Live: Durham v Yorkshire Women, Vitality Blast

Scratch that thought. The players are shaking hands.

Match abandoned.

We might have half a chance here.

The ground-staff are just making moves to take the covers off.

We think a five-overs per side game has to start by around 5.10-5.15pm.

Former Yorkshire and England women’s player Gill Smith is currently talking about her books, What Yorkshire Cricket Means to Me and What Cricket Means to Me, on the Durham live stream. That’s embedded at the top of the page.

Ami Campbell, Rebecca Duckworth, Jess Woolston and Liv Thomas are playing some form of goal with a cricket ball and a medicine ball.

Basically, someone chucks the medicine ball as far as they can and then each player tries to get as close as possible to it with a cricket ball. They have got to the other side of the ground doing it and are now on their way back again.

The rain continues to fall but only very lightly.

It actually looks as grim as it has done all afternoon now. The rain isn’t heavy, and some of the Yorkshire players are having a kick-about near the dugout. But there’s a horrible looking cloud looming.

We think they will need to get on by around 5.10-5.15pm for a five-over game.

And it is raining, unfortunately.

Rich Pyrah looks to have changed things up with his order. Ami Campbell and Erin Thomas look like they’re getting ready to open.

But the covers are coming back on now. It’s not raining, but it does look pretty nasty in the distance.

We will have a 3.30pm start and 17 overs per side.

Yorkshire: Lauren Winfield-Hill c/w, Erin Thomas, Sarah Glenn, Jess Jonassen, Ami Campbell, Alice Clarke, Rebecca Duckworth, Ria Fackrell, Ines Blackwell, Claudie Cooper, Hannah Rainey.

The captains were out in the middle to toss up and it started raining, so no toss has taken place. We’re into losing overs territory now.

But it’s now stopped raining.

Good news for you. We still a 20-overs per side game, with a toss to come at 2.45pm.

Still no official word, but it is looking like a delayed start here.

The rain has returned here at the Riverside.

No sooner had the ground-staff got the covers off, they had to put them back on. Mind you, even as I type, it seems to be easing.

The plan remains for a 2.30pm start here at Banks Homes Riverside.

The rain stopped very quickly, and there is a mixture of blue sky plus some pretty nasty looking clouds in the distance. Likely to be one of those afternoons.

The players were warming up, but the covers have remained in place all the way through. It is now raining quite hard, though, and they’ve all scurried for cover.

From Banks Homes Riverside, where it’s a dry and bright afternoon at present.

In truth, we can’t really give you an idea of whether we’ll start on time at 2.30pm or not. The rain has been on-off all throughout the drive up, the sun is shining now but the full covers are on the square and also on the nets out the back of the ground too.

If and when we do get started – hopefully it will be 2.30pm – Yorkshire are bidding for their first win at the sixth attempt. Unfortunately, they have lost their previous five games, including against Durham at Headingley on Friday.

This is the last game before the return of 50-over cricket over the next week. Yorkshire are actually back here again next Wednesday for a Metro Bank One-Day Cup game. That means we will have played three games on the run against Durham across all competitions.

The North East county have won four out of five in the Blast.

Our preview for this game, with Hannah Rainey – she struck twice in with the ball in defeat at Headingley, is linked below.

The stream will be embedded at the top of the page.

Enjoy the afternoon.

Preview: Durham v Yorkshire Women, Vitality Blast