LV= County Championship, Thursday May 3

Absolutely farcical is the only way to describe today. It hasn’t rained since midday but the light has been poor and clearly not improving – heavy cloud has surrounded the area with no wind to remove it. Glamorgan were happy to call things off for the day at 3.15pm when one inspection took place but Essex wanted to hold on.

We were then told 4.20pm was a possible start time because the ground had dried up, even though the light hadn’t improved a jot. The players came out and warmed up for half an hour but the umpires retreated to the pavilion and the players eventually followed in drabs as a warm up became football games just to get a run-a-round.

Mercifully play has at long, long last been abandoned.

For reasons that are unclear, Jimmy Anderson wandered on to the field with his hands in his pockets, took up a fielding position at mid-off/mid-on for one over, and then trudged off again.

While he was on the field, the umpires conferred, then had a word with Glen Chapple, the Lancashire captain. The assumption is that Anderson was hoping to bowl but was told he couldn't because of the time he had been off the field.

It's all a bit puzzling, not least, you imagine, for the spectators. All will be revealed later, no doubt. Notts are 72-1, building what is beginning to look like a decent lead, currently 95.

Play has been called off without a ball being bowled at Lord's. What else was I expecting? We'll do it all again tomorrow ... but to prove I've not just been idling and eating cake (well, not exclusively), here's a story about Chris Gayle's impending West Indies return from Nagraj Gollapudi, who's been to Hove to hear from their coach, Ottis Gibson, and captain, Darren Sammy.

Play has been abandoned for the day at Edgbaston.

There will be an inspection at Edgbaston at 5pm. It’s very wet, very dark and very cold and we can’t use the floodlights here because the local residents - that’s city centre residents who moved in next to an international cricket ground - don’t like them. I haven’t been that impartial there, have I?

Notts have lost only one wicket in the 19 overs they had to negotiate between bowling Lancashire out for 146 and reaching tea, but they are in danger of becoming bogged down in the face of a Lancashire attack that has countered the absence of two of their number by bowling with considerable discipline.

Glen Chapple and Luke Procter, who are the only fit front-line seamers, have conceded five and 12 runs in eight and seven overs respectively, and left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan has gone for three in three. No sign of a return by Jimmy Anderson, who is still officially 'under the weather'.

The match is so far proving a non-event for England's premier pace bowlers, Anderson and Stuart Broad, neither of whom has taken a wicket and both of whom have been out first ball, although to be fair to Anderson he did bowl well on Wednesday. Notts 28-1 at tea.

Ajmal Shahzad is free to leave by Yorkshire because he is a strong-willed individual whose reluctance to accept team discipline has caused an irrevocable breakdown in relations, according to Yorkshire's chairman, Colin Graves, and director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.

"Cricket is a team game and Yorkshire is bigger than everybody," Graves said as he acted to counter criticism of Yorkshire's ability to lose an England fast bowler only one month into a new season. "I am not prepared to have somebody playing for Yorkshire who does not want to be part of the team. All the comments I have heard from Ajmal are about him, not about the team. And as far as I am concerned, cricket is a team game. There is no point having a player where he doesn't want to be."

The trusty old campaigner who is filling in as best he can for Ajmal Shahzad has just had a bowl – and he has taken a wicket with his second ball.

Anthony McGrath’s career is in its later stages. He is 36, of increasingly avuncular build and has been struggling for batting form. His 90 out of Yorkshire’s 447 was regarded by regular Yorkshire observers as one of his best knocks in the last couple of years.

He came on as fourth seamer with Leicestershire 33 for 3 off 20 overs. His run was leisurely and pace all the more so. If Yorkshire want their bowlers to bowl top of off, McGrath might be given the licence to get halfway up off instead.

His first ball smacked into Ramnaresh Sarwan’s pads and the umpire Neil Mallender turned down the lbw appeal. The second ball wobbled into the pads again and this time Mallender gave out Sarwan lbw – a prime West Indian batsman to his name.

In his second over, he added lustre to the story. Ned Eckersley fell lbw to his 12th ball, leaving Leicestershire 43 for 5.

Here is an intriguing statistic: Shahzad, ambitious to revive his England career, has 135 wickets at 33.80; McGrath, holding together a long career, came into the match with 123 at 35,69, more comparable than you might imagine.

And here is an even more intriguing statistic: Shahzad over his career has conceded runs at 3.45, more than Yorkshire feel comfortable with; McGrath, at gentle pace, concedes runs at 2.99.

It’s still a minimalist tableau visible from the Lord’s press bubble, with the covers on and a tractor parked on the outfield. It seems the poor light is an impediment to play, which is tough on the handful of spectators still braving the cold. Lord’s has floodlights, of course, but is unable to use them for county matches (there is a limit on how many days they can be employed during the year, due to local residents’ objections). Andrew Strauss and Joe Denly have wandered across the field to the Nursery End for a net and the umpires trot out periodically. Otherwise, the flags flap in the wind and the big screen flashes neon messages on cycle.

As Estragon might say: “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!” Or it would be, were it not for the catering.

Glen Chapple has made an early breakthrough but Lancashire are down to two fit seamers with Jimmy Anderson off the field again. Tom Smith cannot bowl because of his hamstring problem.

