Gidman and Howell set up victory chance

Gloucestershire 280 and 16 for 0 need 172 more runs to beat Leicestershire 250 and 217
Scorecard

Gloucestershire looked on course for their first win of the season at the end of the third day against Leicestershire at Grace Road. They bowled out the hosts for 217 in their second innings to leave a victory target of 188, and had reached 16 without loss off seven overs by the close.

Will Gidman took 4 for 39 and Benny Howell 3 for 39 as Leicestershire limped along at just over two runs an over throughout the day. Ned Eckersley top scored with 45 and there were only two partnerships 50 or better, with the home side completely shackled by an accurate Gloucestershire attack on a slow paced pitch. The result was that Leicestershire added only 185 runs in 87 overs to their overnight 32 for 2, falling well short of the sort of target they hoped to set Gloucestershire.

It did not take Gidman long to make the first breakthrough of the day when he had nightwatchman Ollie Freckingham lbw in his second over of the morning. That brought in Ramnaresh Sarwan, and he survived a sharp chance to wicketkeeper Cameron Herring off Howell when he had made 9.

But Eckersley, having added 25 to his overnight 20, was not so fortunate against the same bowler, beaten by a swinging delivery that clipped the off stump. At 69 for 4 it was an uphill battle for Leicestershire but Sarwan and Josh Cobb buckled down to share a stand of 76 for the fifth wicket.

Cobb occasionally chanced his arm and, having just cleared mid-off with one shot, followed it up by taking successive boundaries off Craig Miles to raise the half-century partnership. But just when it seemed Leicestershire had steered their way out of trouble they hit the buffers again, with three wickets falling for 12 runs in seven overs.

Cobb was the first of them, caught low down at midwicket off Howell for 43 and Sarwan followed in the seamer's next over. The Leicestershire captain was bowled off an inside edge after scoring 44 off 141 balls with six boundaries.

Shiv Thakor was bowled round his legs by Jack Taylor before Matt Boyce and Jigar Naik shared a stand of 50 to take Leicestershire past the 200 mark. But the second new ball brought a quick end to the innings as Gidman and Miles put the finishing touches to an impressive Gloucestershire bowling performance.

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Goodwin shores up Glamorgan advantage

Lancashire 123 and 104 for 4 (Hogan 3-29) trail Glamorgan 242 (Goodwin 69, Kerrigan 4-48, Anderson 3-63) by 15 runs
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As part of Glamorgan's community programme, schoolchildren from Ysgol Llandrillo yn Rhos and Ysgol Llangelynnin were invited to the Rhos-on-Sea ground on the second day of this match. They provided a guard of honour and played games of Kwik Cricket in the lunch interval. For the rest of the time they watched the two teams compete at a rather slower tempo as they fought for dominance in this excellent advertisement for Division Two cricket.

One hopes that the young enthusiasts learned that this game does not have to be played at a helter-skelter pace in order to be absorbing. Maybe one or two of them understood the value of Murray Goodwin's 69 in Glamorgan's first innings total of 242, which gave the home side a lead of 119. Whatever their national loyalties, one hopes that they appreciated the skills exhibited by James Anderson in taking 3 for 63 and Simon Kerrigan in bagging 4 for 48 to limit that advantage. Finally, one or two may have stayed behind as Ashwell Prince and Simon Katich defied the Welsh side's attack for well over an hour to give Lancashire supporters hope that they may yet turn around a match in which they have been more or less second best throughout.

For while this day's play was not "cricket for the connoisseur", a phrase implying very specialist knowledge that has nothing but mere alliteration in its favour, it was cricket for those who realise that there is more to the modern game than a free hit and a freebie. By the close of play Lancashire had scrapped their way to 104 for 4 and were still 15 runs behind. Yet for all that the late dismissal of Prince turned the match significantly in Glamorgan's favour, it is still by no means clear what the outcome will be or even when that outcome will be reached. Excellent.

