Marsh spins his web as weather closes in

It was bound to happen. The rain that has plagued the warm-up to the county programme duly wreaked havoc on the final day of the first games of the season. Indeed snow fell in the north as all but one match petered out into damp draws.

There was enough time for Daniel Marsh to spin Leicestershire to a victory over Loughborough UCCE however. The Australian all-rounder had endured a poor start with the bat scoring 0 and five in his first two knocks. He amply demonstrated his worth with the ball though, taking 4-7 as the students were skittled out for just 73 to crash to a 249 run loss.

Durham UCCE put in a better performance second time around at Chester-le-Street. Embarrassed on the opening two days of their first-class baptism they reached a respectable 92-2 before the weather closed in.

Owais Shah and Mike Roseberry blew away some early season cobwebs as they completed half-centuries in The Parks. Set 289 to win, Oxford UCCE's top three batsmen could muster only eight between them, so the rain came as some relief. Simon Cook's 3-10 boded well for Middlesex though.

There was a century for Luke Sutton at Derby as the county side set Bradford/Leeds UCCE a target of over 400. The students reached 69-2 before play was called off.

It was a similar story at Fenner's where Cambridge UCCE reached 53-2 after Kent declared their second innings following a good work-out at the crease for both Key and Smith.