County Championship: Hampshire v Essex – draw likely after rain-hit day three

Storm Lilian deposited a significant amount of rain on Saturday morning and the action started after tea.

The first part of the session was a battle for bonus points before a declaration. Hampshire needed one wicket for another point, Essex needed 46 runs.

Neither came to pass but Snater and Cook had a good go at their part of the equation, putting on an unbroken 49.

Hampshire had a big chance to claim maximum bowling points but Cook was put down by Tom Prest at first slip with what became the penultimate delivery before Westley called his side in.

The blue skies suggested batting might be relatively straightforward but Cook and Jamie Porter initially put Hampshire’s young opening batters Middleton and Albert under the microscope.

It took 23 balls before Albert scored the first run of the innings and when Snater entered the attack in the ninth over, only five runs had been scored.

The Dutchman made the breakthrough. Helped by some low bounce he caught the outside edge of Middleton’s bat, with Michael Pepper brilliantly catching on the forward dive.

However, Albert and Gubbins showed resistance thereafter and were helped as the ball aged.