Cricket is settling into its charming rhythms and this was also a Thursday to sharpen the appetite for the next five months - and for the English summer too. "The trees are coming into leaf / Like something almost being said," wrote Philip Larkin in one of the late Peter Roebuck's favourite poems. As this match's beguiling architecture subtly changed, the pleasure and involvement of the good crowd was almost palpable as they accustomed themselves to what, for many of them, will be a glad season indeed.

For example, it is difficult to think that many sessions of Championship cricket will be more tenaciously fought than was this second morning. Every hard-won run was treasured by Glamorgan's batsmen and Kerrigan's successes could not have been more warmly greeted had they been vital breakthroughs in the business end of the summer. Standing firm against Anderson, who left not an ounce of effort in his England kitbag, was Murray Goodwin, squat, pugnacious and skilled. Glamorgan's decision to sign the Zimbabwean after he had racked up just 360 first-class runs for Sussex in 2012 may yet come to be seen as one of the coups of the summer.

Just when Glamorgan's superiority threatened to become dominance, Kerrigan had a driving Jim Allenby pouched at midwicket for 46. Three more wickets left Glamorgan eight down with a lead of 70 at lunch, by which time the spectators needed a break almost as much as the players. Goodwin reached his fifty soon after the resumption and was last out, attempting to work Hogg through third man. He had batted 206 minutes and faced 134 balls. It was a noble effort, the type of innings the professionals admire.

The one certainty about Lancashire's second innings was that it needed to be a better, ballsier effort than their first. Even in conditions which assisted swing bowlers, that 123 was not really halfway towards a par score and for all that the Red Rose have achieved two substantial first-innings leads this season, their top order is pretty flaky. So it proved again. Michael Hogan caught the edge of Luke Procter's bat with the final ball of the fifth over and brought one back off the seam to pluck out Karl Brown's middle pole. In between, Mike Reed, 6ft 4in tall and exhibiting plenty of well-directed aggression, had Paul Horton taken by Wallace. That left Lancashire on 49 for 3 and there were still 25 overs left in the day.

Katich and Prince approached their task in the manner of international cricketers who have proved themselves in the fire. They mastered Wallace's bowlers even if they did not bully them, and it seemed they would both survive to face another morning. Then Prince padded up to the third ball of Hogan's final over and Tim Robinson raised his finger. Nightwatchman Anderson helped Katich ensure that there were no further losses before the close. The crowd trooped homewards.

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Crook steals lead after Peters ton

Kent 271 and 6 for 0 trail Northamptonshire 303 (Peters 106, Crook 62, Shreck 4-80) by 26 runs
Scorecard

Northamptonshire may not be Division Two leaders straight out of left-field, to slip into baseball parlance, but their hot streak has caught plenty by surprise. A century from their captain, Stephen Peters, and a by-now-familiar flick of the tail helped them to a slim advantage at the halfway point of a keenly contested match against Kent, as they pursue a third win out of four that would only fuel promotion talk on the bleachers.

Northants have been here before and, having missed out by a single point in 2009 and 2011, they might be forgiven for fearing what Yogi Berra, the marvellously muddled former Major League catcher, once called "déjà vu all over again". David Ripley, who succeeded David Capel as coach last year, was involved with the club on those previous occasions but said "choking" was not a problem he is worried about this time around.

"Promotion is a target we think is achievable, especially with the start we've made," he said. "The belief is there that we can do it. I'm confident we can. It's partly a relief to come out and play well, when you've put the work in. Having got those wins in the bank, got ourselves at the top of the table, that's great - we didn't envisage being where we are but we'll take it because we've played well."

Ironically, Northamptonshire's preparations for the season focused on improving a disappointing recent record in one-day cricket - an area in which Ripley felt they "had the most to gain" - and one of the signings who has done so much to help them top the table, Steven Crook, was brought in with that aim in mind. Here, Crook hit 63, his third half-century in four innings since returning from Middlesex, to go with three wickets on the first day, as Northamptonshire recovered from 150 for 6 to post 303.

