LV= County Championship, Friday April 27

7.30pm: Alan Gardner wraps up the day

Once again the rain swept away much of the day's play - but they did get started late on in Chelmsford, and Essex fans may wish they hadn't, as the hosts slipped to 54 for 6. Mark Pettini, the only man to get into double figures, was unbeaten on 16 at the close. Further south, Hampshire made a solid start to their reply against Leicestershire, reaching 181 for 4 at stumps, just 53 in arrears - Michael Carberry marking his recall to the Lions squad with 73 not out after Liam Dawson had completed a five-wicket haul earlier in the day.

For reports from around the grounds, head over to our County Championship 2012 page; and be sure to join us tomorrow for more weather watching and idle chatter.

6.05pm: David Hopps at Hove

The final session had the makings of an awkward one for Sussex. They have been second best throughout, but they only lost two wickets and will reason that the weather will probably get them out of this one. Varun Chopra held a quick chance to his right at first slip as Keith Barker found Nash’s edge and also struck Ed Joyce on the helmet as he ducked into one. Jeetan Patel’s off-spin had Joyce lbw in his first over but Luke Wells and Murray Goodwin survived until the close. They need another 339 to avoid the follow-on. That or a torrential downpour.

5.15pm: Mark Pennell at Kent v Yorkshire

Kent continue to dominate proceedings in Canterbury where the rain has held off despite the downpours at nearby Chelmsford and along the M2 at the Oval.

After 81 overs of day two, Kent have reached 280 for 6 to lead by 33 with 16 overs remaining in the day.

Sixth-wicket pairing Brendan Nash and Geraint Jones did much to wipe out the arrears through an attractive stand of 77, with Nash reaching the first half-century of the match from 82 balls.

Jones might have joined him at the landmark until he swished at one from Ryan Sidebottom to be caught at slip to go for 47 from only 49 balls.

4.40pm: Jon Culley at Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire

Serious bother for Worcestershire, who are making Notts' 243 look pretty decent, even though Mick Newell reckoned it was 75 runs short of what it should have been.

In reply the home side are 66-6, which has a sinister ring to it, as well it should. They are emerging after tea and their hopes that the groundstaff, who have had the covers poised, might know of some mucky weather on the way have so far proved unfounded.

Andre Adams, not for the first time, is doing most of the damage. Apart from Michael Klinger, caught at second slip, all the dismissals have been lbw. One or two balls have kept a bit low and it is gloomy but the Worcestershire batsmen haven't been getting forward enough.

Should Worcestershire have to follow on -- 94 is the target -- they may struggle to avoid a defeat in three days.

4.15pm: David Hopps at Sussex v Warwickshire

On reflection, it was innocent to express the hope that Warwickshire might thrash their way to a declaration before lunch because of the deluge forecast for the final day. Warwickshire do not thrash, they grind, and grind they have in making 545 in 152.5 overs. It all ended at tea on the second day when Jeetan Patel clubbed Chris Nash to short midwicket.

This was the policy that served Warwickshire well last season until the final game when they built a big first-innings score at the Rose Bowl, tried to bowl Hamshire out twice and despite needing only seven wickets on the final day, failed to force the win that would have brought them the championship. The memory of that has not persuaded them to do anything any different.

Sticking to their beliefs is, in the main, entirely sensible. But unless the weather forecast changes, this match is unlikely to be going anywhere. Warwickshire will conclude they have “controlled the controllables” and so they have. But after Jonathan Trott’s talk of a thjree-day game, their approach was a conservative one. Sussex, nevertheless, have an awkward final session to survive and would do extremely well to escape it undamaged.

3.30pm: Jon Culley at Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire

Marvellous effort by the groundstaff here to get any play at all given the heavy rain this morning. Didn't expect anything before four o'clock. There are 25 spectators in the D'Oliveira Stand at the Diglis End of the ground. There were 14 at the start of play.

