for the final day, however, had predicted rain, so Northamptonshire wanted to get wickets early. Spinners Jason Brown and Monty Panesar shared nine wickets on the third day, while Derbyshire made 204 from 99 overs (di Venuto and Welch both scoring 47), but Australian Damien Wright wrapped up the innings by having Hunter bowled two balls into the fourth morning. (Cricinfo scorecard) National League: Derbyshire v Sussex (14 August) Derbyshire (4pts) beat Sussex (0pts) by three runs Michael di Venuto made 129 not out, his third one-day century this season, to lift Derbyshire Phantoms to a final score of 232 for 3, which would turn out to be just enough to win the game. Sussex Sharks were looking to win and open a gap at the top of the league, and with ten runs needed, the Sharks had three wickets in hand and at least two overs remaining. However, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan holed out a catch to Jonathan Moss, Mushtaq Ahmed could add no run from three balls, and in the end, James Kirtley was bowled by Moss on the last ball, with Kirtley needing to hit a boundary to win the game. (Cricinfo scorecard) County Championship: Derbyshire v Essex (16–19 August) Essex (19pts) beat Derbyshire (6pts) by five wickets Essex came back from a 120-run first innings deficit, after Derbyshire had used a day and a half for their first innings at The County Ground, Derby. Derbyshire struck runs at a rate of 2.75 an over, but four batsmen still made fifties, and especially Luke Sutton took his time at the crease. His 88 took five hours, and he faced 241 deliveries. However, Derbyshire's tactic of attrition seemed to work – after making 426, all while Danish Kaneria was bowling (the Pakistani leg spinner bowled 60.1 overs, taking six for 111), Derbyshire immediately got breakthroughs with the ball. Essex were 18 for 3 before the Flower brothers – Grant and Andy – put on 60 for the fourth wicket to help close the gap. By stumps, Essex were 113 for 4 from 50 overs. After run rates of just above 2.5 on the first two days, the third day gave the spectators nearly 400 runs while eighteen wickets fell. Graeme Welch took two wickets in consecutive deliveries in the early stages, as Essex were 128 for 6, but Ronnie Irani made a four-hour 99 and also had support from James