Just 14.5 overs were bowled at Beckenham before The Royal London Cup match between Kent and Lancashire was abandoned due to rain. 

Lancashire had reached 71 without loss when play was halted by a downpour at 12.02 pm, with Josh Bohannon 39 not out and Keaton Jennings unbeaten on 24. Kent’s Darren Stevens had bowled six overs for just 11.  

There was bright sunshine at the County Ground when Kent won the toss and chose to field and the hosts had restricted the core to 39-0 at the end of the powerplay, but after just over an hour’s play a downpour sent the players scurrying for the pavilion. 

Although conditions improved, the pitch wasn’t inspected until 2pm and the rain returned three minutes before the scheduled restart at 2.30pm, at which point a majority of the crowd gave up and headed for the exits. 

With no prospect of an improvement, the game was abandoned at 3.20pm. Both sides take a point each. 

Kent’s Jack Leaning said: “It never really got going to be honest. We got 14 overs in but the forecast wasn’t great all day and unfortunately it’s got the better of us.

“I’m a bit gutted really, I’ve been looking forward to captaining the boys for a while now and was hoping I could have done it from the start of the competition but with all the rules and regulations around COVID it took a little bit longer than anticipated. It was nice to finally get out there with the boys.” 

“I should imagine now we’ll have to win most of our games to qualify for the quarter-finals. Captaincy is something I’ve always wanted to do so I’ll take it by the horns and enjoy it. I enjoy the challenges it brings as well because it’s not always going to be plain sailing.” 

(On having COVID). “It’s been tiresome really, just the same four walls. I was literally just sat on a sofa for seven days recovering and the last seven days I’ve just been getting back up to speed recovering. I feel right as rain now.”