"It ain't over, til it's over," is another Berra aphorism and one the Northamptonshire lower order appear to have taken to heart. In four first innings, their last four wickets have added 648 runs - more than doubling the score on two occasions - although the picture at Canterbury was distorted slightly by Rob Newton batting at No. 11 after suffering a groin strain while fielding on Wednesday. That meant they fielded a last man with an average of 38.95, rather than the usual 21.07 of Trent Copeland.

Crook's contribution was second only to Peters, who recorded his 30th first-class century and the first by any Northamptonshire player this season. While their bowling attack has regularly treated the opposition like skittles, top-order runs have been a little less forthcoming. In April in England, that is not altogether unsurprising but this was the third time Peters has passed fifty and his batting, as well as his leadership, is likely to be crucial if Northants are to stay the course.

"He's been outstanding, he really has," Ripley said of Peters, who is in his first season as captain. "His example batting, you've only got to see how dearly he sells himself in games like we've seen today. He's steely, competitive, loves it when it's tough. He's spoken very well with the team, tactically he's been very good and a lot of the impetus we've built, he's helped us get it going."

The engine required a little turning over at the start of the day and it would be inaccurate to say that the morning session took place under a blanket of cloud only in that a blanket suggests a degree of warmth. That didn't stop Peters from batting in shirt sleeves and, if the goose pimples helped focus the mind, it certainly wasn't a bad idea.

Peters was involved in the two most substantial stands of the innings - putting on 63 with both David Sales and Crook - but it was his temperament and focus in the face of testing spells from Kent's raggedy old stagers, Charlie Shreck and Mark Davies, that really set the tone.

Ripley said Northants had expected a tough encounter and an important test of their credentials in this fixture and, by the time the sun finally came out in the late afternoon, they had stolen a few more bases. "We've always had good four-day skills," he said. "We've been there and gone close before and there's a feeling that we can be there again."

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McCullum, Taylor leave IPL early

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum and his predecessor Ross Taylor have been released early by their IPL franchises and will join the tour of England ahead of schedule.

Neither player has had much involvement in the IPL with McCullum playing one match for Kolkata Knight Riders, after recovering from the hamstring injury he picked up in the final Test against England in Auckland, and although Ross Taylor has appeared five times for Pune Warriors he has made just 63 runs at a strike-rate under 100.

McCullum is due to arrive in England on Friday so could yet be available for the opening tour match against Derbyshire, which starts on Saturday, while Taylor is expected over the weekend. Both players were previously set to arrive shortly before the match against England Lions at Grace Road next week. Kane Williamson was due to the lead the team in McCullum's absence.

New Zealand players have an agreed five-week window where they can appear at the IPL and when Mike Hesson, the coach, was asked about missing two senior players for the start of the trip he even sought to see it in a positive way. "I'm actually quite happy with it because with a squad of 15 it's quite hard to get everyone a game," he said.

It has become a feature of the May Test series England, which clashes with the IPL, that senior players from the visiting team have arrived late. It has previously happened with Sri Lanka and West Indies leaving them precious little time to adjust to the conditions.

McCullum, who took over the captaincy from Taylor late last year, had a productive series against England in March, but Taylor struggled for fluency on his return after opting out of the South Africa tour following the loss of the leadership. During a radio interview after the visit of England he said that he was still not entirely comfortable back in the set up.

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Ashington's Wood returns with success

Nottinghamshire 320 and 145 for 5 (Wood 3 for 36) trail Durham 471 (Smith 153, Wood 58) by six runs
Scorecard

There was a time when a match-turning contribution from an Ashington fast bowler was commonplace at Durham. Though with Steve Harmison's decline, such days have been had been consigned to the past.

