BLACKPOOL

(day two of four)

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THE Blackpool illuminations are turned on this week but it has proved impossible to spark life into this match. For the second day in succession, play was abandoned at Stanley Park without a ball bowled.

Indeed, the umpires, Jerry Lloyds and Nick Cook, were able to make their decision before 9am, so saturated was the outfield. With the Tower permanently shrouded in mist and the seafront hammered by high waves, this is becoming a mockery of a festival game. After almost a fortnight of squalls and drizzle locally, even light overnight rain was enough to keep the ground waterlogged.

Better drying conditions are forecast for Friday but there is already little likelihood of a prompt start. The match may yet escape the fate of Durham’s fixture with Nottinghamshire two weeks ago, the only complete Championship wash-out this “summer”, but it will surely take contrivance to bring a result.

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