Derbyshire v Middlesex day one and two

This weather is shocking isn't it?

I went up to our club to check the ground for games on Tuesday and Wednesday and both were cancelled on Monday morning. It's barely stopped raining since.

It seems to be as bad over the whole of the UK and I'd be interested to see which county has lost the most time to the weather this year. We have been badly hit (although it's gone in our favour a time or two) and I'm sure there's counties worse off than us. Lancashire for example, they're always sobbing their eyes out.

Anyway, we've bowled Middlesex out for 306 and as I write we are 41-1 in reply. The visitors will be both pleased and disappointed with their score. They have a young side out, with no Smith, Shah or Strauss and to get 300 on a track helpful to bowlers gives them a fair chance in the game.

They could have had more, and contributed to their own downfall with two runouts - although credit should be given to the fielders too. By all accounts our fielding was sloppy on the first day and several chances went down. Tom New appears to have had a poor day, dropping one regulation chance and conceding a few too many byes for my liking (again the bowling could be at fault).

With more rain likely over the next couple of days, it is hard to see anything but a contrived finish and I just hope that Derbyshire go for it if anything remotely gettable is set in the last innings. Promotion can only come with three wins minimum in the last few games and I think we are capable of beating the teams we have coming up. Warwickshire are a strange outfit and their batting is either feast or famine, but the others are eminently beatable.

52-1 as I close, Buck and Dog both going well. I hope that's not tempting providence.