Weather causes havoc to County Championship fixtures

Widespread rain caused havoc to the Specsavers County Championships schedule on Wednesday as three matches saw no action whatsoever.

Nottinghamshire and Hampshire had to settle for a draw as the fourth day of their Division One clash was abandoned without a ball being bowled at Nettleworth.

Kent and Somerset saw their third day rained off in Canterbury, with Division Two rivals Durham and Northamptonshire also unable to take to the field at Chester-le-Street.

There were delays for rain and bad light throughout the fixtures but play was at least possible in spells elsewhere.

Heavy rain at Guildford allowed only 27.4 overs to be bowled on day three between Surrey and Yorkshire.

The players left the field for bad light 10 minutes before the scheduled lunch interval, and never returned as persistent rain set in and play was officially called off for the day at 3.45pm.

Yorkshire, who had taken just 22 minutes to finish off Surrey's first innings for 313 after they had resumed on 290 for eight, had reached 58 for one in reply.

Lancashire's hopes of securing a substantial first-innings lead were halted by the weather at Worcestershire.

The Division Two leaders had to kick their heels in frustration for nearly two days after bowling out Worcestershire for 98 on the opening day.

When the action finally resumed at 2.10pm on Wednesday, Lancashire recovered from a shaky start to reach 110 for three, with Liam Livingstone dominating an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 78 with Haseeb Hameed before bad light stopped play.

The weather in Swansea allowed for almost a full day's play as unbeaten half-centuries from Billy Godleman and Tom Lace's ensured Derbyshire responded after Graham Wagg's ton boosted Glamorgan on the second day.

Wagg smashed 100 off 102 balls and shared a record ninth-wicket partnership of 167 with Lukas Carey, who made a career-best unbeaten 62, to propel the hosts to 394.

But Derbyshire refused to buckle under the scoreboard pressure and, despite slipping to 74 for two, reached 221 for two at stumps courtesy of 86 from Godleman and Lace's 78.

The unbroken third-wicket stand of 147 between Godleman, dropped on 48, and Lace left Derbyshire 173 runs behind when bad light stopped play.

Will Beer fell agonisingly short of his maiden first-class century on a rain-ruined second day of Sussex's Division Two match against Gloucestershire at Arundel.

The makeshift opener, who is playing only his 18th first-class match in his 12th season with the county, was out for 97 as Sussex reached 351 for eight before the rain arrived.

After several inspections umpires Ian Blackwell and Neil Bainton called off play for the day at 4.40pm with only 30 overs bowled.

Middlesex picked up three wickets in the 11 overs that were possible on the third day against Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Constant heavy rain forced play to be abandoned without a ball being bowled on each of the first two days.

After Middlesex exercised the away team's prerogative to bowl first, seamers Tim Murtagh and Tom Helm were understandably tentative in their opening overs.

But the wickets of Paul Horton, Sam Evans and Mark Cosgrove fell in the short period of play to give the visitors a bowling point.