But here Mark Wood, playing only his third Championship match - coincidentally, all have been at Trent Bridge - followed a career-best performance with the bat with a spell of 3 for 11 in 22, with all of his scalps a Test batsman. Describing himself as "a family friend" of Harmison and a product of the same Ashington club, Wood has the rare gift of pace that earmark him as a cricketer of rich potential.

He can bat, too. He defines himself as a bowling allrounder but, earlier in the day, reached his maiden Championship 50 with a pulled six and dominated a last-wicket stand of 71 in only 12.2 overs with Graham Onions. It was a partnership that not only extended Durham's lead to 151 but may well have had a deflating effect on Nottinghamshire's morale.

But on a wicket that has, at times, appeared painfully flat - the return of the heavy roller is far from universally popular among county spectators - it was Wood's incisive bowling that may have had the greatest impact. Wood, by some distance the sharpest bowler on display in this match, belied the easy-paced surface to persuade Ed Cowan to nibble one angled across him, trap James Taylor attempting to play a straight one through square leg, and then, most impressively, have Samit Patel caught off the glove as he tried to deal with a bouncer. It was a spell that cut through the Nottinghamshire top order and provided Durham with an excellent opportunity to claim their second win of the season. Nottinghamshire resume on the final day with half their second-innings batting dismissed and still trailing by six runs.

Such was Wood's contribution, he could well be forgiven for questioning why he has not played more regularly. On his last appearance, here last August, he claimed 5 for 78 to help his team to a 16-run victory, but then found himself dropped for the next game.

"I'm pleased to be here," Wood said afterwards with a smile. "It seems to be the only place a get a game. Of course I was disappointed to be dropped last year. But I understood the reasons. We have a good attack who had done really well so when Ben Stokes came back I missed out. Hopefully this time, if I get a couple more wickets, I can make my case even stronger."

Wood was quick to admit he was building on foundations laid by Will Smith. Smith, who batted for 505 minutes for his 153, blunted the attack at their freshest and the pitch at its most helpful to establish a platform from which the lower-order could build. It paid a higher dividend than even he can have hoped, though, when the last five Durham wickets added 323 runs to the total. He finally fell, caught at mid-on, after he attempted to whip Patel's left-arm spin through midwicket.

"Smith has been the difference between the sides," Wood said. "And he's the reason we're the favourites in this game. He showed great concentration and the work he did made it much easier for me."

While Wood led the way in the last-wicket stand, punching Patel for one lovely four through mid-on and carving Graeme Swann over extra cover for another, Onions also played his part. He thumped one back past Stuart Broad and drove Swann square as Durham kept Nottinghamshire in the field for 157.3 energy-sapping overs.

But it is Wood's bowling that may, in time, be of interest to the national selectors. He is not particularly tall or strong-looking but, from a short, straight run with an unusual start - a pronounced push off his back leg which, he says, is a technique learned from sprinters - he generates impressive, skiddy pace. He can reverse swing the ball, too, and showed an encouraging cricketing brain when talking about his wickets.

"We had just got the ball reversing when Cowan edged that one that left him," he explained. "With Taylor, we put the man behind square for the pull and, when we had him expecting the short ball, I pitched it up. And then with Samit, I hid the ball so he couldn't tell which way it was going to swing and then surprised him by bowling a bouncer."

Gareth Breese, who had already contributed a useful 44, followed up with the wicket of Steven Mullaney - surely the only cricketer with Hooters as a bat sponsor - sharply caught off a fine arm ball, while earlier Alex Hales, back when he should have been forward, lost his middle stump.

Michael Lumb, timing his drives sweetly on either side of the wicket, remains and looks in good touch, but he has a great deal of work ahead of him if Nottinghamshire are to salvage a draw from this game.

At least Nottinghamshire had encouraging news of their England players. Broad bowled with increased pace and purpose on the third day. He finished with his third successive four-wicket haul in successive innings and would not have been flattered by a fifth. Just as importantly, he reported no adverse reaction to his 31 overs and confirmed that he would take a full part, with bat, with ball and in the field, in the remainder of the game.

