Stuart Law is still in talks with Essex that will hopefully lead to him parading his rich talents with the county again next summer.

"I want to return but nothing is signed and sealed yet," said the Aussie run machine. "We are still in discussions and expect to come to a decision over my future within the next day or so."

On the evidence of this summer one can only hope Essex can agree terms with Law, even if he is understandably driving a hard bargain.

A quick glance at the statistics shows that he has carried the Essex batting this summer. He has so far amassed 1704 runs in the Championship and, amazingly, that is nearly 1,000 more than any of his team-mates.

And, with Nasser Hussain expected to put in only the rare appearance next year because of England duties, Law's ability and flair for scoring runs will be needed more than ever.

At the moment, however, they will settle for the Australian to score heavily in the County's two remaining Championship games, against Worcestershire, starting at Chelmsford tomorrow, and next week's battle with Notts at Trent Bridge.

Essex will need to win one of those to stand a realistic chance of climbing into the top nine in the table and, therefore, clinch a place in next season's First Division.

The only likely change for the battle against Worcester could see the return of wicket-keeper Robert Rollins for Barry Hyam.

He would certainly strengthen the batting and pressed his claims on Sunday with a half-century in the National League clash between the two sides.

Another possible switch was the return of experienced seamer Mark Ilott, but that has now been ruled out after he reported a "sore knee" while playing for the seconds at Colchester last week.

The unavailability of Ilott will not cause the Essex coaching staff too much concern especially as opposing sides have been bowled out for under 300 the last couple of games.

Lack of consistent support for Law, and consequently runs, have proved the biggest problem - a fact emphasised by opener Paul Prichard's failure to get beyond 14 in any of his last eight innings.

For his and Essex's sake one can only hope he will produce the sort of innings that he managed when Worcester last visited Chelmsford in the Championship - one in which the former County captain scored a magnificent 120.

Essex (probable team): Prichard, Grayson, Hussain, S Law, Irani, Robinson, Hyam or Rollins, Cowan, Thompson, Anderson and Such.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.