A rain check

The first few weeks of the 2003 season have seen many Frizzell County Championship matches being affected by wet weather - and only five out of the 16 matches in Division One, and six of the Division Two games, have ended in a positive outcome.

Several counties have already lost quite sizeable chunks of playing time. Some teams have already played four games, meaning that a quarter of their Championship season has now gone by, with their players dodging the showers or marooned in the pavilion waiting for the rain to relent.

The figures below show an estimated percentage of playing time lost so far in 2003. Sussex and Kent in the balmy south-east haved fared best so far, while Durham and Worcestershire are the worst-affected. No surprise then that those two two are languishing at the bottom of Division Two, and will be hoping for fine weather soon as they look to move up the table and challenge for promotion.

Division One

Sussex            7.52
Kent             15.36
Warwickshire     21.51
Nottinghamshire  22.88
Middlesex        23.28
Surrey           24.01
Leicestershire   33.00
Lancashire       36.52
Essex            38.97

Division Two

Derbyshire       25.16
Somerset         28.19
Glamorgan        28.92
Yorkshire        29.17
Gloucestershire  32.75
Northamptonshire 37.25
Hampshire        39.46
Durham           40.20
Worcestershire   40.52

nb: The figures above are based on an estimate of playing time lost, using close-of-play scores as published each day. The ECB playing regulations call for a minimum of 104 overs to be bowled on the first three days, and 96 overs on the final one.