Not a ball was bowled on the last day of the Second Eleven Championship Roses clash at Todmorden. Play eventually was abandoned as a draw at 2 pm with the hosts taking three points and Yorkshire four.

 We lost eight sessions of the match out of nine, a total of 270 overs. The ground had never properly dried out after Day 2 under sun and blue skies with a drying wind, and it had no chance under leaden skies and a steady mizzle.

Lancashire captain Steven Parry defended his decision to bat after winning the toss by saying that his team had “all week” to win the game and had no need to bowl first. If only he had known then what he knows now…

Day 2: Captains and coaches must meet this morning to decide how to get the most out of this match if play is possible. The day dawned with Lancashire 111-3 in their first innings before the rain came on Tuesday, but not a ball was bowled today. The ground had taken such a heavy battering the previous evening that after two more short, sharp morning showers it was a forlorn hope.

The umpires inspected regularly, and perhaps upset some of the locals who reckoned that a club game would have got under way, but the officials have a duty of care to young professionals who could slip on wet ground and suffer injury.

We have lost five out of six sessions over the first two days. If play is possible tomorrow morning - the last day - the teams will have to discuss how they are going to get the most from the remaining time.

Day 1: Lancashire advanced to 111-3 before the rain came in Yorkshire’s last-but-one Second Eleven Championship match of the season. The Red Rose won the toss, duly elected to bat, and play began under blue skies and high, fluffy white clouds.

Their openers were gifted some early runs as Yorkshire fed their leg stump: the offerings were accepted gratefully until each bowler, Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Steven Cheetham, sorted out their lines and both struck.

Openers Moore and Tariq were bowled, but the game changed as Reece and Bentley looked to establish a partnership: Luis Reece took over 25 minutes to get off the mark, but his first 20 runs came from five boundaries, and he did not even have to leave his crease.

Josh Shaw struck next as he had Louis Bentley caught by Dan Hodgson down the leg-side for 19 -- this was Josh`s first wicket in the Second Eleven Championship, and he was bowling with reasonable pace. He bowled one particularly good over to Jordan Clark, beating his outside edge at least once.

Lunch was taken on time at 1.15pm after a full morning…but then Old Faithful returned: it began to rain, and the covers went on. Groundsmen went to the middle, preparing to remove the water from the covers, and the umpires said they were hopeful of a restart at 4.30pm.

By the time the umpires had finished speaking to the scorers the staff were sprinting for cover as the rain returned with a vengeance. The covers never came off again, and play was abandoned for the day at tea-time.

Two of Yorkshire’s players - Jack Leaning and Ed Wilson - found a novel way to fill in the afternoon: opposite the ground there is the steep Whirlow Hill, which our two intrepid young cricketers decided to run up. They were watched from afar by more sedate souls as they both succeeded and returned to fulsome praise and applause.

The scorers were engaged in something slightly more esoteric - the study of Lancashire First Eleven’s definitions of the 10 levels of rain. Most were incomprehensible; some were unprintable; all were hilarious.

The Second Eleven scores are available on match days via Total Cricket Live Scores. Here's how to keep up with scorer and Yorkshire County Cricket Club website correspondent HOWARD CLAYTON:

www.totalcricketscorer.co.uk

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Select country as United Kingdom
Select region as Yorkshire and Club as Yorkshire

The lastest score should display! Clicking on scorecard should bring up the full scorecard.

HOWARD CLAYTON