Five County Championship games abandoned on day two
Blue sky in the distance at Chester-le-Street - but the ground was far too wet to play
- Published
Vitality County Championship
No play on day two
Division One: Durham v Kent, Essex v Surrey, Worcestershire v Lancashire
Division Two: Leicestershire v Derbyshire, Sussex v Middlesex
Day two's play in five County Championship games has been abandoned due to rain - three of them for the second day running in the season's final round of fixtures.
The Durham-Kent, Worcestershire-Lancashire and Essex-Surrey matches in Division One and the Leicestershire-Derbyshire and Sussex-Middlesex games in Division Two were all called off.
The game at Leicester was abandoned an hour and a half before play was due to start, rapidly followed by Durham's game with Kent at Chester-le-Street.
Day two of promoted Sussex against Middlesex in Division Two was then called off at noon, before the games at Worcester and Chelmsford followed suit.
That followed a first day when Durham-Kent was rained off - along with all four Division Two games.
Lancashire, battling to avoid the drop in Division One, are the worst affected by the weather as it badly affects their hopes of earning the win they need to stand any chance of staying up. They have so far managed just 26 overs in the match.
The blotter at New Road was in constant use - but far too much overnight rain had fallen
Durham lost an entire game against Hampshire at the start of the season, and a full day of their next home game against Essex, but it still does not compare with last season.
The north east county have lost 780 overs of cricket in all formats this year, still much lower than 2023 when the figure was about 1,200.
The weather forecast for day three on Saturday is better, but with temperatures only just creeping into double figures the drying process is likely to be slow.
Having started back on 5 April, this is the longest season in the 134-year history of the Championship - and, in the wake of the One-Day Cup final being played on Monday in front of a pitifully small crowd at Trent Bridge, there have already been calls for the England and Wales Cricket Board to review next season's domestic fixture list.
