Promotion favourites Yorkshire and visitors Northamptonshire were frustrated by the weather as the opening day of their final round Vitality County Championship fixture at Headingley was washed out without a ball bowled.
Yorkshire came into this game placed second in the Division Two table, 15 points clear of Middlesex in third with 24 points to play for.
Middlesex are facing leaders and already-promoted Sussex at Hove and were also abandoned for the day.
Here at Headingley, umpires Hassan Adnan and Chris Watts brought the day to an end just before 1.30pm when puddles were visible across the outfield.
Captain Jonny Tattersall and co need a maximum of 10 points to seal a return to Division One following two seasons away.
Should Yorkshire, who are on an unbeaten run of five wins in their last six games, and Middlesex finish level on points, the tiebreakers of most wins, then fewest losses and then head-to-head record would come into the equation.
Both teams are level on most wins and fewest losses – five wins, two defeats – but Middlesex have the advantage on head-to-head having won at Lord’s and drawn at Headingley.
A draw would likely be enough for Yorkshire over the next four days, so this delay was far from disastrous.
Northamptonshire are fourth in Division Two but with no prospect of finishing any higher. They have won two of their 13 games compared to Yorkshire’s five.
Both were victorious last week. Northamptonshire beat Leicestershire at Wantage Road by nine wickets, while Yorkshire beat Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens by 186 runs.
England’s Jonny Bairstow is set to play for Yorkshire once again, his fifth appearance of the campaign, while Northamptonshire’s squad includes a quartet of potential first-class debutants in Arush Buchake, Krish Patel, Aadi Sharma and Fateh Singh.
As rain fell at Headingley this morning, Yorkshire all-rounder George Hill was capped by Yorkshire in a presentation in the pavilion’s Hawke Suite in front of his team-mates and his family. Bairstow made the presentation speech and handed the 23-year-old the county’s cap number 192.
