County Championship: Six teams who will contest title confirmed
- Published
Essex won the title in 2019 but could only finish fourth in their group after their final game was abandoned
The County Championship title race is now down to six teams after Hampshire's win over Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.
They will join Notts, Warwickshire, Somerset, Lancashire and Yorkshire in Division One later in the summer.
The six sides finished in the top two of their respective groups and the trophy last won by Essex in 2019 can now only be lifted by one of them.
Red-ball cricket resumes on 30 August with the top side in Division One becoming the new champions.
The final round of matches will run from 21-24 September, with the top two in the table also taking part in a five-day match for the Bob Willis Trophy - won last year by Essex - from 27 September.
Any lingering hopes Essex had of defending their trophies were ended when their match against Derbyshire was abandoned as a draw because of Covid issues.
However, Warwickshire's draw with Worcestershire meant the defending champions could not have qualified with a victory anyway.
Each team in Division One will play four games - and will not face the side who were in the same group during the first phase of the competition, which ended on Wednesday.
Earlier matches between the two sides from the same group will count, though, towards the eventual outcome as half the points will be carried forward.
Warwickshire earned a total of 42 points in their two group games against Nottinghamshire, so they will carry 21 forward and Notts five.
From Group Two, Somerset will carry 18.5 forward and Hampshire 8.5, with Lancashire and Yorkshire taking 16.5 and 4.5 from Group Three.
The remaining 12 teams that do not go into Division One will move into Divisions Two and Three, in which teams will also play another four matches.
Groups for second phase
Division One: Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Somerset, Hampshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire
Division Two: Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Surrey, Northamptonshire, Glamorgan
Division Three: Worcestershire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Kent, Sussex
The structure of this season's Championship was agreed to help "mitigate the impact of Covid-19, an England and Wales Cricket Board statement said in April.
A review by the ECB, the 18 counties and other stakeholders will be carried out at the end of this season to decide the format for 2022 and future years.