Satisfied referee, grumpy spectators

BAD LIGHT AND RAIN STOPPED PLAY: Lancashire 203 for 4 (71 overs). Laxman 84, Croft 42.

Two maiden overs were bowled after lunch before the umpires decreed that the light was dangerous, bringing to an end the most pointless fragment of play in cricket history and further frustrating a crowd, some of whom furnished the officials with ribald opinions.

It has now started drizzling steadily. The weather forecast this week has turned out to be as full of hogwash as a Labour or Conservative manifesto.

Match referee and pitch inspector Tony Pigott has just popped in to say he is happy with the pitch. It's not great, obviously, but not excessively poor.