Celebrations as Northants are promoted to County Championship top flight

Northants were preparing for the final day of their division two clash with Gloucestershire at Bristol, when the news came through at 9am that Glamorgan's clash at Durham had been adandoned as a draw.

Only the Welsh county could have prevented the County and their hosts both going up to the top flight.

They needed to take maximum points to deny Northants, and with their game ending as a draw, the County's promotion was confirmed.

Indeed, there will be a double promotion party at Bristol with Gloucestershire also joining Lancashire in division one next season.

And they can begin those celebrations straight away, as at 9.50am the umpires at Bristol decided there would be no play there either, and the season is over.

The draw saw Gloucestershire take six points for the draw and Northants seven, with David Ripley's men finishing the season in second place behind champions Lancashire, with Gloucestershire third.

Northants can now look forward to their first season in the county championship division one since 2014.

It has been a remarkable second half to the season for the Northants, who in June were rock-bottom of the County Championship and without a win to their name.

Skipper Alex Wakely stood down from his role and handed the reins to Adam Rossington, and the team haven't looked back.

Northants claimed their first win of the season in the first week of July when they thrashed Sussex by 393 runs.

That sparked a great run of results, with the team winning four matches and drawing the other, and the sharing of the spoils with Gloucestershire has ensured that promotion to the top flight of English cricket.