1.12pm Play has been abandoned for the day at Guildford.
Andrew Gale: “It is frustrating because, as I said last week, it’s so tough to win games in three days in first-class, particularly when the pitches are good like they’ve been at Headingley for the last two weeks.
“They were four-day pitches. If you get four days on them, you’ll probably get a result.
“It’s maybe a bit different on an outground, but the problem is with the rain that’s forecast today, we might not start on time in the morning because they haven’t got half a million pounds worth of drainage like the county grounds.”
12.24pm Whilst it rains, we have been joined in the press tent by Mark Church, BBC London’s Surrey commentator, who has written a book on Surrey’s Championship title-winning season last year, entitled Typical Surrey.
There is a chapter dedicated to their win at Scarborough, when Churchy and the Surrey media team spent the week at the end of June/start of July living in a camper van called Cally, dedicated to the memory of Dave Callaghan.
For anybody coming down to Guildford this week, Mark will be signing copies when it stops raining. It is also available for purchase from the Surrey website.
12.20pm Yorkshire and Surrey were frustrated by morning rain at Guildford as the start to their Specsavers County Championship was delayed.
Umpires Tim Robinson and Jeremy Lloyds called an early lunch at 12.30pm not too long after arriving at the ground, and Yorkshire’s players have been given permission by the coaching staff to remain at their nearby hotel.
The prospects of play for the remainder of day one are not great.
Around the grounds….
DIVISION ONE
Nottinghamshire 162 v Hampshire 93-2, Welbeck (Day 2)
Kent v Somerset, Canterbury
Surrey v Yorkshire, Guildford
DIVISION TWO
Durham v Northamptonshire, Chester-le-Street
Leicestershire v Middlesex, Grace Road
Worcestershire v Lancashire, New Road
10am The umpires have called an early lunch at 12.30pm.
Good morning from Guildford.
Unfortunately, it’s pretty soggy this morning.
There has been rain overnight, and it continues to fall as I type.
It’s raining reasonably hard, and there doesn’t seem to be a break in the clouds. There is also a fair bit of water on the covers.
Yorkshire arrive at Woodbridge Road unbeaten and looking to compound Surrey’s winless start to their title defence.
They were beaten here by Jack Brooks and Somerset last week.
I can safely say we won’t be starting on time at 11am, and I fear for the prospects of play all day if I’m honest.