Swann came through unscathed, too. While he finished without a wicket, he did see two chances go down off his bowling - he was the guilty party on one occasion - and was the most economical of the Nottinghamshire bowlers. Perhaps there were a couple more full tosses than we are used to but, bearing in mind it was his first bowl in competitive cricket since the elbow operation, this was a pleasing return.

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Chopra matches Trott's class

Warwickshire 276 for 4 (Chopra 87, Trott 87*) v Sussex
Scorecard

When someone next decries the worth of county cricket, it should offer this day as a snapshot of its virtues. As if sun, deckchairs and a five-day beer festival weren't enough, there was also the cricket at Hove to be enjoyed, featuring an England spinner with 164 Test wickets against two of the most reassuring sights in England's Test batting line-up - and another man who might, in time, join them there.

Jonathan Trott is often depicted as a dour Mr Dependable, but his unbeaten 87 included several shots that, had they could from any other bat, would have elicited purrs. A respectable off-stump delivery from Andrew Miller was emphatically dispatched over long on for six; the next ball, a refined late cut went to the boundary too. It was not a sight that Sussex's skipper Ed Joyce, who had shelled a hard, but eminently catchable, chance in the slips when Trott had 1, would have relished.

Trott had a familiar ally in a 131-run stand with Ian Bell, who was captaining Warwickshire in place of Jim Troughton, missing with a shoulder injury. Grown men may still have nightmares about Bell's shot first ball in Ahmedabad - caught at mid-off attempting to harrumph the ball out of the ground - but it would seem that Bell is not one of them: he shimmied down the wicket to his seventh ball, from Chris Nash's offspin and lofted him over mid-on for four. There were a few further examples of graceful footwork later against Monty Panesar.

While Bell and Trott are two Test batsmen of the highest order, it was to Varun Chopra's great credit that he looked barely less assured at the crease. Playing attractively, especially on the offside, it was a matter of considerable surprise when Chopra fell for 87 attempting to cut Chris Nash's useful offspin, and was so denied a century to go with his match-saving effort at Taunton last week. But he had still made his mark, becoming the first man to pass 500 runs for the season, and must have eyes on the batting Holy Grail of a thousand before the end of May.

Nick Compton, the man who almost passed that landmark last season, is now an established Test player, and it looks eminently possible that Chopra, 25, will become one too: an extra cover drive off Panesar was timed with the crispness one would associate with an international player. There are legitimate questions over whether elements of Chopra's game - principally his tendency to play with his bat away from his body and occasional dalliances with driving uppishly - would be a hindrance at Test level, but if he continues to score with such proficiency an opportunity will be forthcoming.

While a knee injury cost Sussex their premier fast bowler, Australian Steve Magoffin, Chopra still had to encounter a highly disciplined attack: even on a flat track in near-perfect batting conditions, Sussex limited Warwickshire to under three runs an over.

Panesar was typically probing but endured a disappointing day, seldom threatening his England team-mates and, attempting to find the rough outside legstump, even delivering two leg side wides in one over. He has now claimed only one wicket for 238 runs so far this season.

That Sussex ended on near-parity, despite the serenity with which England's Test batsmen played, owed to Chris Jordan. Jordan may have begun his Sussex career with 6 for 48 at Leeds but, if anything, he was even more admirable here, consistently hostile throughout the day. A fiery spell with the second new ball earned the rare distinction of claiming Bell fending off a short ball and he promptly claimed nightwatchman Chris Wright too. Bell later said "it's certainly a different game if you hit the pitch that bit harder", suggesting that Warwickshire intend to replicate the method that earned Jordan his success.

Jordan should have had another wicket, too, but Mike Yardy shelled Tim Ambrose in the slips in the day's final over. No one begrudged him a quick visit to the beer festival after play.

