Little play at Whitgift

The rain comes down at Whitgift school on Wednesday

Steady rain almost throughout the first day of Surrey’s LV County Championship Division One match against Kent restricted play to just half an hour.

Play at the Whitgift school ground at Croydon began on time but, after Surrey were put in to bat in overcast conditions, only eight overs were bowled before rain stopped play with the home side on 18 for one.

During the brief period of action, Kent claimed a wicket in the fourth over when Andrew Hall had Scott Newman leg before to a ball that came in a little.

Jon Batty and Scott Newman opened the innings

Newman had faced 15 balls for his nine runs, which included a lovely drive to the mid-on boundary off Hall’s second over and then an all-run four in Yasir Arafat’s third over.

Kent lost the chance of taking another quick wicket when, while on a duck, Mark Ramprakash dabbed a ball from Hall low to forward short leg, where Joe Denly failed to hold the catch despite getting both his hands to the ball.

In Hall’s next over, Ramprakash got off the mark with an effortless, perfectly timed straight drive for four. He then took a single and that was the last scoring shot for the brief period of play.

Jonathan Batty was two not out and Ramprakash was on five when the players came off and, despite lunch being brought forward to 1pm, there was no further play.

The umpires, however, waited until 3.30pm before calling off play for the day.

Neither team has had a good start to the season. Surrey have yet to win having played five matches and are second-bottom of the table, while Kent are one position above them with one win from four matches.