Have your say: Evidence that T20 requires both sun and sixes

Mediocre music blares out in an effort to raise the spirits of the crowd, who sit around huddled beneath umbrellas hoping against hope that the play will restart and the music will stop.

Restless children run around the stands, screaming and shouting and wondering why, if they can still lark about in heavy rain, the grown-ups cannot.

And when the whole shemozzle is over and the sorry show is done, everyone shuffles off home and forgets about an afternoon that has showcased perfectly why Twenty20 – entertaining fare at its best – is fundamentally reliant on sixes and sunshine.

Unfortunately, we saw only two of the former and just fleeting glimpses of the latter at Scarborough yesterday, where only 14 overs were possible in a meeting between the first and second-placed teams in the North Group.

That was time enough for leaders Nottinghamshire to score 105-3 after being sent into bat and thereby create a platform which suggested they would possibly have extended their advantage at the top of the table.

Yorkshire, who bowled and fielded indifferently, have nevertheless performed well enough in this summer’s competition to suggest the outcome would not have been a foregone conclusion.

Either way, it amounted to a frustrating trip to the coast for the 2,500 spectators, most of whom stoically withstood the offensive assault on their ear drums from the rain-lashed speakers and hung around patiently until play was finally abandoned at 5pm.

At least it meant most of them would have been able to get back home in time to watch the football, with England’s European Championship quarter-final against Italy kicking off at 7.45pm.

With that match in mind, it seemed extraordinary that the start-time of this Twenty20 game was not brought forward from 2.40pm, which meant it would not have finished in a worst-case scenario until 6.25pm.

That state of affairs surely suited nobody: neither those who had ventured to the seaside from other parts of Yorkshire, nor those who had made the longer journey up from Nottinghamshire.

However, having attempted to provide clarity to supporters on start-times throughout the tournament, the club felt they did not want to suddenly complicate the issue.

As it turned out, the only thing that complicated the issue at Scarborough yesterday was the fact that the main scoreboards were not working.

Gremlins meant that Tony Loffill, the match day announcer, had to relay the score at the end of each over, along with the totals of the not out batsmen.

Scarborough attempted to get around the problem by erecting a manual board on a table in front of the pavilion, but this was so small it could only have been viewed through a high-powered telescope.

Not that the temporary board conveyed anything to shout about from a Yorkshire perspective on a day which showed that, for all their good form in Twenty20 of late, they can take nothing for granted as they seek the quarter-final place that their efforts so far suggest is achievable.

Yorkshire at least began this game a good deal brighter than the skies above North Marine Road.

Ryan Sidebottom, playing against his former county, struck with the third ball of the match when he produced a superb delivery that bowled ex-Yorkshire batsman Michael Lumb through the gate.

But 17 came off Sidebottom’s second over, including a straight six by Riki Wessels which Sidebottom seemed to think had not cleared the rope at the Peasholm Park end.

Umpire Nigel Cowley appeared to have words with the bowler, who is not renowned for his docile temperament.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of that decision, Yorkshire’s collective mood was improved when Mitchell Starc had Wessels smartly caught by Phil Jaques at mid-wicket to leave Nottinghamshire 27-2 in the fourth over.

There followed a period of consolidation by captain Adam Voges and James Taylor, who skilfully rebuilt the innings.

The pair added 45 in seven overs before Voges mistimed a straight drive off Moin Ashraf and was comfortably caught at long-on by Joe Root for 29, made from 30 balls with three fours.

Voges’s dismissal heralded the arrival of Chris Read, who was soon rocking back to launch Ashraf for six over extra-cover during an over which cost 17 runs – not helped when Sidebottom dived over an off-drive from the final ball as Read once more located the boundary.

There was time for only one more over before the heavens opened, driving the players from the field with Taylor unbeaten on 41 from 33 balls with four fours and Nottinghamshire well-placed to launch a late rally that might have left Yorkshire facing a tough chase.

Yorkshire return to Twenty20 action on Wednesday when they play Leicestershire away at Grace Road.

They will then complete their group campaign with games against Lancashire at Headingley Carnegie on Friday, Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on July 5, Lancashire at Old Trafford on July 6 and Derbyshire at Headingley again on July 8.