Kent will have to wait to kick off their County Championship campaign after no play was possible on the first day of their season opener at Worcestershire.

Heavy rain in Worcester yesterday had left the outfield “waterlogged”, and despite mostly dry conditions today, the saturated outfield led the umpires called play off for the day at 3pm, without a ball being bowled. Umpires Richard Illingworth and Ian Gould had taken earlier inspections at around 10am and 1pm.

Worcestershire’s New Road ground is one that is well-known for having its troubles with the weather, regularly finding itself underwater after off-season flooding.

Speaking to journalist Mike Beddow, Kent captain Sam Northeast said: “It’s extremely frustrating. After four weeks of preparation in pre-season, we get to the first day and we are unable to play and the sun’s out as well. The boys are raring to go, so it’s pretty disappointing.

“We’ve hoped for the best obviously but looking at the ground this morning, we knew it was going to be tough to get on.”

Worcestershire Assistant coach Matt Mason told Beddow: “We can’t do anything about it. It’s one of those things that is out of our control. We have given the ground a good chance to dry out today and it has not quite done it. Player safety has got to come first.”

 

Stumps, day one, Worcestershire v Kent at Worcester, Apr 10-13, 2016: – no play Sunday due to a wet outfield

Photo via @Spitfire_Dan