LV= County Championship, Saturday July 14

It will surprise none of you that the weather has ruined another day’s cricket. No Championship action anywhere so I’m signing off the blog for the day, but feel free to keep the conversation ticking over in the comments section. England name their Test squad tomorrow morning; pretty simple selection, isn’t it?

Despite the rain we will have stories coming in during the afternoon and George Dobell has already been busy with some interesting pieces from Guildford. Chris Adams has said he’ll be shopping for batsmen and Chris Tremlett has confirmed he’ll be staying with the club.

Match abandoned also at West End. The one aspect of playing for Durham that Stephen Harmison is not keen on is endless long bus journeys. He is about to face another back to Leeds that will be quite long enough in this driving rain.

Match abandoned at Guildford.

If there is no play today - an inspection will be made after lunch - Hampshire will have lost more than 80 hours cricket this season through the bad weather. Neil McKenzie said: “A lot of the boys have got different weather apps on their phones but I’ve tended not to look at the forecast! We’ve been trying to make the best use of our time, like having a few nets. You have to look for something positive to do.”

Tim Tremlett, the former Hampshire all rounder and now cricket manager - as well, of course, as being the father of Chris - is one of the nicest and most reliable men in the game. But today he has come up with a rare bum steer. "We might start a little late, but there will be play this morning," he confidently said down the telephone. In actuality we shall be incredibly lucky to have any play today. Time to go and see Nigel Gray, the exasperated head groundsman, about his thoughts on the season as a whole. Poor man - it is his testimonial year.

Yesterday afternoon was almost perfect. The clouds parted and warm sunshine greeted the entire post-meridian period. The tents were very busy, the cider flowed, corporate guests milled, everyone seemed to be in a great mood. Except we had no cricket at all. It was a disaster. The umpires decided the outfield was too damp so the groundstaff hauled the covers on – it was a ridiculous sight in such glorious weather. We were getting sun-burn from the glare off the covers. The locals heckled messers Robinson and Ravi and one chap even vaulted the hoardings to remonstrate with the umpires.

Still a very merry evening was had by all and many of us stayed outside the tents until about 8pm. Even with no cricket, Cheltenham College is a fine drinking location.

But the walk to the ground this morning has been sobering in more ways than one. We have steady drizzle and there is already a significant amount of water on the covers, forcing an abandonment. So that’s the end of this game but tomorrow’s match, a CB40 also with Essex, is in some doubt. Even with 8 hours of sunshine yesterday the ground wasn’t fit for play so without the sun today, I’m not confident the ground with dry out.

There’s also the issue of where 4,000 people are going to park. Both main car parks are off limits – the college lawn even to pedestrians so a new gate near the pavilion has been created.

The forecast for next week is no good either. It’s a truly miserable summer when even Cheltenham is ruined.

Well, on the way actually. More delays. Not on the A42 but at Edgbaston for the foreseeable as outfield still sodden. Inspection at noon and then... who knows?

Morning everyone, hope you are all having a good start to the weekend. Pretty interesting day yesterday, wasn’t it? Double hundreds for one of England’s most promising young batsmen, Joe Root, and another by some chap called Pietersen who continues to make the headlines.

So what will today offer? In some places not much I’m afraid as it’s wet. Play has already been called off at Uxbridge and Cheltenham so Andrew Strauss won’t be able to extend his innings any further. However, he looks in fine form ahead of the South Africa Tests.

Elsewhere another match starts (courtesy of the simple-to-follow fixture list) as Glamorgan face Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.

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