Middlesex 553 for 2 (Holden 211, du Plooy 196, Fernandes 103) drew with Northamptonshire 552 for 6 declared (Gay 261, Sales 113*, Procter 73)

Heavy rain and blustery winds ruled out any play on the final day of this Vitality County Championship match between Northamptonshire and Middlesex at Wantage Road, both teams taking away eight points for a high-scoring draw.

The players took an early lunch but with winds buffeting the covers and dark clouds circling the ground, the umpires called the game off shortly after 1pm. The early finish prevented Leus du Plooy from adding the four runs he needed to bring up what would have been the second double hundred of his career, while Max Holden finished unbeaten on 211.

The teams had 1105 runs between them for the loss of just eight wickets, leading both head coaches to question the worth of trialling the Kookaburra ball in the early months of the English season.

“I think tactically you can do things later in the season [with the Kookaburra]. I think it’s harder to do that early in the season. So, for the Kookaburra you can go on a bit more worn pitches and used pitches and use your spinners a lot more. But it’s quite hard to do that with a damp ball early season, damp, green outfield. It just goes soft so quickly.”

“It’s booked in for two games later in the season, so we’ll worry about that then. But even from the batters, I think there’s a welcome back to the Dukes. Our view, certainly down at Sussex [in our] first game, was as soon as it got wet, that was it. There was no chance of reverse swing or anything like that. It got wet and it kind of ballooned up a little bit.”