Worcestershire’s opening Specsavers County Championship Division Two fixture of the season against Kent at New Road was abandoned without a ball being bowled in four days.
When the umpires, Ian Gould and Richard Illingworth, made the inevitable decision at midday, the ground was bathed in sunshine but the outfield was still soggy in key areas.
Both teams are awarded five points.
It is the first time New Road has seen a complete washout in the County Championship since the floods of 2007 when successive games – the first of these was against Kent – were abandoned before Worcestershire decamped to Kidderminster for later four-day fixtures.
First complete wash-out at New Road since the 2007 season and the game against Lancashire
— Worcestershire CCC (@WorcsCCC) April 13, 2016
Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, confirmed that the ground was fit for play up to 24 hours before the scheduled start of this match on Sunday.
He said: “Everything was all stations go. This is nothing to do with the river. There is a water table that is incredibly high.
“That is what is affecting us at the moment, the saturation of the whole area.
“Let’s make sure we get things right here: when we practiced this ground was looking good, ready for Sunday. Sadly for us, we’ve had a lot of rain, overnight rain.”
Source: ECB