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Waller confirmed as Zimbabwe coach

Andy Waller, the former Zimbabwe batsman, has been confirmed as the country's new head coach. He will take up his post after the Bangladesh tour.

As revealed by ESPNcricinfo Waller will replace current acting national coach Stephen Mangongo with Mangongo becoming Waller's assistant.

Waller, 53, played two Tests - both against England - and 39 ODIs for Zimbabwe between 1987 and 1997. He became coach of Namibia before being appointed Zimbabwe coaches manager in 2009. He then joined Midwest Rhinos as head coach before coming to the UK to work at Eastborne College.

"Waller takes over the reins at a time when the demands on our performance are very high," Zimbabwe Cricket Board chairman, Peter Chingoka, said. "We are confident that the strategy he presented to us and his unique style of coaching will yield positive results."

Waller said he had high expectations: "We have a busy calendar of tours and our performance needs to start reflecting the preparation that goes into these games. My long-term focus is to build a team of the future and I am looking forward to working with the boys."

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Brewer to revisit Nursery End deal

Derek Brewer, the MCC chief executive and secretary who arrived at Lord's a year ago, will next week discuss a new offer from Rifkind Levy Partnership (RLP) for the development of the Nursery ground.

RLP outbid MCC in 1999 for the head lease on the disused railway tunnels that run inside Wellington Road at the northern end of Lord's. They have been attempting over the past 14 years to build apartments - and lately a hospital building - at the Nursery End in return for a cash offer to MCC. This has amounted to £100 million plus £10m to the cricket charity Chance to Shine. The latest offer, which Brewer says he will "forensically" examine, is £75m for a reduced development, enabling the club to retain 66 car parking spaces and a compound for television crews.

The property developers have also stipulated that there would be no encroachment on the Nursery ground, which MCC believes to be "sacrosanct". Mike Griffith, the club's president, has been particularly adamant that this area, the club's second ground, should be retained purely for cricketing purposes. This is also a stipulation of the ECB for allocating major matches.

The original development committee, which was wound up in controversial circumstances in 2011, advocated that flats could still be built if the Nursery ground, traditionally played on by Cross Arrows and other assorted sides, was enlarged. The thinking was that it could enable Middlesex to play one day matches there and hence prevent over-use of the main square.

The fact that the Victorian tunnels, still in good condition, fell out of MCC's control has led to much contentious debate, resignations and sackings over a six-year period. The original development committee, including 11 eminent members such as Sir John Major, Mike Atherton, Tony Lewis and Lord Grabiner, worked in conjunction with RLP to come up with a £400m proposal for a wide-ranging redevelopment. The "Vision" for Lord's.

As Brewer emphasised at the annual meeting, clubs like Hampshire and Lancashire are now particularly well run and present a threat to MCC's continuing staging of two Test matches a year. Various members suggested that an offer should be made to RLP for the head lease of the tunnels, but Oliver Stocken, MCC's chairman, has been told that they are not for sale. Hence the dispute is set to rumble on. Nick Gandon, formerly the director of Chance to Shine and the leader of the requisitionists seeking to stage a special general meeting that would examine the termination of the "Vision" is still set on collecting the necessary 180 signatures of members.

Given that the club's 18,000 members will not be presented with a full proposal by the club for another year, they will have time to mull over whether to accept any offer that will be made direct to them.

Robert Leigh, MCC treasurer, says there is no need to sell off what he terms "the family silver". The members now have to decide if they would prefer to take this particular form of a pot of gold.

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Essex look to Cook for assistance

Hampshire 197 and 77 for 2 lead Essex 254 (Napier 74, Cook 59) by 20 runs
Scorecard

Such is the professionalism of the England team these days that there has never been a higher expectation that when England players return to their county sides in the Championship, they will deliver. That was certainly the case for Joe Root in Yorkshire's victory at Durham and here, Essex need Alastair Cook to bring some stability to their season.