A schoolboy has just bought an ice cream, having had to knock on the window the van to get the salesman's attention. His mate has sensibly decided not to join him.

The New Road ground escaped any flooding over the winter but that might not be the case on Sunday, if the forecast is anything to go by. The nearby rivers Severn and Teme are both high already. It is the Teme that tends to threaten the Worcester ground.

Worcestershire have advanced from five without loss to 35 for one, with Michael Klinger, who had picked up a couple of handsome boundaries, having just edged Andre Adams to second slip for 22. The light's not good but it probably looks darker because the strip lighting in the press box has been fixed.

3.30pm: George Dobell at Somerset v Lancashire

It is raining hard in Taunton and it seems most unlikely we will see any more play today. A wet Friday night in Taunton looms.

It's interesting to hear Brian Rose, the Somerset director of cricket, talk about Nick Compton. Bearing in mind some of those with which Rose played with and against - the likes of Geoff Boycott and Sir Viv Richards - his praise of Compton is remarkably strong.

"The way he plays forward defensive and backward defensive is as good as I have seen," Rose said.

3pm: Mark Pennell at Kent v Yorkshire

Kent have lost three quick wickets since lunch and now sit a little uneasily on 143 for 4 and still trail Yorkshire by 104. Sam Northeast was palpably leg before to Ajmal Shahzad for 26, so much so that he almost walked, then Ben Harmison (43) fell in the same manner when working across the line against Steven Patterson.

Harmison's fellow winter recruit Michael Powell, signed from Glamorgan, scored just 3 before he edged one from Ryan Sidebottom to Tim Bresnan at second slip.

Meanwhile, Kent allrounder Matt Coles has responded to his inclusion in the England Lions squad this afternoon.

The 21-year-old said: “It is a tremendous honour to be selected for the Lions squad. I know I have a lot of hard work to do, but I am looking forward to being involved fully in the set up after having had some experience in the winter. My first priority at the moment is to concentrate on the job I have to do in the current game."

2.00pm: News round-up:

England Lions squad to face West Indies at Northampton, beginning May 10

James Taylor (Nottinghamshire) (Captain) Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire) Jack Brooks (Northamptonshire) Michael Carberry (Hampshire) Matt Coles (Kent) Nick Compton (Somerset) Jade Dernbach (Surrey) Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire) Stuart Meaker (Surrey) Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire) Joe Root (Yorkshire) Ben Stokes (Durham)

George Dobell's story is here

1.25pm: Jon Culley at Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire

No play here yet and lunch being taken with inspection due at 2pm. Clouds still look a bit threatening, though. Pitch has been trimmed but outfield sodden.

Samit Patel's inclusion in the Lions' squad to face West Indies at Northampton from May 10 suggests he won't play in the first Test, for which Ravi Bopara looks nailed on. No place for Alex Hales but James Taylor, who was left out of the England Performance Squad for 2012, continues as captain.

Taylor and Patel will miss the Notts Championship match against Middlesex, which is not the best news for a side with only one batting point from four matches so far.

1.05pm: David Hopps at Sussex v Warwickshire

Jonathan Trott has fallen at slip for 178 on what proved to be the last ball before lunch. He drove expansively at Chris Nash and edged to Mike Yardy so ending a stay of nearly seven hours in which he has cemented Warwickshire’s place as championship leaders.

Trott and Tim Ambrose batted through all but two overs of the morning, with Ambrose, who takes lunch on 58. Warwickshire, having added 113 in the morning, are 394 for 7. Ambrose has been struck on the hand by James Anyon and Trott survived an lbw appeal, on the back foot to Monty Panesar, but until Trott’s dismissal the mood had been one of Warwickshire quietly taking control.

And, there are foxes about, but don’t tell Dave Brooks. Two years have passed since Brooks, Sussex’s chief executive, hired a pest control company to shoot a fox in the middle of the night because of fears that it might cause damage to the square.

