Essex target was generous - Tagg

South African all-rounder Andrew Hall was Northants' player of the season

Northants chief executive Mark Tagg says Derbyshire's declaration against Essex in the final County Championship game of the season was "generous".

He told BBC Radio Northampton: "The declaration was generous, I don't think anyone would argue with that. Of course it's disappointing.

"But we can't blame Derbyshire. They decided that was a fair declaration, and we have to look at ourselves."

Essex's victory gave them second place and denied Northants promotion.

Derbyshire were captained by former Northants player Chris Rogers.

"There's no anger towards him," said Tagg. "We knew Derby would try to win the game and finish high up the table. He's there for Derbyshire and not for Northamptonshire."

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The dramatic finish to the Division Two season came after Essex defeated Northamptonshire in the penultimate game.

"If we hadn't lost to Essex, and had drawn, we'd have got second place easily," said Tagg.

"But we've improved once again on our finish in the County Championship, we reached the finals day of Twenty20 for the first time ever, and we were fourth in the Pro40.

"We've had an excellent season," Tagg added.

South African all-rounder Andrew Hall was named Northants' player of the season at their end of season dinner.