Flooding will cost Worcestershire £150,000

Underwater: unseasonal flooding at New Road will cost the county £150,000 © Worcestershire CCC

Worcestershire have announced that their Twenty20 matches against Northamptonshire on Friday (June 29) and Glamorgan on Thursday (July 5) have been switched following the flooding of New Road. The Northants game will now be staged at Kidderminster and the Glamorgan at Himley CC.

Given the limited seating at the outgrounds, the county have asked members to take their own garden chairs or rugs. There is virtually no permanent or temporary seating at Kidderminster though attempts are being made to find a temporary stand for Himley. It will be advisable to arrive early to get a good position. Once the ground is deemed full, no other people will be admitted even if they are a member or have a ticket.

"Anybody with tickets who cannot make any of these games can still take advantage of our rain check policy and use the ticket to gain admission to any other game at New Road this season including the day/night game against Hampshire scheduled for July 13," said a county spokesman. "In this way nobody loses out.

"The summer flooding is and will hurt the club severely from a financial viewpoint. I estimate it will cost upwards of £150,000 in terms of lost revenue and clean-up costs. A full ticket refund of the just under £100,000 worth of advance sales would virtually decimate the club on top of the aforesaid costs. Please also bear in mind it is not possible to insure against flooding.

"Whilst the no refund policy on tickets may not please everybody we do hope that everybody understands why we have to take this stance to save the club's future."