Cook warms himself up with timely 84

Alastair Cook only passed 50 once in seven matches for England in Australia and New Zealand last winter but he knocked up a composed 84 for Essex in yesterday’s Specsavers County Championship Division One draw with Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.

The 33-year-old batted himself into form in freezing conditions with a typically stylish innings – reaching his half-century in 80-balls – against an attack that included Kyle Abbott and Fidel Edwards before Chris Wood had him caught behind.

A result was never going to be possible with so much time lost over the first three days but Ravi Bopara improved his average with an unbeaten 84 as Essex reached 300 for six before the captains shook hands on the inevitable draw.

The story was the same at Old Trafford, where Surrey batted out the evening session after following on. Lancashire could only claim two of the required six wickets in the evening session and remain without a win after three games.

At Leicestershire only bonus points were at stake on a day that was at least memorable for India’s pace bowler Varun Aaron, who picked up his first wicket for the Foxes by trapping Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen lbw.

With so much time lost to the weather, Middlesex captain Dawid Malan suggested the England and Wales Cricket Board should experiment with a pink ball to prevent more early-season washouts.

Only 58 overs were bowled during Middlesex’s game against Glamorgan at Lord’s, with the match abandoned as a draw.

“We could have had a full day if we’d had a pink ball because there was no rain around,” said the Middlesex skipper. “We were literally sitting around for four hours of bad light.

“We’re lucky that we’ve got lights now but we still got hardly any cricket in.”