Following the inspection made by the umpires at 1.30pm, play was abandoned on day one of Glamorgan’s match against Derbyshire in the Specsavers County Championship at Derby.
From a meteorological point of view, September marks the start of Autumn – the time of year, in the words of WH Auden, “now the leaves are falling fast.” If the Anglo-American poet had been at the 3aaa County Ground in Derby this morning, the opening line of his famous work ‘Autumn Song’ would have begun “now the raindrops are falling fast.”
Rain has fallen steadily since the early hours and with the protective sheets still across the square at 9.30am, the umpires – Billy Taylor and Graham Lloyd – delayed the start of play. After a second inspection, it was decided to take lunch at 12 noon with the umpires looking again afterwards.
With drizzle falling and interrupting the mopping-up operations, the umpires decided to look again at 1.30pm, but with the oufield still in a damp state, and further rain forecast, the umpires decided to abandon play for the day.