Getting interesting

This northern group is fascinatingly placed after tonight's round of matches.

With Notts rained off against Durham, they go above us by a point with a game in hand, while Durham are top with seven points. Meanwhile Lancashire are having the wobbles yet again and having lost from a seemingly comfortable position against Durham thanks to Morkel's assault, they have now been joined on six points by Yorkshire who also turned around a losing position thanks to a late assault by Darren Gough. That leaves us fifth in the table, ahead of Leicestershire, who we have still to play twice, and with games against Durham (home), Lancashire (away) and Nottinghamshire (home) to come.

It is a tall order to qualify, but if we win all the games we will do it. Losing another will make it difficult and we'd be dependent on results elsewhere. There can be few fans with confidence in the batting, and unless we keep the opposition to under 150 it is hard to see a win. That is not to say that we have no batsmen. Greg Smith has emerged as a fine player, Hinds can be dangerous, Clarke is more than capable but just hasn't got going. Apart from that, it's whether the aggression of Pipe and Wagg can last long enough to make a difference but the remainder lacks real substance in this format. It is a shame we couldn't bring in another batsman when Rogers took a break as that might have swung a couple of games, but Morris, Sears and Amott have made great strides this winter with squad improvements and the budget will only go so far.

Whatever happens in the remaining games of this competition, we will resume Championship action with Jon Clare and Tom Lungley rested and ready to go, Chris Rogers back and Wavell in decent form. We also have Greg Smith to bolster the batting ranks and Nayan Doshi now bowling his best after a poor couple of matches. As for our opening bowlers, I wouldn't swap Langeveldt and Wagg for anyone. The burly South African has already made a great contribution both on and off the field, while Wagg continues to improve with bat and ball and seems to bowl fewer four balls than previous seasons.

I suspect Notts will beat us on Friday as I can't see us rolling their strong batting line up two games running.

But I really hope I am wrong...