Image source, Getty Images

Run machine David Bedingham described it as ‘quite special’ after clocking up his 21st County Championship hundred to close on the Durham record and put the Division Two front-runners in pole position against Gloucestershire.

The South African’s knock of 122 helped his team to reach 331-8 on a rain-affected second day at Chester-le-Street – a first-innings lead that is already close to 200.

Bedingham’s effort enabled him to move alongside Alex Lees and Dale Benkenstein with 21, four shy of Paul Collingwood's highest number of Championship centuries for Durham, having shared a stand of 94 with former England captain Ben Stokes along the way.

“Colly and Benky are Durham legends, so to be spoken about in the same way is quite special and cool,” Bedingham admitted.

“I felt quite fluent. It was nice batting with Stokesy and the tempo was good all day – it’s always cool playing with world-class players.

“Hopefully we’ll get another 50 odd runs and put them under pressure and see how the weather plays out. As long as we’re putting ourselves in a position to win, we’ll be quite happy with that.”

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.

We're hopeful of starting on time, at the very least, as Durham chase a third batting point and Glos aim for the same in bowling points.

After two stop-start days of action on Thursday and Friday, it looks like it's going to be another interesting one.

Our colleagues at BBC Weather say Saturday will be largely cloudy. England and Wales will have with spells of rain and showers, heavy at times. Elsewhere, it will be drier with a few showers or patches of rain. Windy in the far south.

The kind of day when you realise it's under four months until Christmas, to be perfectly honest.

Durham is the only venue unaffected by the rain at present, while an inspection will take place at Scarborough at 11:30 BST.

Click here for the full forecast.

Division One

Warwickshire v Notts 299-7

Sussex 250 v Somerset 202 & 167-2

Yorkshire 263 v Leicestershire 12-0

Essex 279 v Surrey 183 & 51-4

Glamorgan 149-9 v Hampshire 162

Division Two

Durham 331-8 v Glos 137

Northants 74-0 v Kent 345

Worcs 12-1 v Lancs 180

Derbyshire 79-3 v Middlesex

Image source, Shutterstock

Day three is traditionally known as 'moving day' in golf majors, but mopping day would seem more appropriate in the County Championship this week.

Friday was a lot of hokey-cokey, on and off the field for intervals of just a few minutes at a time in some cases, repeatedly, at multiple grounds. Not much fun.

Saturday looks more settled, but not in a good way.

We have nine matches on the slate, some of them are nicely poised, others look like a shootout for bonus points already.

Let's dive in...