sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI

Having been left adrift at the bottom of the table following their stuffing by Hampshire last week Notts badly need a win. But they went into this match without key seam bowlers Greg Smith, Ryan Sidebottom and AJ Harris. So it was an inexperienced pace attack that Middlesex faced after they won the toss this morning.

Shreck bowling to Hutton...

...er, I mean Compton

Middlesex certainly aren't short of batsmen with famous grandfathers.

Despite the thin looking pace attack, the spinner wasn't called into action, to the surprise of some members of the crowd - although perhaps not all judging by a conversation I overheard between two old ladies. One asked: "Is McMahon playing?" To which the other replied: "No, it's the one that never takes any wickets." Now to be fair to Graeme Swann, he is an all-rounder: he doesn't score any runs either. He did take an excellent catch this morning though, so he's not a complete passenger.

The weather forecast was for sunny intervals, becoming finer later.

The umpires had their light meters out before 3pm,

and the rain came not long after...

...and kept on coming.

I wish this heatwave would end.

Middlesex 210-3 (Shah 66)