There is sunshine as the players return to the field for what we hope is a full session of cricket.

Shan Masood has a swish at the ball from Rob Keogh - who has replaced Ben Sanderson - and ball turns past the outside edge. That will encourage the spinner.

Siddarth Kaul continues at the other end and Masood clips his first ball past the square leg umpire for four.

A nice shot through the covers from Joe Denly off Shane Snater adds four to his tally.

It brings him past the half-century mark off 106 balls and it is warmly appreciated by the Canterbury crowd.

Play has resumed at Lord's with England's Ollie Robinson sending down a maiden to Sam Robson.

Spinner Jack Carson will bowl the second over of the session and is milked for a couple of singles.

The frustration goes on at Worcester after a cricket-less morning and 1pm inspection.

The outfield remains wet and the umpires have decided upon a further look at 3pm.

With the potential of further showers around, the covers are coming back on.

After that brief dalliance with spin before lunch, Keith Barker gets us going in the afternoon session and Rory Burns plays out a maiden without alarm.

Kyle Abbott, who took five wickets after lunch on day one, has his first bowl of the second innings.

Dom Sibley comes through it. Maiden.

There's two ways of looking at this.

Yorkshire will want to obviously get as many as they can to put some real pressure on.

But at what point as well do Northamptonshire as a batting side start to be concerned about how many they're going to have to chase?

The players are back on in Canterbury and Essex have a new ball in their hands.

Shane Snater begins with a maiden and he shares the honour with Jamie Porter.

Matt Parkinson immediately gets a single off Porter to move to within four of a half-century.

Then Joe Denly adds one to his score and that sees the stand between him and Parkinson reach 100.

Good news at Grace Road - we have cricket.

Just eight overs were possible after a delayed start was followed by two interruptions.

James Harris comes on to bowl for the first over after lunch and two Scott Currie singles and a single from Be Cox brings the first innings deficit down to 84.

It seems that each time Siddarth Kaul gives Shan Masood room outside off stump, it costs him four runs.

So it proves again as the Yorkshire captain square cuts and progresses to 24 not out.

Kaul goes round the wicket and immediately finds the edge, but it does not quite carry to third slip.

After the entertainment provided by Graeme van Buuren and James Bracey this morning, it's a real shame that the weather has not lifted over lunch.

The home side are 127 behind with van Buuren 156 not out and Bracey on 137.

With just 10 wickets having fallen in seven sessions its difficult to see anything other than a draw at Lord's.

The pitch is offering virtually no help to either seamers or spinners, and the batters from both sides have filled their boots accordingly.

Sam Robson and Max Holden are the latest beneficiaries, but unless - as seems highly - unlikely this pitch starts to deteriorate this much anticipated clash between the top two in Division Two is heading towards stalemate tomorrow

Three short showers delayed Warwickshire this morning, but in between them they made significant progress through Lancashire’s first innings, each wicket putting their own total of 284 in a better light.

Jacob Bethell won two appeals in the morning’s final mini-session, rewarding Warwickshire’s persistence, and both the dismissed batters looked pained to be given out.

George Balderson pushed forward in defence and Will Rhodes at slip held the catch; umpire Ian Blackwell detected a faint edge before the ball perhaps flicked the wicketkeeper’s thigh on the way through. In his next over

Bethell turned a ball into Keaton Jennings’ front pad, and the Lancashire captain – seemingly the biggest obstacle in Warwickshire’s way – was removed.

Earlier, Tom Bruce’s forward defensive looked textbook-perfect, but Oliver Hannon-Dalby sneaked the ball past it to knock back the off stump, and both he and his almost equally-tall fellow seamer Michael Rae threatened to cause more damage in challenging spells between the showers.

Now, in the interval, the groundstaff have the hover cover poised for action next to the pitch, but the patch of blue sky currently emerging overhead is better news for the visitors than the hosts.

We have play once again at Wantage Road.

No surprise that Northants skipper Luke Procter turns immediately to Ben Sanderson.

He is right on the money as usual and starts the afternoon with a maiden.

Sanderson can hardly believe it as Adam Lyth leaves the final delivery which just clears the bails as it swings back in.

It’s been a frustrating morning for the Essex bowlers.

Joe Denly and Matt Parkinson have been patient for Kent and found their rhythm with some nice shots while Essex have tried all their options with the ball to try and get the first wicket of day three.

A big concern for Essex will be the absence of Sam Cook, who hasn’t been out on the field at all during the first session after picking up an injury yesterday.

Who will captain Tom Westley turn to after lunch?

This is the final round of County Championship matches for a month as white-ball cricket takes over.

Each team will have played seven games so we are, in fact, almost at the half-way point of the red-ball season.

So who has been the stand-out player so far? Is it Durham's David Bedingham with his 795 runs, including five hundreds, or Sam Cook of Essex for his 29 wickets?

They are just a couple of 'possibles' - get in touch and let us know your choice.

Division One

Hampshire 608-6 dec v Surrey 127 & 18-0

Kent 203-4 v Essex 591-7 dec

Lancashire 120-6 v Warwickshire 284

Worcestershire 80 v Nottinghamshire 234-3 - no play before lunch

Division Two

Gloucestershire 399-4 v Derbyshire 526

Leicestershire 300-6 v Glamorgan 387

Middlesex 140-1 v Sussex 554-9 dec

Northamptonshire 301 v Yorkshire 362 & 43-2