frustration.

despite the game scheduled to finish tomorrow, i can write with some confidence that essex's LVCC championship match against northants will end in a draw. i spent two hours sitting in the cold and raafter in at the ford county ground before i saw sense and gave up. at the time this blog was written, there was only one session to speak of and one that the essex batsmen will be keen to erase from their memories. unsurprisingly ater winning the toss, the visitors put essex in to bat. the northants seamers reaped the benefits of the great bowling conditions, reducing essex to 54-6 after twenty seven overs. mark pettini the only eagles batsman to reach double figures ending day two on 16*. jack brooks, who was recently called into the england lions' side to face the west indies, bowled beautifully and took four wickets out of the six northants wickets. maybe the rain did essex a favour after all. there's been a lot of arguments this week surrounding the timing of the county championship - claiming it started too early (although most of the critics are ex-batsmen, hardly a coincidence you feel!) but at the end of the day, it's not the ecb's fault that british weather is as unpredictable as what it has been this year. many seem to forget the fantastic, sunny april we all experienced then. after all what do people want - shall we move domestic cricket over to australia or south africa?