Rain washes out majority of first day against Essex

Only 25.4 overs were possible on the opening day of Lancashire's four-day encounter against Essex, with the home side progressing to 90/4 before torrential rain signalled an early close at Emirates Old Trafford.

Jamie Porter and debutant Liam Dawson both claimed two wickets after Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat first for only the second time in eleven Championship matches this season. Porter collected figures of 2-24, taking his season tally to 34 wickets, after removing both Lancashire openers in the space of three balls.

Of the 32 wickets claimed by Porter in four-day cricket this campaign, 17 wickets now account for opening batsmen, the most of any bowler in the second division. His first victim was Horton, who top-scored for the hosts with 25 in his 48-run stand with Brown before edging to Jesse Ryder at first slip to an away-swinger from Porter.

Two balls later, he then had Brown caught by Dawson at second slip to a ball which rose on the Lancashire opener, who failed to make a half-century for the first time in six innings when he fell to Porter at 49/1.

Having already made a contribution in the field, Dawson (2-7) claimed a wicket with the third ball of his month-long loan spell with Essex when he removed Alviro Petersen lbw for 14 and Dawson removed Ashwell Prince (21) with the first ball after lunch to leave Lancashire on 92/4 in the afternoon session when the division's leading run-scorer played-on with an attempted pull shot.

The players left the field just before 2 o'clock and despite the best efforts of the groundstaff there was no way of getting back onto the field. Heavy rain had been predicted for the entire afternoon and that is exactly what happened; and if tomorrow's dreary forecast is anything to go by then the result of this game could be decided by close of play tomorrow.

Play was eventually called off at quarter-past five with Lancashire on 96/4 - Steven Croft (9*) and Alex Davies (4*) the not out overnight batsman - and it has to be said that Surrey, Lancashire's nearest contenders for the Division Two title, have picked a good week not to play given the unfriendly conditions up and down the country this week.

Before the start of play it was announced that academy prospect Toby Lester would replace Simon Kerrigan, making his first-team debut at the age of 22. Lester is a left-arm fast bowler with a tremendous action and he featured in Lancashire's pre-season tour of Sri Lanka this year.