County cricket: Hampshire take the weather with them and go top of table

In cricket (especially in England) there are always two opponents: the team you are playing and the weather. Sometimes, the weather is working with you, sometimes it’s against you, but it’s always an active participant in the contest. Long may it be so.

Hampshire needed to make the most of their game in hand if they were to steal a march on Championship leaders Surrey and they had followed the perfect template for maximising not just their chances of a win, but of securing maximum points. Form batters Felix Organ and Aneurin Donald made runs and Kyle Abbott surprised nobody in making a half-century just when it was needed.

Northamptonshire racked up 68 for the first wicket, but a seam attack as experienced as Keith Barker, Mohammad Abbas, James Fuller and Abbott won’t be denied for long and Emilio Gay and Will Young were soon obliged to pad up again.

Once more the openers made a decent start and once more the Hampshire seamers demolished almost all the Northants’ batting (with Ian Holland filling in for the injured Abbott). Clouds had scowled over the Ageas Bowl all day and the players had been on and off – the next time would be the last. James Fuller ran in, rain in the air, maybe one ball left to do it – and hit the luckless Jack White’s stumps.

Hampshire had their win, 24 points and an eight-point lead in Division One – and the weather gods had to look elsewhere for a victim.

They found one on a favourite patch of theirs – Old Trafford. Actually, that’s unfair, as the Roses match did not lose much time and Yorkshire’s young side showed real strength of character to earn their draw in a typically hard-fought derby, which was brilliantly covered by Lancs TV.

After Keaton Jennings and Luke Wells had each scored