Derbyshire rue washout due to saturated pitch at Chesterfield

Derbyshire suffered their first complete wash-out in the County Championship in 35 years after no play was possible for the third day running against Northamptonshire at Chesterfield.

Play was abandoned after umpires Neil Mallender and Ian Blackwell decided the bowler's run-ups were still unsafe and the match was officially called off in mid-afternoon following an inspection by umpires, captain and coaches.

Although no rain has fallen during the hours of play in recent days, the Queen's Park ground is still saturated from heavy rainfall through June.

Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely said: "It's one of the most bizarre games of cricket I've ever been involved in.

"It's a great ground and great place to play cricket but unfortunately the weather had taken its toll from the previous week with the heavy rain completely saturating the run-ups and they're still unstable.

"I think if you bowled on them for four or five overs you would be churning up mud. We got bowlers to run in but they didn't feel confident and with our injury issues we had to be pretty careful.

"But it wasn't our decision, the umpires deemed it unfit and although it's frustrating, there's nothing we can do about it."

The washout is a major setback for the Chesterfield festival, which has also lost the chance to host Sunday's NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Yorkshire after the club made the decision to shift the fixture to Derby.

Chief Executive, Simon Storey said: "Chesterfield is a special venue and everyone puts a huge amount of time, planning and preparation into delivering a successful festival each year.

"Unfortunately, following the recent bad weather over the last few weeks, the outfield has taken on a huge amount of water and is still saturated despite the recent sunshine. In the interest of player safety, no play has been possible.

"It's clearly very disappointing that the weather has beaten us this year but we remain committed to bringing county cricket to Queen's Park.

"The Festival is so much more than just cricket and helps put Chesterfield on the map. Since county cricket returned to Chesterfield in 2006, we have been able to build strong partnerships with Chesterfield Cricket Club and Chesterfield Borough Council."