Gloucestershire Gladiators were crowned Division Two champions after scoring a 52-run victory over Derbyshire Scorpions at Bristol.

That result was enough to earn promotion and Surrey's defeat of Essex ensured Mark Alleyne's men cannot be caught.

Coach John Bracewell was delighted to gain promotion after a difficult season in other competitions.

"We're back in the First Division after a tough year because I think a lot of the teams in Division Two are as good as those in Division One," Bracewell said.

"There are a lot of good emerging sides in one-day cricket now and I think the standard has gone through the roof since the introduction of the two divisions.

"I'm not sure that the two divisions have improved things in the four-day game but they certainly have in one-day cricket and I think that can only help the international team."

Craig Spearman smashed 81 while captain Alleyne made a half-century as the Gladiators posted a daunting 292 for eight.

The Scorpions faced an uphill task and they made a bad start when Michael Di Venuto tickled the second ball off Jon Lewis down the leg side and was caught behind by Jack Russell.

Smashed

Chris Bassano smashed 15 off one Lewis over, but the pressure for runs told when Nathan Dumelow was run out for 13.

Bassano took the total into three figures but he drove Ian Fisher to extra cover where he was caught by Chris Taylor after making 61 from 54 balls.

Alleyne then removed Dominic Hewson and Jason Kerr cheaply and the match appeared to be over.

Selwood was within seven runs of a century when he fell to Jo Angel and Dowman was bowled for 45 on the last ball of the same over.

Mike Smith then polished off the tail in style, taking the last three wickets in four balls as the Scorpions collapsed from 239 for five to 240 all out.

Spearman and Russell earlier got the Gladiators off to a flying start with nine boundaries coming in the first five overs.

They put on 111 before Russell was finally dismissed for 42 when he was trapped leg before by Kerr.

Sixty-two runs were soon added for the second wicket until Spearman was bowled by Dumelow shortly after reaching 500 runs for the NUL season.

His 81 came off just 67 balls and included eight fours and three sixes.

Hancock followed soon after, bowled by Dowman for 45, but any hopes the Scorpions had of a collapse were extinguished by Alleyne.

Gloucestershire: T H C Hancock, C M Spearman, C G Taylor, M G N Windows, M W Alleyne (Capt), I D Fisher, A P R Gidman, R C Russell (Wkt), J Angel, J Lewis, A M Smith.

Derbyshire: M J Di Venuto (Capt), C W G Bassano, N R C Dumelow, D R Hewson, N E L Gunter, M P Dowman, S A Selwood, J I D Kerr, L D Sutton (Wkt), G Welch, K J Dean.

Umpires: M J Harris and P Willey