Yorkshire and Durham were frustrated by the weather at Scarborough as day three of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash was abandoned due to a wet outfield.

Heavy overnight rain in the East Coast town left areas of the outfield unplayable, first of all forcing a delayed start and an early lunch at 12.30pm.

With umpire Steve O’Shaughnessy having reported sickness overnight, the decision was left to his partner Surendiran Shanmugam and match referee James Whitaker.

Play was abandoned for the day at 2.10pm, by which time it was raining heavily. 

Division Two leaders Durham were due to start on 106 for one in their first-innings reply to Yorkshire’s 340 all out, with in-form opener Alex Lees unbeaten on 65 and chasing a fifth hundred in six Championship innings.

The contest is now heading for a draw - what would be the first Championship stalemate at this North Marine Road venue since the 2013 season. 

That is, of course, unless the two camps get together and engineer a contrived finish during tomorrow’s fourth day. 

An example of such a scenario would be for Durham to declare their first innings, Yorkshire to bat briefly to add to their lead and set up a Durham chase through the majority of the day.

With Durham already holding a pre-game lead of 54 points at the top of Division Two, it is likely that mid-table Yorkshire would be the keener of the two counties to set up a result.

Yorkshire, who still have designs on promotion, were 22 points behind second-placed Sussex with a game in hand before a ball was bowled here.

Yorkshire have now lost 1,425 overs due to weather in this season’s Championship.