County cricket – as it happened

Morning all

9.45am: Welcome back to the County cricket live blog. Today we have Scott Oliver making his blog debut - make him feel welcome - at Edgbaston for Warwickshire v Sussex, Richard Rae is at Uxbridge for Middlesex v Notts and we also have Mark Pennell stretching the remit of the county blog by keeping us updated on South Africa's tour match against Kent at Canterbury.

Your essential guide to the season

You can find full fixture lists for the season here and county-by-county previews here. You can follow the action throughout the season here. Watch video highlights here.

There's also county cricket commentaries on BBC local radio here.

10.05am: Though it is a bright morning in Canterbury, there seems little chance of play between Kent and South Africa starting promptly at 11am, writes Mark Pennell.

Heavy overnight rain at the St Lawrence ground has left the outfield sodden and though the Kent players are having a gentle net, the likelihood of the action starting in the middle before noon is slight. The match umpires Jeff Evans and Trevor Jesty will inspect the pitch and surrounds at 10.30am.

When play does get underway, Kent will be captained by former England Under-19 batsman Sam Northeast, but look set to include only one capped player against the tourists, namely seam bowling veteran Simon Cook.

Kent: Sam Northeast (captain), Daniel Bell- Drummond, Ben Harmison, Michael Powell, Alex Blake, Sam Billings, Matt Coles, Simon Cook, Adam Riley, Ivan Thomas, Charlie Shreck.

10.49am: "If we start on time we could lose this by lunchtime" were the words with which one of the Middlesex reporters greeted Richard Rae as he splashed through the puddles of standing water at the back of the press tent at Uxbridge this morning, and the bad news, as far as Middlesex supporters are concerned, is that due to the heroic efforts of their groundstaff, play will indeed commence at 11am on the dot.

The forecast suggests lunch-time may be about as long as it lasts, with Middlesex resuming starting their second innings a mere 231 runs adrift after Adam Voges scored his first century of the season, and the uber-reliable Chris Read chipped in with 71. Whether Middlesex last until the rain arrives probably depend entirely on Andrew Strauss, who looked in prime form in scoring 50 before getting an unplayable delivery from Andre Adams in their first innings. Gareth Berg was the only other batsman to get into double figures. Mutters about the ECB's "inconsistency" in not allowing Eoin Morgan to play while Samit Patel got the nod continue to be heard at regular intervals, and will no doubt increase in volume if the Middlesex second innings goes the same way as their first.

10.53am: The St Lawrence groundstaff, thanks to a helping hand from Mother Nature's sunshine and breeze, have worked wonders in Canterbury where the three-day match between Kent and South Africa will now start at 11am, writes Mark Pennell.

The umpires Trevor Jesty and Jeff Evans held an inspection at 10.30am and deemed that the outfield had dried just sufficiently for a safe and prompt start. Kent, who are captained by Sam Northeast, name a blend of youth and experience, yet only Simon Cook posses a Kent county cap.

Kent: Sam Northeast (captain), Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Harmison, Michael Powell, Alex Blake, Sam Billings (wk), Matt Coles, Simon Cook, Adam Riley, Ivan Thomas, Charlie Shreck.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Rudolph, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir, Alviro Peterson.

11.46am: Richard Rae has added this below the line:

Notts have dropped Robson, Voges unable to hang on to high chance at second slip off Phillips. Strauss survived one huge leg before shout, off Harry Gurney - suspect an edge saved him - but otherwise is looking solid. But Adams now replacing Gurney at the, er, Gatting Way End.

11.56am: A few commenters have posted on the retirement of Brett Lee - i4one's "Lee completely won me over in 2005, both as a competitor and as a decent bloke" is fairly representative - so it would be remiss of me not to link to his finest musical moment.

12.21pm: A former England Under-19 opening batsman and one of the present-day incumbents are doing a fine job of putting the likely South African Test attack to the sword in Canterbury, writes Mark Pennell.

Having invited Kent to bat first on the opening day of their three-day friendly at the St Lawrence the tourists are struggling to make a breakthrough as home openers Sam Northeast and Daniel Bell-Drummond have got the hosts off to a fine start with an unbroken stand of 53 after 15 overs.

Northeast, the acting Kent captain for the match has scored 22, but most impressive has been Bell-Drummond, the 18-year-old Millfield School prodigy who has reached an eye-catching 27. Having hit three centuries for the Kent 2nd XI already this summer, Bell-Drummond has been named in the England Under-19 squad due to contest the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Australia next month.

12.24pm: Richard Rae comments:

Ah, the old jinxing touch is returning - Robson pulls lazily at a short, leg-side Carter delivery, gets something on it, and is caught by Read for 26. Middlesex 55-1. Adams is moving the ball, a lot - but Strauss playing well, on 29.

