County Championship: Only 16.5 overs possible on day one of Northants v Lancashire

Spectators returned to The County Ground for the first time since 2019 but saw little more than an hour's play

Rain meant only 16.5 overs were bowled on the first morning of Northamptonshire's County Championship Group Three game with Lancashire.

After being put into bat, Lancashire had reached 59-0, with Alex Davies on 34 and Keaton Jennings on 23, when they went off at just before 12:15 BST.

Play was due to resume at 14:30 but another shower arrived beforehand.

With heavy rain falling in Northampton, umpires Richard Kettleborough and Rob Bailey called it off at 16:15 BST.

Northamptonshire bowling coach Chris Liddle:

"Conditions were pretty tough. It's probably not the greatest day for the fans to come back.

"You look at the score and think they actually got off to an okay start, but you look at where they've scored.

"They did a lot of drop and runs or inside edges that have gone down to fine leg or just past the slips."

Lancashire and England opener Keaton Jennings:

"With cloud cover, it felt bowler friendly. So, we have a good foundation to try and build from.

"Jimmy Anderson coming back is brilliant. The value he's added, just as a bloke, has been fantastic. It's like watching a magician at work.

"I've felt good for a period of time. It's just about transferring that into performances that lead to match winning situations and contributions.

"The first two hours of any game in England can be really hard work, but runs is the currency we deal with. You need to score runs a weight of runs that will not get you left out."