The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action during day three of the first round of Vitality County Championship matches in 2024
Derby (day three of four): Derbyshire v Gloucestershire - no play due to a wet outfield
It was a familiar story at Derby where there was no play for the third day running in the Vitality County Championship match between Derbyshire and Gloucestershire.
More overnight rain on an already saturated outfield left the ground unfit for the Division Two match to start.
Umpires Ian Blackwell and Neil Pratt took the inevitable decision to call play off for the day after a 2pm inspection.
If the weather prevents the game starting on Monday, it will be the first time since 1981 that there has been no play in a Championship match at Derby.
Derbyshire are still waiting to start their season opener against Gloucestershire [George Wood/Getty Images]
Lord's (day three of four): Glamorgan 620-3d, Middlesex 460-5 - Middlesex trail by 160 runs with five first-innings wickets in hand
Ryan Higgins struck the eighth first-class hundred of his career to steer Middlesex towards the safety of a draw on day three of their high-scoring encounter with Glamorgan at Lord's.
The allrounder, in his second spell with the Seaxes, made the most of a benign Lord's pitch to plunder an unbeaten 127 and enable the hosts, faced with the scoreboard pressure of Glamorgan's steepling first inning score of 620 for 3, to move to the verge of avoiding the follow-on with their impressive reply of 460 for 5.
He was ably assisted by wicketkeeper-batter Jack Davies who made 60, the pair sharing a fifth-wicket stand of 153 having come together with their side still almost 350 runs in arrears. Their efforts came after Mark Stoneman fell three shy of a century.
The home side's total marked the first time they had registered 400-plus in a first-class match at Lord's since mustering 485 against Sussex in July 2022.
Related: Batters pile in to make most of unanticipated Lord's feast
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Hove (day three of four): Northamptonshire 371, Sussex 351-6 - Sussex trail by 20 runs with four first-innings wickets in hand
Sussex opener Tom Haines made 133 – his first hundred in the County Championship since September 2022 – although their game against Northamptonshire at the 1st Central County Ground looks likely to end in a draw.
The 25-year-old left-hander - who hit six fifties last season without converting any of them into a century – eased to the tenth first-class hundred of his career as Sussex reached 351 for 6 at stumps on day three, trailing by 20.
They had been in a spot of bother at 94 for 3 but James Coles, who celebrated his 20th birthday last week, embellished his burgeoning reputation with a stylish 78 in a fourth-wicket stand of 137 to go with his three wickets.
Left-arm spinner Saif Zaib checked Sussex progress by removing both set batters and Sussex captain John Simpson, but in the final hour Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Danny Lamb wrested back the initiative with some aggressive batting, Hudson-Prentice thrashing a 38-ball fifty as they added 93 from 70 balls before bad light intervened with 7.4 overs remaining.
Middlesex allrounder Ryan Higgins [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]
Headingley (day three of four): Leicestershire 354, Yorkshire 72-2 - Yorkshire trail by 282 runs with eight first-innings wickets in hand
England batter Harry Brook's first competitive innings in 2024 was delayed by the weather as day three of the County Championship clash between Yorkshire and Leicestershire was abandoned without a ball bowled at Headingley.
Overnight rain continued into the morning and returned just before three planned starts at 3.40pm, 4.30pm and 4.45pm.
Sunshine and high winds during the late morning and early afternoon raised hopes that play could take place, but umpires Mark Newell and Jack Shantry called an end to the day just before 4.45pm.
Yorkshire would have resumed their reply to a first-innings 354 on 72 for 2, with Adam Lyth unbeaten on 43 and George Hill alongside him on 13. Brook is carded to bat at No.5 in this opening round Division Two fixture.
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