Lancashire v Northants and more: county cricket day three – live!

Two balls later, he is out lbw. Lancs 64-1. And at The Oval play is delayed by pigeon poo.

And a beautiful shot from Keaton Jennings off Sanderson to start the day, whizzing straight along the still damp grass, straight to the rope. Incidentally, am in mourning for Keaton Jennings’ 2020 curls – the 2021 look is far too brutal.

Good morning from Old Trafford! The sun is out and the players are just going in after their warm-up. I’ve bought a coffee from Old Trafford’s own Cafe Nero and it feels like spring. Just to remind you all that all County Cricket will pause between 2.50 and 4.10 as a mark of respect for Prince Philip’s funeral.

Good morning from Manchester where the sun rises gladly after Parky’s ball of the (new) century. Here is the man himself, mulling over his day’s work,

“It’s very nice to play Championship cricket and pull the Red Rose on again. Having watched Simon Kerrigan bowl I knew I’d have a decent role to play and it was lovely to bowl a decent chunk of overs.”I was gutted to miss put on selection last week and just wanted to prove a point a guess.”

On ‘that’ ball
“I was very frustrated after Kerrigan slogged me for a few and just thought ‘sack it’ and tried to really rip it and luckily it paid off. There were decent foot holes there and I tried to bowl it quite fast. I know it’s doing the rounds on Twitter but to produce that for the team is fantastic and I’m very happy. It’s nice to have it trending on Twitter after the winter I’ve had but it’s nice just to play cricket.”

Round the grounds, we’re expecting a result at the Rose Bowl after Sam Northeast and Ian Holland ground salt into the wound opened by Mohammad Abbass’s (un)believable 6-11 against Middlesex. Lancs are very on top against Northants, the Yorkies slept happy against Kent, Sussex batting out of their skins against Glamorgan, even stevens at Taunton and hundreds a-waiting to be collected by Pope and Foakes at Surrey, and Hameed and Clarke at Trent Bridge as Notts stare down that rare beast victory.

The big question – can Durham really go on and beat the County Champions today, unbeaten at home for nearly three years? Essex just 45 ahead, a mere four wickets in hand. Nobody mention Simon Harmer.