And the first one bites the dust. The umpires have deemed the surface so waterlogged that play is never going to happen whatever the mopping and sopping efforts. Reports from the ground suggest that the temperature will struggle to hit double digits so don’t expect any rapid drying either.

Day one was a washout at five grounds, as the County Championship pulled on its bedsocks and rolled into the final week of the season. With the champions already crowned, Sussex up, and Kent down, just one promotion and one relegation spot remain to be played for.

At New Road, Lancashire threw themselves into the relegation dog fight with abandon, reducing Worcestershire to 22 for five under dirty slate skies. Matthew Waite and Logan van Beek then bashed 63 for the eighth wicket, hauling Worcestershire beyond three figures, before the rain returned. Tom Bailey, accurate as a filled in full stop, finished with three for nine, and there were three wickets for Anderson Phillip.

Theoretically, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire are both in danger of the drop, but rain washed out all but 15.2 overs at Trent Bridge – Notts finishing 33 for two.

A shell-shocked Somerset were winkled out for 136 at Taunton, before fighting back, on a day when seven batters fell for nought. Tom Kohler-Cadmore was the only Somerset man to pass 29, with 63, an innings that started with carefree abandon but retreated into desperate accumulation as the wickets fell about him, four of them to the unstoppable Liam Dawson, four to Kyle Abbott – who bowled Shoaib Bashir only for the ball to be deemed dead when a towel fell out of his pocket in his delivery stride. Hampshire then wobbled as Jack Leach took three wickets, he and Bashir bowling in tandem for the first time in a Championship match.

There was no play at Hove, much to the frustration of Middlesex, who need to make up a 15-point deficit to have a hope of promotion. A wet outfield prevented any play at Headingley, too, where Yorkshire need a maximum of 10 points to breathe easy.

DIVISION ONE

TAUNTON: Somerset 136 v Hampshire 62-5

CHESTER LE STREET: Durham v Kent no play Thursday.

TRENT BRIDGE: Nottinghamshire 33-2 v Warwickshire

NEW ROAD Worcestershire 119-7 v Lancashire

CHELMSFORD: Essex 116-1 v Surrey

DIVISION TWO

HEADINGLEY: Yorkshire v Northamptonshire no play Thursday

SOPHIA GARDENS Glamorgan v Gloucestershire no play Thursday

HOVE Sussex v Middlesex no play Thursday

GRACE ROAD Leicestershire v Derbyshire no play Thursday

Good morning! After yesterday’s soggy events, and various amber weather warnings, I’ve plumped for Headingley as the place most likely to see men in whites running around. The sky isn’t too encouraging from this Trans Pennine Express, and the passing foilage is definitely damp, but let’s hope for more action wherever you are on day two of this final match of the season.

Play (possibly) starts at 10.30am.