Police were called after gunshots were heard in the middle of the night and local residents and animal rights campaigners protested outside the ground. Urban foxes are a common sight around Hove, due to its proximity to the South Downs, and one was scrambling around in the building rubble when I drew open my bedroom curtains. (Who needs a sea view when you can gaze upon building rubble). I quite like to see them and would even admit that I had quite a frisson when one wandered past my seat in The Oval press box two years ago. If it gets much worse, I could even find myself watching Springwatch.

There is a fox anecdote, incidentally, in Warwickshire On This Day, by Brian Halford, which will be published by Pitch Publishing next month. It was back in 1982 and distracted the Warwickshire batsmen so much that they could barely get Derek Underwood off the square.

Sussex will need fox-like cunning to get out of this one.

1.05pm: Alan Gardner at Surrey v Durham

With it being a morning for Annie Lennox at The Oval, the most exciting occurrence in the press box came when a party of school children were let in for a look around. Cue heads bent swiftly over laptops and a marked increase in the volume of tippy-tapping at keyboards. The outlook here is for a less wet afternoon – but then that was the forecast this morning, too. There is due to be an umpires inspection at 1.40pm and, for the time being, the dark clouds continue to slide by like malevolent taxis on the rank ...

12.40pm: Mark Pennell at Kent v Yorkshire

Kent supporters have reason to be cheerful as they approach lunch with their side in good shape on day two and rumours of an England Lions call up for one of their brightest young stars.

The Men of Kent reached 72 for one after 26 overs in their pursuit of Yorkshire’s first day total of 247. Sam Northeast had reached 18 not out and close-season recruit from Durham, Ben Harmison, still there with 12.

Scott Newman was the only casualty of the opening 90 minutes, the on-loan left hander went in the 15th over of the day for a brisk 31. Fencing away from his body and with firm hands, he nicked one from Ajmal Shahzad through to Jonny Bairstow to make it 35 for 1.

Home supporters then keenly anticipated the ECB’s lunch-time announcement of the Lions’ squad which is thought to include 21-year-old Kent paceman Matt Coles, who starred here with the ball on day one by taking 4 for 70.

Born in Maidstone, Coles has enjoyed a stunning start to the season and tops the averages as leading wicket-taker in the County Championship second division with 21 wickets costing 17.23 apiece.

A hard-hitting left-hand bat, he scored his maiden first-class century in Kent’s opening championship match of the season at Headingley, then followed that with career-best bowling figures of 6 for 51 against Northamptonshire in round two. He also bagged best match figures of 9 for 83 in Kent’s win at Wantage Road.

A muscular, hit-the-deck bowler Coles might well have caught the eye of the late Yorkshire and England legend F. S. Trueman, who believed that a pre-requisite to bowling fast was to be "broad in the beam".

12.05pm: George Dobell at Somerset v Lancashire

On the face of things, this has been an excellent morning for Somerset. They took three wickets in 10 balls at one stage and four wickets for the addition of only seven runs. Very well they bowled, too, with Vernon Philander, in particular, maintaining an immaculate length. Craig Kieswetter, with three catches - two of them excellent, diving efforts - can only have impressed the watching selector, James Whitaker.

The only unsettling aspect of that success is that it suggests, had Somerset bowled better yesterday, Lancashire would not have been able to amass such a daunting total. Both sides are not battling to achieve full bonus points.

Meanwhile David Green, the former Lancashire and Gloucestershire batsman, has just visited the press box to tell a series of amusing anecdotes from his playing days. One particular gem involves an argument with Mike Procter which was settled by a drunken game of one-on-one rugby. The game finished scoreless after 50 minutes. Just think: in 30 years, the players of today will be able to tell people how well they did on X-Box. It’s not quite the same, is it?

11.45am Mark Pennell at Kent v Yorkshire

A brighter, but equally breezy second morning in Canterbury where hosts Kent are doing their best to lay solid foundations against Yorkshire’s impressive new-ball attack.