12.33pm: Further to earlier comments below the line, I can confirm that the chances of play at Edgbaston today are looking slimmer than a casting session for America's Next Top Model, writes Scott Oliver. The weather is not so much cloudy as cloud, and Birmingham's increasingly cosmopolitan skyline has been cowing behind a faint mizzle until around ten minutes ago. But the major problem is the outfield, which earlier resembled a map of Finland and has perhaps improved marginally to now look like Canada…

On the way over here – a bundle of nervous energy on my first day on the job and happy that one-cap wonder Amjad Khan was not selected – I was handed a pamphlet by a Friends of the Earth volunteer in the somewhat incongruous setting of New Street station, a bastion to charmless concrete functionalism. Her benign face seemed vaguely familiar – don't they always – and for a moment I was convinced she was someone who, a few years back, had tried to convince me about the sentience of plant life. Well, several years of scepticism might today have ended, as I am convinced I heard the Edgbaston outfield weep over the rain it has had to endure this 'summer'.

1.13pm: Local prophecies of impending doom, both sporting and meteorological, remain unfulfilled, as the players leave the field for lunch at Uxbridge, writes Richard Rae.

Play having somehow started on time, Middlesex have progressed to 107-1, with Andrew Strauss on 51 (the 50 coming off 91 balls) and Chris 'Buck' Rogers on 20 The only wicket they lost, that of young Sam Robson for 26, was unfortunate, gloving a leg side delivery from Andy Carter to be caught by Notts wicketkeeper Chris Read,.and Strauss has for the most part looked in pretty good touch - as of course one would expect of the England captain.. The Notts attack is a good one, so it's proving excellent preparation for next week's first Test against South Africa.

1.14pm: Kent will go into lunch feeling pretty satisfied with their morning's work against the South Africans having reached 91 for one after 29 overs, writes Mark Pennell.

The only casualty of the opening session was acting Kent captain Sam Northeast who, having helped post 81 for the first wicket, was squared up by a good delivery from Dale Steyn which brushed the edge and flew into the bucket-like hands of Graeme Smith at slip.

Northeast scored an impressive 36, while his successor at the top of the order for England Under-19s, Daniel Bell-Drummond, faired even better hitting six fours in an eye-catching, unbeaten cameo of 42.

1.20pm: Bad news from our jinxed county blog debutant Scott Oliver, who comments:

Off for the day at Edgbaston. Announcement coincided with the first appearance of the sun. O England!

2.24pm: Former Kent pace bowler Morne Morkel, who played for the county during the regime of South African-born coach Graeme Ford, returned after lunch to break Kentish hearts, writes Mark Pennell.

With his third ball after interval Morkel found the outside edge of Daniel Bell-Drummond's bat to have the rookie teenage opener caught behind for 42 and without addition to his lunch score. Having grown more accustomed to the slopes of the Canterbury ground and assisted by increasing cloud cover, the South Africa attack are starting to hit their straps and causing a few more headaches. Ben Harmison, having scratched around for 48 minutes for 14, has also been put out of his misery. Playing back and across the line, he went plum leg-before to leave Kent on 109 for three when rain arrived to force the players off the field.

4.26pm: South Africa's Test attack have finally started to bring pressure to bear on the Kent top order during a lacklustre mid-session, writes Mark Pennell.

After losing their opening bat to the third ball after the lunch interval, Kent managed to score only 42 more runs in 22 overs as the Proteas finally found their range with the ball. Having accounted for Bell-Drummond (42) with his third delivery after lunch, Morne Morkel returned to trap Alex Blake (9) leg before, while Vernon Phillander accounted for an out-of-sorts Ben Harmison in similar fashion for a painful 14.

Thankfully, the interval served to wake the Kentish public, who have spent much of the break inspecting the pristine pitch and wondering why run-making is quite so difficult.

5.08pm: The rains have arrived in Uxbridge and it would seem that play is finished for the day. But earlier, Andrew Strauss was in good nick, as Richard Rae commented:

Tea, and Middlesex are 239-2 off 70 overs, 8 ahead. Strauss 127 not out, Denly 15. Quite remarkable, as David Coleman would no doubt have remarked.

5.30pm: Richard Rae comments:

That is indeed that at Uxbridge. Andrew is in a very good place, said Gus Fraser (Andrew himself wasn't talking). Now for a drive home trying desperately not to think about bloody dachshunds.

5.34pm: The gulf in cricketing class between the second tier of county championship cricket and Test level has become all too apparent to Kent, writes Mark Pennell.

Having looked in good shape at 92 for one soon after lunch, Kent have slumped to 208 for nine and found run- scoring difficult all afternoon. More accustomed to seeing off one principle pace bowler before 'tucking in' against the back up acts, Kent's inexperienced middle-order has struggled to contend with a Test attack comprising of three top-class pace bowlers and a smart spinner.

Former Kent strike bowler Morne Morkel has bagged three wickets against his old side, while leg-spinner Imran Tahir has posed problems aplenty in taking 3-29 thus far.

6.19pm: Time to wrap up for the day. Thanks to all for your comments and slightly disturbing links. Comments here will be left open over the weekend and until the next round of County matches begin next Wednesday.

Have a good weekend all.