Henry Nicholls edges four past the cordon, beautifully fielded one-handed by Chris Rew, dad of James and Thomas, in a chair just behind the advertising hoardings as it kicks up off the rope, you can see where the boys get there quality hand-eye coordination from!

Are you really sorry though, Sam?

Josh Blake sees out a maiden from Simon Harmer.

Final over of day two coming up...

Our prayers have been answered, and the players trudge back out as the sun shines brightly over Edgbaston.

We have 10 overs left today, with the new ball due in eight.

Play!

Shane Snater replaces Sam Cook and bowls a fiery over, including one that zipped past Matt Fisher's nose.

Two overs to go.

Henry Nicholls pushed one first ball, the last ball of Jaydev Unadkat's 10th over, to mid on to get off the mark.

Keeping the strike he sees off a Henry Crocombe maiden.

Eight overs remain, Somerset lead by 94.

And another.

Keaton Jennings' 55 and a battling late 34 from Tom Bailey were the lone high-points as Lancashire slumped to 180 all-out in bowler-friendly conditions at Worcestershire, though at 115-8 it might have been far worse.

Bailey then ousted Dan Lategan before bad light stopped play.

Fingers crossed for more play over the weekend than we have seen across the opening two days.

Surrey's nightwatchman Matt Fisher is not looking hugely comfortable against Simon Harmer but he sees out the over.

Three to go in fading light at Chelmsford.

Another couple come off Sam Cook's over, with Michael Pepper standing up to the seamer.

Four overs to go at Chelmsford as Simon Harmer continues at the other end.

Another one bites the dust.

Kent were 162-0 this morning... and then they were 256-8 before lunch even arrived.

Daniel Bell-Drummond's 70, with good support from Matt Milnes helped them to post 354 in the end, but Northants shaved a bonus point off their visitors' four-point advantage in the Division Two promotion race and made a solid start to their reply before bad light and rain ended day two.

Day three should be fascinating, if the weather plays ball...

Henry Crocombe's eighth over produces five dots, nearly a maiden, the final ball pushed to mid on by Tom Lammonby who calls Archie Vaughan through for a cheeky single to keep the strike.

92 the lead.

Nightwatchman Matt Fisher takes a couple off Simon Harmer's seventh over.

Five to go on day two.

Can Essex grab another wicket?

That's all she wrote.

Durham have built a lead of 194 with two wickets remaining, thanks largely to David Bedingham's blistering 122 at nearly a run-a-ball.

They have been kept in check by Gloucestershire's inexperienced attack, however, with two wickets apiece for loanees JT Langridge and Mitch Killeen, plus two more for Daz Ahmed and Sai Kishore.

Let's hope for better luck with the conditions tomorrow as Durham chase a third batting point and Glos aim for the same in bowling points.

The first innings saw Archie Vaughan score 20. There were four fluent boundaries but he played and missed a fair amount too.

That was continued into this innings, but he is commendably batting through, now past 20, having faced more balls and gradually looking more in control of his destiny.

Twice in Jaydev Unadkat's ninth over the left armer was driven by Vaughan through covers, they could easily have both been four with a different field set or without the overnight rain slowing the outfield, but he takes three from the two.

Image source, Shutterstock

That wicket of Ollie Pope was Sam Cook's 363rd in first-class cricket.

The Essex seamer has taken them at an average of 20.52.

That's up there with the best of them.

Yesterday an extraordinary collapse from Somerset saw them lose their last five wickets for just 11 runs which included that hat-trick for Henry Crocombe.

If that had not happened, things would be much easier for Somerset today and they may be playing more freely with a 150+ lead.

But such a collapse brings a bit of nerves to the second innings, particularly against Henry Crocombe, who serves up one loose delivery that Tom Lammonby gratefully takes for four in his seventh over of the second innings, followed by a tight leave.