Division Two was the place to be on Monday, with no fewer than three games going right down to the wire on the final day. Despite the Division One narrative being relatively well established by midday, the matches at Lord’s, Cardiff and Old Trafford meant that there was still plenty of excitement in store for Monday afternoon.

A reduced fourth round of the County Championship saw just five games take place across both divisions, with eight sides not in action. Only Middlesex’s trip to Derbyshire continued into the final day, as the fourth round rather failed to live up to the drama of some of the previous rounds in truth.

The Great British weather finally stamped its mark upon the new season of the County Championship in the competition’s third round across the Bank Holiday weekend. Rain across large parts of the country played a major hand in seven of the round’s nine matches ending in draws, with the Southern climes of Essex and Middlesex the only places able to evade the weather’s clutches for long enough to forge out results other than a stalemate.

The County Championship continued with a further five draws across the nine round two matches. Half of the 18 matches across the two divisions so far have ended in draws, with many sides struggling to force victories on batter friendly, early season wickets.

An enthralling first round of the County Championship drew to a close on Monday evening, as both Worcestershire and Lancashire managed to hang on for hard-fought draws at Somerset and Middlesex respectively.