No play was possible before an early lunch on the third morning of the Specsavers County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Lancashire at Cheltenham College.

Umpires Jeff Evans and Paul Pollard inspected the pitch before the scheduled start and reported some, but not sufficient, improvement in the damp area caused by water seeping under the covers during Monday evening’s storm.

That had led to no play on day two and remained a concern. In any case it was soon raining hard and prospects for any play looked extremely bleak.

Lunch was taken at 12.30pm with barely a spectator in the ground. Lancashire were due to resume their first innings on 47 for two in reply to Gloucestershire’s 205.