4.01pm: Match abandoned! It's still raining, the covers are still on, and the Hundred has its first washout. One point each for London Spirit and Oval Invincibles. The forecast over the next couple of weeks suggests we might lose a couple more games to rain, which would not be ideal in a condensed tournament... Anyway, the sun is shining in Manchester, so head over to our live coverage for the Originals' chase against the Phoenix.
Thanks, KK. I'm not optimistic about my chances, to be honest. I'm about six miles away from Lord's and it's not stopped raining since lunchtime. Meanwhile, the BBC have been showing an Ainsley Harriott show and now a slightly odd bit of a social history. How's that new audience going?!
Nick: "It must be climate change with sun in Manchester and rain at Lord's."
Noor: "@Karthik, when was the last time rain didn't interrupt a match at Lord's?" -- I can tell you the answer to that, Noor: this morning. Here's the report from the Invincibles' win in the first game of the double-header.
3.50pm Here's Matt to try his luck with the weather gods.
3.40pm No change in scene at Lord's, but a pitch invader has got the crowd cheering with a belly-slide onto the covers.
3.20pm The covers are still on, and there's no movement anywhere to suggest they'll be going off anytime soon.
Pranshu : "@john We have already started to lose balls from 3 PM. A set of five will be lost for every 3.5 mins of delay after 3 PM"
3.05pm Meanwhile, in that quaint, long format called T20, Sri Lanka have chosen to bowl against India.
john taylor: "when do we start losing balls?" -- The Hundred, you would think, was designed with this specific question in mind. Serious answer: I would think we've already begun losing them.
2.55pm More from Miller: "It's actually easing a touch. But don't get excited just yet."
Scott, who's also presumably at Lord's, corroborates that statement: "I'd like to say it's ever so slightly brightening up, but the thunder and lightning only seems to be getting closer!"
2.50pm The covers are still on. We wait.
Apart from the DJ's repertoire, Miller informs us he's also heard a clap of thunder.
2.40pm "Still sheeting down," Miller says. "Wouldn't expect any play within the hour. And it would already be a write-off at any other venue." Bless the Lord's drainage.
2.30pm The cut-off time for a 25-ball-a-side game is, we hear, 4.43pm. While we wait for the rain to clear up before that, why not have a peek at the women's game from Old Trafford, where the Birmingham Phoenix have chosen to bat first against the Manchester Originals?
badhat: "Well it's dry in West London, so sending that your way. I need my cricket!"
2.20pm It continues to bucket down at Lord's, where the groundstaff are reaching for every available cover.
Mohendra Khubla: "Would love to see invincibles open the batting with Sunil Narine. I was able to train with him in the USA. He sure does hit ball hard."
2.10pm Yikes. It's begun raining now. The pitch and square are under covers. The run-up areas are now beginning to get covered as well.
Scott: "Sitting in Compton Lower, can confirm it's raining quite a lot!" -- We hope you're suitably armed with rainwear and warming beverages.
Daniel: "That shower lasted only about 15 minutes 3 miles away! Hopefully we get some cricket. 25 balls per side required right?" -- Yup.
2.05pm Eoin Morgan has won the toss, and the London Spirit will bowl first. They're unchanged from the side that lost against Birmingham Phoenix.
Sam Billings says he'd have liked to bowl too, given the choice. One change for the Invincibles. Saqib Mahmood is out "with a little niggle", which is sad because I was really looking forward to watching him bowl. Jordan Clark comes in for him.
Oval Invincibles: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Sam Curran, 3 Sunil Narine, 4 Will Jacks, 5 Sam Billings (capt & wk), 6 Colin Ingram, 7 Laurie Evans, 8 Tom Curran, 9 Jordan Clark, 10 Nathan Sowter, 11 Reece Topley.
London Spirit: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Josh Inglis (wk), 3 Dan Lawrence, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5, Joe Denly, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Roelof van der Merwe, 9 Blake Cullen, 10 Chris Wood, 11 Mohammad Amir.
1.57pm The crowd at Lord's has swelled to 13,500 or thereabouts, we've just heard.
Kumendra : "How's the weather here? " -- Grey and overcast, but the rain is staying away for the moment.
1.45pm Afternoon, everyone. The Oval Invincibles have just wrapped up an impessive win in the women's verson of the London derby. Which way will the men's game go? The Invincibles got their campaign off to a winning start against the Manchester Originals, but the London Spirit are yet to get points on the board. We should have a cracking contest, provided the weather holds up at Lord's, where the skies are rather murky at the moment.
