Surrey vs Northants

Weather looking pretty awful for the match on all the days. Only comforting aspect is that Essex should suffer as much as we do.

What does anyone seriously expect in the third week of September? The first two weeks of the month can reasonably be expected to produce some good cricket weather more often than not, but this is too late to be playing such vital matches
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The season should be finished now...and could be, if we can reclaim August.

Definitely feels like there is a 'natural' point around 15th to 20th September.

VicNorth wrote:Definitely feels like there is a 'natural' point around 15th to 20th September.

Playing beyond the autumn equinox always feels like a week too long to me. Even on dry sunny days there can be a problem with bad light when the overs haven't been completed by 5.45pm or so.

Half the teams only played in one of the last two rounds which were the first Championship matches since July. I can't make any sense of that at all. I don't understand why teams have blank weeks when they've not had an intensive period of fixtures then everyone is still playing until it's nearly October. Losing second string England players for these vital fixtures, because the first choice England squad is "resting", makes it even more infuriating.

Jackers wrote:What does anyone seriously expect in the third week of September? The first two weeks of the month can reasonably be expected to produce some good cricket weather more often than not, but this is too late to be playing such vital matches
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The season should be finished now...and could be, if we can reclaim August.

Looking at 3 different weather sites on balance Thursday may be the "best" day but all 4 days are iffy. Even if it is dry the light will be a problem, I doubt they'll be any play after 5pm if not earlier. Might be better to watch on You Tube if you can.
As for next week, well Tues 26th is just 90 days to Christmas so be my guest. To be honest it might be better if both rounds were abandoned, but what a shite way to finish the Championship.        High time for rebellion folks, and not just for the sake of cricket either.

No data to support this but my instinctive feeling is that the late September weather (like April) has often been better than the high summer months! I can recall marvellous last days making the end of the season truly bittersweet.
Having said that, those halcyon last days might have been earlier than what the calendar has forced us into now.

Fixture Calendar needs a complete overhaul No Test Cricket or CC in August is Scandalous.

14 Man Squad no Connor Mckerr, Matt Dunn comes in also Josh Blake and Geddes. Looks like our Bowlers will again hold the Key to our success this week Batting looking a little Light.

Despite this weeks weather, the forecast for the final game against Hampshire is sunshine and 21/22C all week. Arguably better weather than would be expected in April or May (although granted, much less daylight).

MatthewC wrote:Despite this weeks weather, the forecast for the final game against Hampshire is sunshine and 21/22C all week. Arguably better weather than would be expected in April or May (although granted, much less daylight).

Yes, but I'd rather it didn't go down to the last game.

I never trust weather forecasts a week or more away.

I''ll be hoping to see at least some play between tomorrow and Friday, when I've returned from my daughter's nuptuals across the Irish sea. Given the  pace at which many of our home games have progressed this year (such as the recent one) dodgy weather is probably the only way we could expect a game against Northamptonshire to last until the fourth day.

If there isn't much cricket across the four days, it won't feel as though we've had much to watch over the last two months of the season.Time for counties to reclaim summer.

The radar looks OK for today albeit definitely a bowl first day.

I think we’ve won the toss and chosen to bowl. I say “I think” because they haven’t announced it yet, but Rory Burns is celebrating like he’s just scored a 50.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bowl

Surrey
17 RJ Burns*
45 DP Sibley
26 RS Patel
23 BS Sudharsan
7 BT Foakes†
44 CT Steel
16 J Clark
88 J Overton
30 TE Lawes
66 KAJ Roach
8 DJ Worrall

Northamptonshire
19 EN Gay
89 MH Azad
2 LA Procter*
69 KK Nair
21 RI Keogh
18 SA Zaib
15 LD McManus†
12 TAI Taylor
75 J Broad
9 CJ White
26 BW Sanderson

It looks very gloomy on the live stream.

This is only one of two games on - Essex are off for rain.

Chinaman wrote:This is only one of two games on - Essex are off for rain.

Essex are back on now. Both of their openers have gone.

Clark has been ridiculously good with the ball this season

And Foakes makes those leg side takes look so easy

Jamie Overton has gone off injured

Bit disappointed that we’ve only taken wicket on a very green pitch. Don’t think we’ve used the conditioning well,apart from Clark!!

He opens doors ...

Not sure if it's just the conditions but the bowling overall has been very, very wayward

Yes, Roach hasn’t quite hit his lengths yet, and Worrall’s first spell was poor. Should have been 3 down however as Overton shelled a dolly at second slip.

You know all this feels a bit of a damp squib. The season should be over by now, but here we are playing in poor weather nearly in the Autumn thanks to moronic scheduling. It's just lost its impetus and seems rather naff. Great if we win the CC but all the gloss has gone for me. Got bored watching it this morning. Going to have a nap.

The problem with having so many plastic covers,is they take a very long time to put on . They also take about half an hour’s to remove!!!