Mark Church
BBC Radio London commentator

As a batter, it's very difficult to go in, sit down for a bit, have a cup of tea, come back out and start again.

So actually I think this favours Surrey with the ball rather than Hampshire with the bat. So Surrey would like to get an hour in.

We've got 88 overs remaining in the day. Well done to the ground staff who have worked so hard.

It was quite a heavy shower all of a sudden, but now we have got blue skies and sun.

Still waitingpublished at 12:01 BST 9 June

12:01 BST 9 June

Surrey 421 v Hampshire 127-4

The scene is more like the Kensington Oval than the Kennington one at present, with sun drenching the ground and blue skies above, but no word on a time for the resumption as yet.

Will keep you posted...

While we're waiting for news of a resumption, we're just three days away from the Women's T20 World Cup, which is being held in England.

English World Cup winner Isa Guha and former New Zealand wicketkeeper Katey Martin join BBC commentator Alison Mitchell to preview the tournament.

Several of the captains also speak to Henry Moeran before New Zealand aim to defend their T20 title.

You can check it out above or listen on BBC Sounds.

Covers are coming offpublished at 11:44 BST 9 June

11:44 BST 9 June

Surrey 421 v Hampshire 127-4

Not trying to give you false hope, but the sun is out again and the ground staff are removing the outfield covers.

The rain radar looks encouraging too... keep those fingers crossed.

Image source, Getty Images

Leicestershire have suffered a blow with batter Sol Budinger ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a knee injury.

The left-hander suffered the injury in a collision with team-mate Liam Trevaskis playing against Lancashire in the T20 Blast at Old Trafford on 29 May.

He had to be driven from the boundary edge on a stretcher and the club say a scan has revealed a grade two medial collateral ligament injury.

You can read more on that here.

While we wait for the red-ball cricket to get back under way at the Oval, just a reminder that we've got some white-ball action a bit later on, when the forecast looks encouraging, in truth.

There are three men's T20 Blast fixtures to finish off the first block of the competition, before the County Championship returns on Friday, and two women's games:

Men's T20 fixtures

• Durham v Lancashire Lightning (18:30 BST)
• Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Worcestershire Rapids (18:30)
• Essex v Kent Spitfires (19:00)

Women's T20 fixtures

• Durham Women v Yorkshire Women (14:30)
• Lancashire Thunder v Hampshire Hawks Women (14:30)

Mark Church
BBC Radio London commentator

I don't think this will be a long delay. I think it will just be a shower and then we'll be off for about 20 minutes and then we will be back out there.

They'll get the covers on again but all very frustrating. And the poor, old ground staff, they didn't get much of a break yesterday. They're not going to get much of a break today either.

Rain stops playpublished at 11:19 BST 9 June

11:19 BST 9 June

Surrey 421 v Hampshire 127-4

Eight minutes, 10 balls, five runs, one wicket, now rain stops play... ugh.

The good news, as the covers are rushed on, is that it looks like a quick shower. The umpires haven't even gone upstairs.

Frustrating though, and spare a thought for the ground staff, who smashed their 10,000 step target yesterday and are already well on the way again today.

Reece Topley draws a play and miss from Tom Prest who then dabs a quick single to mid-off to get off strike.

And oh no, what's this... stumps coming out of the ground...

Mark Church
BBC Radio London commentator

That's a good low catch from Dom Sibley, low down to his left. That's the perfect start for Surrey to get rid of the nightwatchman.

Surrey have put a few down this season but Sibley was absolutely rock solid there with that catch.

That's a very nice start for Reece Topley as well this morning.

Jake Lehmann clips the first ball of the day off his pads for a single to mid-wicket.

Sonny Baker follows one down leg side but doesn't get bat on ball, despite a strangled cry from Ollie Pope, keeping wicket in the absence of Ben Foakes and Jamie Smith, of course.

Fisher beats the outside edge as Baker pushes forward but the fifth ball is textbook defence with a straight bat.

The final ball is clipped to long leg for a single to keep Baker on strike.

Jake Lehmann and nightwatch Sonny Baker head out to the middle with a spot of wan sunshine, how nice.

Matt Fisher will bowl the first over of the day from the Vauxhall End, Lehmann on strike.

The track is not quite as green as on the opening two days (you can differentiate it from the outfield now) when the conditions have been very interesting indeed.

They'll have numbers in mind, 128 for a batting point, which would double their tally for the season, 150 more to avoid the follow-on, and then the game would enter a different phase.

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Five minutes until cricket.

Having one game on the slate is unusual, for us as well as you, especially with iffy weather about, but we've had some fun interactions over the past couple of days about out grounds, school outings, county caps, deaf American football and even some cricket along the way.

Do keep your messages coming today, just click the yellow button over there, we're always happy to see them, though we'll probably shoulder arms when it comes to nightclub fracas chat, if that's okay with you?

The shower has passed and the delay to proceedings will be a brief one, mercifully, though it might not be the last of the day...

We're down to 102 overs for the day, place your bets as to how many we see, though...

Image source, Shutterstock

Well we only had 24.4 overs of play yesterday, but they were well worth watching.

Matt Fisher struck twice in the 13 over mini-session after lunch, receiving the acclaim of around 4,000 children in the ground for school's day with a wonderful ball to oust Toby Albert before getting Ali Orr to miscue to mid-wicket.

Jordan Clark then pinned Nick Gubbins lbw in a sun-drenched final mini-session after 6pm, with Gubbins having played very nicely for his eighth half-century at this ground.

Surrey secured a fifth bonus point of the match but Hampshire have plenty of work to do to reach 272 to avoid the follow-on, though Jake Lehmann was playing very positively for a breezy 32* and was joined by Sonny Baker (3*) in the lengthening shadows last night.

Probably worth mentioning that Hampshire have earned just a single batting point, for reaching 250 in their first innings, across their opening six fixtures this season.

We might have to dodge a June shower or two along the way, but day three feels like the pivotal day of this match.

Image source, Shutterstock

Bad light robbed us of five overs at the end of the first day but the ground staff at the Oval, including head groundsman Lee Fortis (pictured) had to work overtime on Monday just to allow us 24.4 overs in two bursts after lunch and before stumps.

Our colleagues at BBC Weather are confident today will be a better one in Kennington, though with the chance of scattered showers during the day, and we've seen the first of them in the past half-hour.

Fingers crossed they scatter elsewhere and we can make up for lost time while the ground crew put their feet up and watch some cricket.

Image source, Getty Images

Good morning!

We're in place for day three of the lone County Championship match on the slate this week.

Day two was a hokey-cokey of covers coming on and off, with only two mini-sessions of a dozen overs or so possible.

Surrey made the most of them, picking up three wickets after their first day total of 421, inspired by Dan Lawrence's career-best 218, meaning Division One basement boys Hampshire face a battle to avoid the follow on today.

We've had a sharp shower during the warm-up in the past half-hour which might lead to a slight delay, but the weather looks markedly better than yesterday, so let's get you up to speed before the bell rings on a day when we COULD see 104 overs of action, in theory, possibly, maybe...