Cook's status, as England's captain, could hardly be more proven. He strolls around Chelmsford with an easy charm which tells of achievements already secured and challenges to come. Essex value his presence all the same as they seek to arrest a disturbing start to the season.

Halfway through this match, Hampshire, strongly fancied for promotion, have edged to a lead of 20 runs, their second innings creeping along at two-an-over. They lost Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams to David Masters' new-ball spell, Carberry falling to a fast catch by Ben Foakes off the meat of the bat at forward short leg.

It would be understandable if Essex, an innings defeat against Northamptonshire still fresh in the mind, are already hankering after Cook to produce a matchwinning response in the fourth innings. He will be back with England in a flash, but at the moment temporary assistance is welcome.

Cook batted in an orderly fashion as if intent upon gently attuning his mind to the approaching demands of two back-to-back Ashes series. He proceeded without much ado for more than four hours - 176 balls for 59 - before James Tomlinson found a little swing around leg stump and had him lbw.

"It's been Alastair at his most restrained," observed one Essex member as she gazed over the sunlit River Cam at lunchtime. The observation came with a wistful sigh as if she would like to mother him. She sounded like a proud parent, recognising that her offspring had grown up and gone on to better things, but half wishing she could have held back the clock.

At 73 for 6, Essex were in a pickle, the score doing little for the well-being of Paul Grayson, the coach, who was unwell. But Cook stayed on long enough to add a few appealing condiments. The bracing ingredients came, though, from Graham Napier, who struck 74 from 105 balls to give Essex a useful first-innings lead of 57. Their last four wickets added 181.

Napier lost his T20 world record for six-hitting last week when Chris Gayle struck 17 in one knock in his IPL rampage for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Napier had hit 16 for Essex against Sussex Sharks in 2008 and Essex actually delayed a practice session at Northampton to watch Gayle take his record.

Napier felt obliged to pronounce himself "a bit gutted", which is presumably even worse than gutted, on the grounds that some of the bones are left in, but he is an easy-going, uncomplicated sort who will not fret that he has lost part of his place in cricket history - he still jointly holds the first-class record for most sixes in an innings. He found the going strikingly easier than anybody (at least until Tim Phillips hit with gusto for 40 from at No. 10), although there was only one six, a pick-up over midwicket off the left-arm spinner Danny Briggs.

Over lunch the first sun warning of the summer was given on the Chelmsford public address. These are routinely made on county grounds whenever the temperature creeps above about 14 degrees. No sooner was the announcement made than the sun went in and a chill wind took hold again. Such warnings are probably just as well when Cook bats because famously he never sweats and could presumably create a misleading impression. It is a wonder Health & Safety have not banned him because of it.

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Harris suffers recurrence of hamstring injury

James Harris, the Middlesex seamer, has aggravated the hamstring injury he picked up during the opening Championship match of the season and has been ruled out for another two weeks starting with the local derby against Surrey this week.

He picked up the original problem against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge during his first-class debut for Middlesex, but had been passed fit to return against Cambridge MCCU last week where he took four wickets in the game and struck an unbeaten 43.

He then played in a friendly 40-over match against the Unicorns, the team made up of players without professional deals that will compete in the YB40, during which he felt further problems with his left hamstring

Angus Fraser, Middlesex's managing director, said: "Everybody at the club feels sorry for James who is desperate to get his time at Middlesex off and running. But we are all confident that this is just a minor setback and that he will have a major role to play in our season as it develops.

"At the moment we have the fast bowling resources to cope with James' injury and it will be great to get him back fully fit for when Steven Finn departs for England duty."

Although Middlesex will be able to call on Finn, Toby Roland-Jones and Tim Murtagh for the Championship match against Surrey the following four-day fixture against Warwickshire could be more of a challenge if Harris is still sidelined because Roland-Jones has been named in the England Lions side to face New Zealand.

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