Middlesex director of cricket Angus Fraser was a frustrated man after the first day of their County Championship match at Yorkshire was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Overnight and morning rain led umpires Jeremy Lloyds and Richard Illingworth to decide there would be no play before lunch just 10 minutes after the scheduled start time at 10.30am.

The rain cleared at approximately midday, with the ground staff removing some of the covers at Headlingley.

But, with the surface particularly wet at the Football Stand End of the ground, the chances of play starting were always remote.

The umpires inspected at 12.30pm and 2pm and abandoned the day shortly after the latter.

Defending champions Middlesex are sixth in the Division One table, 26 points clear of the bottom two, while Yorkshire are seventh and 23 points clear. This is the first of four remaining games.

No toss has taken place, while the teams haven’t been declared.

Fraser said: “We both need to play some cricket and win some games. I drove up from London this morning, and it started raining around Nottingham and seemed to get heavier.

“It’s taken a lot of water, especially down the bottom end near the Football Stand. People say the slope’s been levelled out here, but there is still a slope there. Naturally, the water’s going to go down. It’s too splashy, unfortunately.”