County Championship: Pears-Notts rained off for day at Worcester

Worcestershire’s first home game of the season in Worcester fell victim to the weather as the first day’s play in their County Championship game with Nottinghamshire was completely washed out.

After being forced to switch their opening two Championship home games with Durham and Somerset from New Road to nearby Kidderminster because of their ongoing flooding issues, there was an eager sense of anticipation at being back at their headquarters.

Central Sparks used the ground last Sunday for a Charlotte Edwards Cup game – but the effect of Worcester’s eight floods during the winter, followed by 15 hours of rain on Wednesday, left the bowlers’ run-ups at the New Road End saturated.

Although the surface had started to dry, umpires Nigel Llong and Surendiran Shanmugam decided on no play before lunch, as a large infra-red heater was posted across the problem area to eliminate the damp patch.

Groundstaff worked tirelessly, even digging out big blocks of turf cooked on a diesel heater in the groundsman’s shed to dry them out.

But play was abandoned for the day at 13:30 BST.

The two teams will attempt to resume again on Saturday morning at 11:00 BST.