Rose and Mullally the stars of another wet day

Not for the first time, Surrey's lower order batsmen extricated their team from deep trouble in the vital fixture with Lancashire at The Oval to headline a day of County Championship cricket when poor weather again loomed large on the horizon. The home team's total of 310, in which the resilience of Ian Salisbury (35), Alex Tudor (35) and Martin Bicknell (28) was a crucial feature, represented a more than satisfactory outcome after it had been precariously positioned at 12/3, 185/6 and 237/8 at different times.

Right arm fast medium bowler Mike Smethurst (6/63) netted a third five wicket haul of the season with another excellent display but failed to receive enough support from his teammates to be able to press home a strong advantage. On a slow pitch which shows increasing signs of yielding to spin, Lancashire's ability to hold out Salisbury and Saqlain Mushtaq on the third day may well go a long way toward determining the final result not only of the match but also of the Championship.

Having scored an unbeaten 82 in his last outing (against Durham at Chester-le-Street), Somerset all-rounder Graham Rose made sure that three figures did not elude him again with another wonderful act of resilience against Yorkshire at Taunton. Rose's hard-hitting 124 enabled the home team to rally from a score of 115/5 early in another rain-marred day toward a final total of 359. He received excellent support along the way from Peter Trego (62), the England Under-19 bowler's defiance allowing the pair to add a priceless 132 for the eighth wicket.

Significantly, though, Yorkshire was still able to maintain its record of having claimed maximum bowling points in every match in a season in which it remains well in contention for overall Championship honours. Gavin Hamilton (3/73) and Ian Fisher (3/66) played the major role in helping to keep alive this proud tradition. By the close, the visitors had made their way to 5/0.

With the national selectors still searching for the right balance to their attack, Hampshire's Alan Mullally chose an opportune moment to return the best figures of his first class career in the clash with Derbyshire at Derby. The left arm seamer, who has become cast more as a one-day international than Test player in recent times, captured a sizzling 9/93 as he held his team's fellow relegation strugglers to a total of 310. Centurion Matthew Dowman (110) was the only batsman not to lose his wicket to Mullally; he was instead bowled by Peter Hartley (1/81).

For all of Mullally's dominance, though, Hampshire still finds itself in trouble at the halfway stage of the contest at a score of 141/5 in reply. Kevin Dean (3/39) continued both his own sensational form and the trend of left arm bowling domination in the match with three wickets around half centuries from Robin Smith (50) and Derek Kenway (50*).

In the only other Division One 'action', Leicestershire and Kent endured a frustrating day at a wet Canterbury ground. In between persistent showers, only twenty overs of play were possible. In that time, Leicestershire advanced to a mark of 324/8 in its first innings. Anil Kumble (32) scored the bulk of the sixty-one runs to be added today for the loss of the wickets of Aftab Habib (78) and Neil Burns (23).

In Division Two, the weather's intervention was even more striking. At Trent Bridge, for instance, a series of fierce electrical storms ruled out any serious prospects of a resumption after the players had been forced off with Nottinghamshire at 149/3 on the first day of the match against Warwickshire. Usman Afzaal (58*) was the guiding influence behind the home team's score; Allan Donald (2/50) was the pick of the bowlers.

Wet weather also made a mess of matters at Lord's, where Essex finished a badly reduced day at 64/1 in response to the Middlesex tally of 287. After Middlesex had resumed the day at 214/5, Ben Hutton (55) and Ashley Cowan (who took his figures to 4/70) were the two players to make the biggest impression.

At Bristol, the situation was even more dire. There was no play possible at all there; Gloucestershire given no chance of claiming the large first innings lead that seems on the cards when it resumes at 99/4 in reply to Glamorgan's paltry 122.