Glamorgan are the "raining champions" of the 2001 season, having lost 103.50 hours in first-class matches - equivalent to a quarter of all playing time in the County Championship this year.

Lancashire, who lost 11 entire days of Championship cricket at Old Trafford are second, with Warwickshire in third place, a couple of hours ahead of Worcestershire, their West Midlands neighbours, whose ground at New Road was ravaged by floods during the winter and spring.

County Champions Yorkshire had better luck with the weather, losing just over 56 hours - almost half of Glamorgan`s total - whilst Sussex, who won the Second Division title, lost least time of all - a mere 27.50 hours on the sun-kissed south coast.

As far as Glamorgan were concerned, just three of their County Championship matches in 2001 were unaffected by the weather, and ironically all three involved the top two sides in Division One - against Yorkshire at Swansea, Somerset at Taunton and the return match with Yorkshire at Scarborough. In the case of the latter game, heavy rain set in shortly after the match ended as Yorkshire secured the county title. It rained for the rest of the day, leaving Welsh supporters to rue the fact that the Glamorgan innings had not lasted for another five or ten minutes.

To lose the equivalent of 1,706 overs was very frustrating for the Glamorgan team, and also their coach Jeff Hammond. "On at least three occasions, we were in a very promising position, " he said, "and at the end of the season, you cannot help but dwell on these games and wonder what might have been had the weather not intervened. I would love to have changed things, and seen a little bit of warm and dry Australian weather over Glamorgan this year!"

At least Hammond, who is retiring from coaching and returning to work in the Australian wine trade, will not have to worry about the possibility of losing a significent slice of playing time next year. But in a competition which only embraces 16 matches, and involves three teams in each division being relegated and promoted each year, perhaps the E.C.B. should investigate the way the damp weather appears to hamper the best efforts of some counties.

In the world of rugby and football, any games which are postponed or abandoned are automatically replayed. The complexity of the county calendar would not allow this in cricket, but surely it would be possible to introduce the regulation, currently in operation in Tests in this country and in domestic cricket in Australia, for play to continue for up to an hour on days where time has been lost.

                  Estimated number
                  of hours lost
  

Glamorgan          103.50
Lancashire         100.25
Warwickshire        92.00
Worcestershire      90.75
Surrey              88.00
Kent                82.50
Derbyshire          73.25
Nottinghamshire     71.75
Hampshire           68.50
Middlesex           68.00
Gloucestershire     65.50
Durham              64.00
Essex               57.75
Somerset            57.00
Yorkshire           56.75
Leicestershire      53.50
Northamptonshire    35.50
Sussex              27.50

The unofficial data above has been collected during the 2001 season, using the criteria of a minimum of 104 overs being bowled on the first three days, and 96 on the final day. By comparing close of play scores each day, it has been possible to produce the estimates above.

© CricInfo