DERBY (Leicestershire won toss; third day of four): Derbyshire have scored 138 for three wickets against Leicestershire
DEUS ex machina moments are not regular occurrences at the County Ground in Derby, but perhaps the ghost supposedly haunting the new “Swedish sauna” doubling as the Grandstand is here to solve the on and off-field problems.
At the moment the apparition has restricted itself to opening windows and doors and moving a ladder, but given time it may address the accounts, finding the chief executive and scoring some runs.
When Derbyshire named the Grandstand the Gateway Centre, they probably did not mean it to be a gateway to the spirit world, and even the ghost of Colin Milburn would have struggled to inject life into a game that has so far lost 269 overs to rain.
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Leicestershire, promotion in mind, wanted a 4.30pm start, thus making this a one-innings game automatically (with no play before the start of the final eight hours). Derbyshire refused and the umpires decided that the sodden run-ups were finally fit.
There was time for Ben France, a 22-year-old, to score 50 in only his second championship game. A chase may be contrived, but the forecast makes it unlikely.
Cricket does itself few favours on these occasions and play finished at 6.30pm in glorious sunshine.