County Championship: Essex all but safe after draw at Warwickshire

Essex virtually secured their County Championship Division One status as their match with Warwickshire ended in a rain-ruined draw at Edgbaston.

No play was possible due to rain on the final day, meaning that three of the four days were completely blank.

Essex collected 10 points from the draw, putting them pretty much safe from relegation as two of the teams below them – Yorkshire and Durham – meet in next week’s final round of games.

It would now take an extraordinary combination of results and bonus points to drag Essex through the trapdoor with Worcestershire.

It was a sodden and sorry scene at Edgbaston as Warwickshire’s home season came to an anti-climatic close.

After high winds prevented play on the first day and rain did so on the third, persistent drizzle overnight and on the fourth morning again left conditions unplayable.

Essex were denied the chance to resume from the 325-5 that they built on the second day.

Tom Westley’s side at least took a solid 10 points from the draw – a more productive return than from the drawn encounter between these teams in their inaugural championship meeting at Edgbaston in 1895.

After three days of hard work and effort, the points gained from that game, in which, incidentally 21 players made their championship debuts, were Warwickshire 0 Essex 0.