Yorkshire CCC in strong position despite the cold September rain

Inside the stadium things are not much better.

Bowled out for 98 in the first innings of this game, they watched Yorkshire rack up 379 before reaching 35-2 at stumps on day two, heading for a defeat that would end their interest in the promotion race and keep Yorkshire well in the hunt for a top-two finish.

But for the (not so) great British weather, Yorkshire might have won this match inside two days.

At 1.51pm, according to the official scorers, rain stopped play and accounted for the last 57 overs of Tuesday's allocation, knocking that prospect firmly on the head.

More rain is forecast for days three and four, but Leicestershire look so fragile at present, so prone to capitulation, that they cannot pin their hopes on any meteorological reprieve.

It is Yorkshire who have played all the cricket in this match, Yorkshire who have looked like a First Division side in waiting at least.

On a grey and gloomy, grotty sort of morning, the sort for which Championship cricket in September was devised, Yorkshire’s Jonny Tattersall and Matty Fisher continued a ninth-wicket stand worth 53.

That had lifted Yorkshire to 263-8 overnight - a total enhanced by four runs from the opening ball of the second morning, Fisher clipping Tom Scriven to the fine-leg boundary with ominous ease.

Tattersall, who resumed on 90, brought up his hundred from the final ball of the day’s sixth over, turning Scott Currie for a single behind square on the leg-side and celebrating with a few understated punches of the air - so understated one could barely see them.

It had been a superlative performance by the stand-in captain, who reached his fourth first-class century from 170 balls with 10 fours, the majority the product of sumptuous timing.

Fisher, who began the day on 28, advanced to his half-century from 74 deliveries with six fours - his first fifty for Yorkshire in any form of cricket. He had made one previously for England Lions - 53 against Sri Lanka A at Galle last year, a match in which he took a five-wicket haul for good measure.

Not until 90 minutes in were Tattersall and Fisher finally parted, their stand worth 138 in 35 overs, when Tattersall pushed forward at Rehan Ahmed, the leg-spinner, and edged to Currie at slip.

The skipper was applauded off by a crowd which belied its sparseness in terms of decibels, having hit 126 from 215 balls with 14 fours, the definition of a captain’s innings.

Fisher had advanced to within 12 of a maiden hundred at professional level when he was last out on the brink of lunch, caught behind as he tried to chop away a delivery from Rehan.

Fisher’s 88 came from 124 balls and included 11 fours as Yorkshire achieved a first innings lead of 281, along with three batting points that could yet prove vital.

There was time for just one over of the Leicestershire second innings before lunch, Rishi Patel playing out a maiden from Ben Coad. After the break, Patel took a totally different approach, coming at the bowling in wild manner - not dissimilar, in fact, to Dan Lawrence’s modus operandi in the Oval Test against Sri Lanka.

Following a couple of streaky boundaries off Coad over the slips, Patel hacked across the line at Fisher and was lbw, putting the experiment out of its misery.

Fisher then claimed another when Ian Holland edged to George Hill at first, leaving Leicestershire 34-2 in the 10th.

One run later, they were off for rain, conditions positively crepuscular in early afternoon.

At 3.40pm, play was finally abandoned, with barely any spectators left to hear the announcement.

“It was obviously frustrating with the weather, but we’re hoping that there’s going to be ample time in the game to get another eight wickets,” said Fisher, who has taken five in the match so far to go with his 88 runs.

“We’re happy with where the game is at.

"We’ve played some good cricket in the first two days and been pretty relentless with bat and ball.

"We can’t complain. You can’t really ask for anything more than what we’ve done, so we’re very happy in the changing room.”

Fisher is playing his first match for four months after an ankle injury, and he said: "I’ve felt ok. Obviously I had a long time out with it, and I’m still probably not technically how I want to be with my bowling.

"I’m usually a braced leg bowler, and with my ankle at the minute I’m slightly collapsing at the front knee.

"It’s fine, the ankle doesn't hurt, and it’s nice to find some form with the ball.”

Finding form is one thing, finding poor old Misty the cat quite another.

It never rains in these parts, it seems, but it pours.