Washouts at Edgbaston, Worcester, Derby, Northampton, Hove & Chelmsford

Heavy rain, largely centred on the East and West Midlands, has caused the entire third day's play to be washed out in six County Championship games.

No play was possible at Edgbaston, Worcester, Derby, Hove, Northampton and Chelmsford.

The Northamptonshire-Kent game was the first of three Division Two games lost.

After continuous, heavy rain at Wantage Road, umpires Paul Pollard and Hassan Adnan called time after carrying out an inspection just after lunch.

The Derbyshire-Middlesex game then quickly followed. Only 32.3 overs have been possible across the first three days so far, in a game both sides realistically needed to win to sustain their promotion hopes.

The Division One Warwickshire-Nottinghamshire game and Division Two Worcestershire-Lancashire game then fell victim within two minutes of each other.

Both matches lost the entire first day's play too, leaving only a final-day quest for bonus points.

Play had been scheduled to start in the Sussex-Somerset game at Hove at 15:20 BST after the morning session had been lost. But further rain arrived moments before the resumption - a sequence that repeated itself half-an-hour later before play was abandoned for the day.

The final washout to be confirmed was also in Division One, in the Essex-Surrey clash at Chelmsford, where home hopes of wrapping up a third-day win were denied.