Seven weeks after a New Road fixture was previously hit by a summer flood, Neil Armstrong stepped from his lunar module to take his “giant leap for mankind”. The technology may have existed for nearly four decades to put a man on the moon, but it has not been found to make play possible at Worcester, six days after the incursions of the Severn.
In 1969, the club transferred their match against Middlesex to Dudley. This time, Mark Newton, the Worcestershire chief executive, attempted to play a decision, he admits, that was “greeted with incredulity” by his club’s committee, although it was soon prepared to back him. But no cricket was possible against Kent on Sunday and a ten-minute shower was enough to bring an abandonment for the day at 11.35am yesterday.
Paul Millman, the Kent chief executive, has put his disappointment in writing to the ECB. Alan Fordham, the ECB’s operations manager (first-class), said: “Kent have registered their concerns and we will address those as a matter of priority.” It is thought highly unlikely, however, that Kent’s request for the match to be rescheduled will be accepted.
Newton’s abiding concern was to ensure that the floodlit Pro40 League match on Friday, to be covered by Sky Sports, would go ahead. If the championship match had been transferred to Kidderminster, he says, his staff would not have been available to complete preparations for a one-day match, the cancellation of which would cost the club “at least £80,000”. With another shower arriving at 3pm yesterday, today’s play was already in doubt.