Word from the Lancashire dressing room is that Anderson's problem today has nothing to do with the thumb he bruised yesterday to spark a flurry of England injury scare stories. He just feels 'a bit under the weather', having picked up a virus of some sort. Wonder what his skipper thinks about that...

Lancashire have collapsed in a heap since lunch, losing their last six wickets for 17 runs in the space of 13 overs. Having been 48 without loss yesterday, which made Nottinghamshire's 169 all out look even more miserable, they have somehow ended up in deficit by 23 runs.

They would doubtlessly like playing Nottinghamshire more if Andre Adams was not around. The Kiwi took 10 wickets against them at Southport last season and has finished with 7-32 this time, having added Steven Croft, Gareth Cross, Tom Smith and Glen Chapple to his morning haul before Graeme Swann had Luke Procter leg before and then bowled his mate Jimmy Anderson first ball to wrap things up.

Better not mention Stuart Broad's figures again. Oh, go on then... 14-1-60-0. Which means that it was 44-18-75-10 at the other end.

Ian Bell has scored a century at Edgbaston. He was not absolutely at his best for the early part of this innings but, in the last half-hour or so, he has timed the ball very nicely and produced one lofted six off Blackwell and a fine hook and cover drive for four off Onions. While he was never in any serious danger of being dropped ahead of the Test series against West Indies, these runs against a good-quality attack and in testing conditions can do his confidence no harm.

Successive cuts to the boundary by Tim Ambrose off Ian Blackwell gave Warwickshire the lead, but with the partnership worth 87, Ambrose fell in unfortunate fashion. Cutting hard, he saw the ball thump into the thigh of Ian Stokes - who had just been placed at silly point - and deflect into the hands of Michael di Venuto at slip. Rikki Clarke -back when he should have been forward - fell to Blackwell’s next ball. Warwickshire’s lead is currently 32 with seven wickets down.

Afternoon all. You know I mentioned how pleasantly tranquil things were at Sohpia Gardens yesterday, well things ain’t too clever today. The castle, park, river and trees are all still there but drizzle, wind and boring cloud cover are ruining the setting. A bit like running a marathon to see the sights of Paris or Rome – one cannot quite appreciate the environment today.

We’ve had the morning session lost to biblical rainfall overnight (I was forced to use a piece of cardboard to walk the half mile from the pub back to my car, getting several arrogant smirks from passers-by with umbrealls; for which I cared little) and drizzle which has abated but another band of wet action is on the radar; hence the groundstaff have left the sheets on the outfield rather than packing them away. The hover cover has also been replaced over the wicket

So no cricket but a lamb curry for lunch – quite superb – and a chat to James Harris. He’s been sat on his backside waiting for an injection in his groin to do its thing – no gym, no London shopping (he went for the injection on Monday in the capital) and no golf either. Also has half an idea to train in architecture among other future career plans, which I found fascinating.

It has been a tough morning for batsmen and bowlers, or rather for one bowler in particular. On a slow pitch, the scoring rate has been slow. It took Lancashire until the 35th over to take their total into three figures. There have been only half a dozen boundaries scored so far.

Five of them have come off the bowling of Stuart Broad, whose figures (14-1-60-0) do not look good alongside Ben Phillips (9-3-15-0) or Andre Adams (12-4-31-3), but then again he is the only bowler offering any pace for the batsmen to work with. In his mitigation, too, he is coming back from an injury. He has looked frustrated with his luck at times.

Ashwell Prince, in particular, was beginning to take advantage of Broad providing rare opportunities to drive, so it was to his enormous frustration that the first sighting of Graeme Swann on the morning brought about the South African's downfall, caught off bat and pad by James Taylor from the England off-spinner's second ball. Prince had scored half-centuries in three of his five previous innings for Lancashire so far and was looking in good order again.

The first two wickets to fall this morning went to Adams, who bowled Karl Adams and then had Stephen Moore caught behind playing defensively as he found the length that Glen Chapple exploited so well on day one. Adams already has 21 wickets for the season. Lancashire are 129-4 off 45 overs at lunch.

It’s cold and dark at Edgbaston, but it’s dry for now, too. They players are taking an early lunch and are aiming for a 1.10pm start.

With the PCA - the players’ union - the latest body to come out and express their concerns over David Morgan’s recommendations for the restructuring of the domestic season, it is increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that his review is dead in the water. ECB officials remain keen to embrace the Morgan review in its entirety, but with the players, the counties and, it seems, an overwhelming proportion of spectators, unhappy with the proposal to cut the championship program to 14 games, it is becoming increasingly hard to find anyone else who thinks it is a good idea.

It is also hard to understand how Morgan reached his conclusions.

Spare him a little sympathy, though. While the PCA’s support for the championship is welcome, it is worth noting that they are also keen for an IPL-style T20 competition and keen that counties should be able to attend the champions league. The problem Morgan faced was that it is hard to satisfy all those demands. Something may well have to give.

Yorkshire’s split with Ajmal Shahzad was irrevocable according to their chairman, Colin Graves, and director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.

