight wickets against Kent.

Kent posted 237 first time around in this day-night encounter with Joe Denly making 69. John Glover claimed 4-49 and Graham Wagg 3-52.

Stewart Walters (147) helped Glamorgan to 423 in their first innings. Azhar Mahmood took 2-39, Adam Ball 2-55, Adam Riley 2-86 and Matt Coles 2-113 for the home side.

Kent made 312 as Mahmood (70) and Geraint Jones (79) led the Kent fightback. Dean Cosker was the pick of the bowlers with 4-106.

Chasing 127, Glamorgan reached their target to win by eight wickets.

Kent end the season in ninth on 149 points after five wins, two draws, and nine defeats.

Essex finish eighth on 159 points after four wins, eight draws and four defeats.

Next season, Yorkshire and Hampshire will replace Middlesex and Surrey in Division Two.