Rain keeps Warwickshire waiting

Rain prevented any play on day one of the encounter at Edgbaston © Getty Images

Rain dealt another blow to Warwickshire’s promotion hopes after the first day of their LV County Championship against Essex at Edgbaston was called off without a ball being bowled.

Last week’s home clash with Northamptonshire was ruined by a washout on the third day but at least that was balanced out when the weather wrecked Worcestershire’s chances of beating Derbyshire.

At the end of that round of fixtures, Warwickshire trailed their New Road rivals by 17 points at the top of Division Two but Worcestershire are not playing this week and the meeting with Essex is an opportunity for the Bears to close the gap.

Results have been hard enough to come by at Edgbaston without rain delays. All five home matches this season have been drawn and Warwickshire have not won at home in the Championship since beating Sussex in April last year.

There was never much chance of a prompt start against Essex following heaving rain in the early hours of the morning but a brighter interlude raised hopes of getting some play in the afternoon.

However, two more storms swamped the ground and umpires John Holder and Martin Bodenham made the call-off decision for the day at 1.25pm.