Yorkshire are in a difficult position – needing to justify how they can possibly discard an England fast bowler a month into the season yet leave on amicable terms.

The county’s basic message, as previously reported on ESPNcricinfo, is that they had committed considerable efforts over many years to integrating Shahzad, but that he had other ideas about how his career should progress and that he had become headstrong and disruptive to the point where it was affecting team unity.

It was Graves who ruled that Shahzad should be released after a meeting with Moxon, the coach Jason Gillespie and captain Andrew Gale earlier this week.

Francois du Plessis will be joining Somerset - subject to all necessary clearance - as their overseas player as replacement for Chris Gayle in the FLt20.

Jonny Bairstow and Anthony McGrath are taking Yorkshire towards 400 against Leicestershire at North Marine Road where once again county cricket’s most atmospheric ground – Hove may run it close – is being treated to the most bracing air in the kingdom.

It might not be the only thing that is bracing. Colin Graves, Yorkshire’s chairman, is due in a few minutes to explain Ajmal Shahzad’s departure from the county. Yorkshire are feeling wronged. Somewhere not in Scarborough, perhaps Shahzad feels the same. It could be an interesting visit.

The covers are back on at Lord’s, with rain spitter-spattering down. An early lunch is going to be taken at 12.30pm. It could be one of those days ... I’m also now led to believe that Richardson is likely to play for Worcestershire, despite a side strain. If my mole’s got this one wrong, I’ll be dropping some TNT down their hole at the next opportunity.

Anyway, apropos of England’s captain being cooped up in the pavilion across the way, here’s a link to our columnist Mark Nicholas’ piece on Strauss’ search for form.

It's sunny again at Old Trafford. Then again, this is Manchester, where the sun always shines. Lancashire are under way and Karl Brown, having begun with a boundary off his first ball, has been bowled by his third, which makes it two in four deliveries for Andre Adams, whose dismissal of Paul Horton ended yesterday's proceedings in mid over.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed by umpire Rob Bailey that Stuart Broad will not face disciplinary action over his response to being given out yesterday, when he left the field with much reluctance after Steven Croft had claimed a catch at short leg, and not before aiming words at both the fielder and umpire Stephen Gale.

No one wants to see players hauled across the coals for the sake of it, but it does seem the England fast bowler was a little fortunate not to be penalised, although sometimes what appears from the sidelines to be dissent can be no more than asking for confirmation or clarification, which does not necessarily come back instantly. There is no suggestion that Broad's inquiries were aggressive or abusive.

If such behaviour seems to be increasing among England players -- Graeme Swann and James Anderson also queried verdicts against them yesterday -- perhaps it has its roots in the use of the Decision Referral System, which obviously encourages players to ask if they have doubts. Lancashire are 68-2 in the 21st over.

After a complete washout at The Oval last week, I have a 4-0 record for attending days of rained-off cricket versus seeing actual play. But I may be about to break my duck – the pitch is getting a haircut, catching practice is taking place on the outfield, and while the sky looks like a dirty white vest the rain is holding off.

Middlesex have won one and drawn one at HQ this season to sit firmly in the middle of the standings; Worcestershire have just 15 point from their three games and are still looking for a first win this season. They may have to do so without the services of their very own Worcs horse Alan Richardson, if my sources are correct.

Anyway, the official word is that there’s to be an inspection at 11.15am. It looks all right to play out there. Perhaps Andrew Strauss has been delayed by queues at the polling booth in the vote to decide London’s mayor?

Morning from Edgbaston. There’s a bit of rain around today, but it looks as if it will clear in most areas and we should still see a fair bit of cricket.

The club who are watching the rain with particular interest is Worcestershire. The floodwater that has crept on to the playing area at New Road has receded over night, but remains over the first three pitches of the square and a fairly large part of the outfield. The club have already arranged to host Monday’s CB40 fixture at Kidderminster instead and will take a decision whether to move next Wednesday’s championship game against Surrey to the same venue over the next 48 hours. Surrey have already offered to host the game at the Kia Oval, but that offer has been declined by Worcestershire. “Kidderminster is our second home,” David Leatherdale, Worcestershire’s chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo a few moments ago, “and if we can’t stage the game at New Road, we’ll stage it at Kidderminster.

Whether Kevin Pietersen, who is scheduled to play his one championship game before the Test series against West Indies next week, will enjoy Kidderminster’s somewhat basic facilities is debateable. He should enjoy the pitch, though, and the fast outfield.

The good news for Worcestershire is that the flood water does not look nearly as dirty as that which forced them to abandon New Road for much of the 2007 season. On that occasion, the flood water carried with it sewage and slurry from the fields. This flood should prove far easier - and less expensive - to clear.

Worcestershire have also started to explore the market for an overseas player to replace Saeed Ajmal, who has pulled out of his deal to represent them in T20 this season. Shakib-al-Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, was one possibility, but he is very close to agreeing a deal to join Essex for FLt20, so Worcestershire are now considering a move for Sohail Tanvir, the Pakistan left-arm seamer.

“Steve Rhodes has spoken to his agent and there is a chance that he will join us for the final eight matches of the T20 season,” Leatherdale confirmed. “But it is early days.”