With Abell and Banton digging in for Somerset – 142-3; rain stopping play at The Oval (Surrey 36-2); Kent four down against Hampshire (Barker/Abbas), Khushi lbw for a flying 53 off 39, Durham 91-6 (four wickets for Smith) – and the lead over Worcestershire 169…

… and in Division 2, rain at Grace Road – Leics lead Middx by 404; Gloucestershire on top at Cheltenham, thanks to centuries from Hammond and Bancroft;and Northants in a decent place in their chase against Sussex, 179 more needed, guided by Emilio Gay (57), time for me to write up for the paper. BTL remains open for chat etc.

A miserable scene here, the big covers have been hauled on and wet-bottomed fans sit under opened umbrellas. Elsewhere in Division One though, action:

At The Oval, Surrey have been dismissed for 262, adding only 14 runs this morning. Three late wickets for Snater. Ten-man Essex are 4-0 in reply.

Warwickshire have added five runs on a damp morning at Taunton, while James Vince has continued to accumulate against Kent, though lost Ben Brown for 110. Hampshire 319-4.

Rain at Chester le Street

News from The Oval, where Jordan Cox will play no further part in the game after having an appendix operation yesterday evening. Unlike for concussion injuries, no replacement will be allowed.

Rain in Southport and Chester le Street. Elsewhere, play is underway. The Met Office says: “Dry in the south and east with early sunshine. A band of showery rain spreading southeastwards across the United Kingdom, heaviest in the north but patchy further south. Turning brighter in the northwest later. Feeling cool in the northwesterly breeze.”

It has, I’m afraid, started raining again. The man with the cover chases the man with the mower down the pitch.

Now in the tent. It has stopped raining and the players are in the middle warming up. Jimmy is having a bowl in his tracksuit – this is only the second game he has played here – and last time he was withdrawn after two days by the ECB.

On my way to the ground I bumped into a rare species – a conservative candidate, wearing a huge royal blue rosette and carrying a bundle of leaflets. He wished me a good day, he wasn’t coming to the cricket.

The dirty duvet of cloud hanging over Trafalgar Road on Sunday morning could have been pre-ordered by Jimmy Anderson, playing his first match of the year for Lancashire in advance of his international farewell at Lord’s. But Haseeb Hameed, formerly of Lancs, won the toss and, with a twinkle, chose to bowl – so the sell-out crowd had to settle for the consolation of watching Nottinghamshire’s Dillon Pennington, just called up for the Test squad as a possible Anderson replacement.

Pennington, tall and strong, pounding through his run-up, bowled with fire and picked up a couple of wickets. His figures looked a little less tidy after Keaton Jennings, who loves batting at this ground, went on the rampage in the evening session against the second new ball. The sun suddenly out, and the skies forget-me-not blue, he peppered the short boundaries for fun – sixes scattered hither and thither. He finished 183 not out and was applauded off the pitch by a crowd balanced on the fold-up plastic seats who, a few minutes earlier, had roared in Jude Bellingham’s equaliser.

Surrey’s Jamie Smith left quite the calling card during the top-of-the-table clash at the Oval, celebrating his call-up for the Test squad by powering his way to an audacious hundred while none of his teammates passed 26. Eathan Bosch had done the early damage for Essex with three for 52.

At Southampton, Hampshire’s James Vince continued to enjoy his midsummer moment, with a second century in a week, 149 not out against Kent. He was accompanied in his task by an unbeaten 106 from Ben Brown. Michael Burgess cracked an unbeaten 126 as Warwickshire fought back against Somerset at Taunton. More tempestuous times at the Riverside, where Ben Stokes rustled 56 for Durham and Kashif Ali 55 for Worcestershire, on a day when 23 wickets fell.

Sides crumbled like a damp cream cracker on an extraordinary day in Division Two, 75 wickets falling as four games screamed into fast forward. At Grace Road and Northampton the matches moved into their third innings, while at Chesterfield Yorkshire rustled out Derbyshire for 76, with Vishwa Fernando seizing five for 30.

Division One

Surrey 248-8 v Essex
Somerset v Warwickshire 373-8
Lancashire 344-8 v Nottinghamshire
Hampshire 301-3 v Kent
Durham 190 & 25-1 v Worcestershire 112 (latest)

Division Two

Leicestershire 179 & 40-1 v Middlesex 86 all out
Gloucestershire 179 v Glamorgan 133-7
Northamptonshire 97 v Sussex 143 & 83-2
Derbyshire 76 all out v Yorkshire 283-5

Good morning from a wet and cold Southport.