Eagles celebrations on hold

Essex Eagles’ return to the top flight in the NatWest Pro40 was delayed after their game against Warwickshire Bears today was abandoned two hours before the scheduled start at waterlogged Edgbaston.

The point for a no-result could be sufficient to secure promotion but Mark Pettini’s team may need to beat Kent in their final game at Canterbury next Saturday to claim the Division Two title.

Essex are now on 12 points, two more than Kent, but both sides could be overhauled if Yorkshire win their last two matches, against Warwickshire at Headingley Carnegie on Tuesday and at Northamptonshire on Saturday.

Warwickshire, in turn, have to beat Yorkshire to retain an outside chance of snatching third place and qualifying for the promotion play-off with the third-bottom county in Division One.