Stuart Law

An unbeaten 119 from Stuart Law, his fifth century of the season, earned Essex a draw against Division Two champions Northamptonshire at Wantage Road on Saturday to keep alive their own promotion hopes. Essex are now joint second on 150 points with Glamorgan with one match remaining.

Glamorgan, who play Middlesex at Cardiff this week, are favourites to secure the second promotion spot, but if Essex play as well as they did against Northants then anything is possible, especially with Glamorgan struggling to hit their best form.

Northants went into the final day needing only to avoid defeat to secure the trophy, although they were keen to notch a sixth successive victory and round off their home programme on a high note. Essex were struggling on 110 for four just before tea, still 67 runs short of making Northants bat again. But Law, who hit 12 fours in his 184-ball knock, and Stephen Peters (50 not out) steered them to safety at 225 for four by the close

Warwickshire, meanwhile, will be in high spirits after securing promotion to the National League First Division. They are, however, destined for a mid-table finish in Division Two of the County Championship, which is possibly good news for Essex. Motivation could be a problem for the Midlands club and they have not impressed in the County Championship for months.

The last CC meeting between the two sides was in May this year. Essex skipper Ronnie Irani was denied a century when rain forced an early finish at Edgbaston. The former England all-rounder was unbeaten on 91 when umpires David Shepherd and Jeremy Lloyds abandoned the game as a draw.

Sportlist prediction: Essex