Picture by John Heald. The scene at The 1st Central County Ground, Hove today.
The opening day of Yorkshire’s penultimate round men’s Rothesay County Championship clash with Sussex was abandoned without a ball bowled at The 1st Central County Ground, Hove today.
Overnight and some morning rain meant a wet outfield, and even though the sun shone for most of the day on the South Coast – aside from the odd isolated shower – high winds proved to be a safety issue for the ground-staff.
Unfortunately, they were unable to get the covers off the square to start the mopping up process.
And umpires Tom Lungley and Jack Shantry called the day off just after their 3.30pm inspection. That was their fifth inspection throughout the day.
At that stage, only one game across either division of the Championship had started – the Division One top-of-the-table clash between Surrey and Nottinghamshire at the Kia Oval.
Yorkshire started this week in seventh place in the top-flight table, nine points ahead of second-bottom Durham, who are next week’s opponents at Headingley.Â
Sussex are three points better off and a place better off.