Worcestershire search for new venues

Following the second flood in a matter of weeks at New Road, Worcestershire have been in discussions with other counties and the ECB about finding new venues for their remaining home fixtures. It appears unlikely that any further cricket will be played at the ground this season, although the club haven't ruled out a return in September.

"I have been in contact with the ECB and a number of counties over the weekend," Mark Newton, Worcestershire's chief executive said. "Everybody has been very helpful in accommodating our requests and everything is subject to approval, hopefully today.

"We are still under 10 to 12 feet of water but at least we can get into our offices today and start the clear up operation. This is the second highest flood ever out of 135 floods since 1899 - the highest was during the winter of 1947. The fact that it has come during the summer when all the infrastructure is in place magnifies the impact hugely.

"I am still hopeful we may be able to play our last two home games in September at New Road but we will review that in a few weeks time."

The Championship match against Lancashire was abandoned on the first day following the same fate as the Kent match two weeks earlier. Worcestershire made the decision to try and play the Lancashire match after meetings between the two clubs and the ECB, but torrential rain returned on Friday.

Newton previously took heavy criticism from Kent for not relocating their Championship to Kidderminster, but last week said even moving the Lancashire game wouldn't have made a difference.

"No ground in Worcestershire, or the country, could cope with this rain," he said. "There would have been no point moving to an outground because they don't have the same level of covering and hard-standing areas to take the rain."