Hiding behind the clouds.

After Yorkshire's early season form catapulted them to the top of the Championship table fans of the White Rose were looking forward to watching the county get more wins under their belt. However the rains have curtailed almost all of their matches since the opening salvo which saw Yorkshire win 3 of their opening 4 games.

Worrying though is the thought that the rain has actually helped Yorkshire preserve their top spot rather than halt its charge to the title. Yorkshire's three wins have come against the bottom two side in the Division, the hapless Worcestershire and a Surrey team without the prolific Nicholson and dangerous Harbhajan. The other win was against Durham. All three were based on brilliant bowling performances by Matthew Hoggard.

Without the England seamer Yorkshire have failed to take 20 wickets in a match, in part certainly due to the weather. However the defeat by Durham, just before the rains came and washed out most of June and July, showed Yorkshire had weaknesses and could be defeated, pretty easily as it turned out.

Then came a series of tough games against Sussex, Lancashire, Warwickshire and an improved Surrey. All these games were washed out draws. Is it possible that the rain actually saved Yorkshire from a string of defeats against their table topping rivals just at a time when without Hoggard they were beginning to struggle and had suffered their first loss?

Now with the England fixture list releasing Hoggard and Michael Vaughan for the run in has the rain frozen the Division 1 table in time for our England players to return and complete a Championship win?

Let's hope so.