In pursuit of Yorkshire’s first day total of 247, Kent’s makeshift opening pair of Sam Northeast and Scott Newman, on-loan from Middlesex for a month, have moved on to 27 without loss after 12 overs.

Though the ball has beaten the bat on a couple of occasions both Newman and Northeast, who replaced injured Kent captain Rob Key for this match, have looked generally sound.

The St Lawrence pitch was described after day one by new Kent recruit, Michael Powell, as ‘sporting’ so the hosts are likely to have their work cut out if they are to threaten a first innings lead.

11.30am: Alan Gardner at Surrey v Durham

It’s official: the world’s stock exchanges have agreed to chuck it all in there’ll be no play at The Oval before lunch. But, as your roving reporter, I bring you north-east news nonetheless: Dale Benkenstein has signed a new contract, keeping him at Durham until the end of the 2014 season. The Newcastle Journal has the story.

11.15am: David Hopps at Sussex v Warwickshire

The manner in which England players return to county cricket is often a marker of their status. Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell have struggled for form and, as they have been consumed on challenging early-season pitches, might have been any decent county batsman searching for form.

Jonathan Trott looked different on the opening day at Hove. His unbeaten 132 for Warwickshire against Sussex possessed a certainty that marked him down as an international batsman of repute, dropping down a grade and clinically asserting his superiority. It will not happen every time he comes out to bat, but it was a reminder that his stock has never been higher.

Warwickshire resumed on 281 for 5 off 87 overs and have lost the nightwatchman Chris Wright in the second over of the day, yorked by James Anyon. With Sunday’s forecast looking grim, they need to gamble on a high-risk approach this morning, take what they can get, and get Sussex in to bat.

10.45am: Alan Gardner at Surrey v Durham

“It’s a massive game because if we can come out of it with a win or most importantly a performance where we match them toe to toe for four days – or how many days we get in – as a side you know that if you can compete with them, you can outplay them or live with them, you’re going to be right up there, because they’re a really strong side.”

So said Surrey captain, Rory Hamilton-Brown, when I spoke to him a few days ago. Unfortunately, it’s that clause in the middle about “how many days we get in” that has proved most prophetic. After an early abandonment yesterday, when some thought a couple of hours’ play might have been manageable in the late afternoon, the weather has reneged on its promise of a bright morning and we are greeted with a familiar dark, dank scene from the press box (and not just because of the oddly tinted windows).

Though sun was peeping through the clouds when I left the tube, the rain has returned, the covers are on and the outfield does not look in too good shape. We’ve not officially been told that there’ll be no play before lunch – but then no one has officially confirmed that market capitalism is a busted flush either.

10.40am: George Dobell at Somerset v Lancashire

Morning from Taunton. James Whitaker, one of the England selectors, is here today, no doubt with a particularly interest in Nick Compton, Simon Kerrigan - who will surely be named in the Lions squad - and Jos Buttler.

He may also be intrigued by Vernon Philander. The South African has a superb Test record and is expected to prove especially potent in English conditions. He endured a tough day yesterday, so Somerset will be hoping for better this morning with a new ball that is only a few overs old.

10.10am: George Dobell sets the scene

The weather forecast is not hugely encouraging today, but several matches look as if they should start on time with Lancashire and Warwickshire, in particular, in a strong position to build on strong first day performances.

To catch up on what did transpire yesterday, here’s a handy set of links for you: David Hopps was at Hove to see Jonathan Trott get out his cosh and stun Sussex’s bowlers into submission; Mark Pennell caught Matt Coles’ haul at Canterbury, while Jon Culley was at New Road for Nottinghamshire’s so-so batting effort against Worcestershire; then there’s my report from Taunton, as well as the action at West End, where Leicestershire and Hampshire managed half a day’s play.

More will follow here later from the best team of county correspondents around. Please join us for the most enlightening county cricket chat.