A FORECAST of plus-21 degrees with cloud cover along with the promise of no rain will excite county cricketers ahead of this weekend’s action in the Middlesex League.

They will be itching to get back among the runs and wickets after all bar one of Saturday’s Premier Division fixtures were abandoned due to the persistent downpours.

Play did manage to get underway at Old Deer Park where Richmond welcomed defending champs North Middlesex.

It’s hard to know for sure whether it was the pending threat of rain or Ishaan Kaushal’s ruthless bowling, but something certainly unsettled North Midd’s top-order.

The combination of Kaushal’s pin-point bowling and Henry MacDonald’s quick reflexes saw North Midd openers Divyanshu Bhartiya and Mohammed Rizvi face just 14 balls between them before departing.

Bhartiya went for two runs, while Rizvi soon followed for six as the visitors slumped to 10-2.

North Midd skipper Jacob Miltz also only managed two runs before being bowled and caught by the impressive Kaushal, who used the limited play time to maximum effect as he took three wickets at the expense of just four runs.

There were signs that North Midd were finally starting to settle into the task at hand. David Winn and Ben Lockrose were forging a promising partnership as they scored 15 and 13 runs respectively to steer North Midd to 39-3. Whether it was the start of a match-winning turnaround will remain a mystery as the rain arrived to bring an end to proceedings.

North Midd are back on the road this Saturday when they travel to Bushy Park to take on a confident Teddington side currently sitting second in the top-flight table.

Elsewhere, in Division One, Hampstead will have to be at their best this Saturday to take points off a strong Eastcote side at Lymington Road.

Sam Fraser’s squad played almost 25 overs at the weekend before their match at Brondesbury was wiped out by the weather.

That was enough time for Muhammad Ahmed (1-14) and Lachie Bailey (1-19) to at least flex their bowling muscles a little as they took a wicket each.

Had the rain not arrived, Hampstead could have found themselves chasing a testing total. Aum Patel was batting well for his 37 not out, helping Brondesbury reach 84-2 off 24.2 overs.