As expected, the final day of Kent’s game at Worcestershire was called off without play, meaning the entire match was abandoned without a ball bowled.

Despite conditions in three of the four days of the game being more than conducive to play taking place, heavy rain prior to the match and earlier on in the game left the saturated New Road ground unplayable.

Umpires Ian Gould and Richard Illingworth brought an end to proceedings with their 12pm inspection on Wednesday – the fourth and final scheduled day of the match. The official result leaves each side to take five points from the opening game of their County Championship Division Two campaign.

Games between the sides have been unfortunately affected by the weather on a number of occasions in recent years. The two 2007 fixtures between the sides saw just one day played out of the eight available – and similarly to this year, none at New Road. The 2014 game between the two sides at Tunbridge Wells saw a full first day played, but then just 17 overs bowled over the remaining three days.

This game represents the first County Championship match to be completely abandoned without play since a fixture between Middlesex and Sussex suffered the same fate in 2014.

 

Stumps, day four, Worcestershire v Kent at Worcester, Apr 10-13, 2016: – match abandoned without a ball bowled

Worcestershire – 5 points, Kent – 5 points

Photo via @shawma1