County Championship D1, Old Trafford, day three (close): Essex 215 & 41-2; Lancashire 375

The sorry sight at Old Trafford on Friday

Manchester is never the driest of places and with rain hitting every corner of Britain on Friday it was only a matter of time before play was abandoned for the day.

The frustration would have been keenly felt by Lancashire, who have already been denied possible wins due to bad weather in their three previous Championship matches.

For Andy Flower and Nasser Hussain, there would have been similar anxiety.

Both these batsmen are very fine technicians but have struggled this season.

And with Hussain skippering England against Zimbabwe in the first Test on 22 May, he desperately needs runs under his belt.

Play was abandoned for the day at Old Trafford shortly before 1600 BST.

Lancashire: A J Swann, I J Sutcliffe, M B Loye, S G Law, M J Chilton, C L Hooper, G Chapple, W K Hegg (Capt, Wkt), P J Martin, J M Anderson, G Keedy.

Essex: D D J Robinson, W I Jefferson, R C Irani (Capt), N Hussain, A P Grayson, J S Foster (Wkt), A Flower, G R Napier, J D Middlebrook, S A Brant, J B Grant.