WORCESTERSHIRE will face no further action by the ECB after the game against Kent was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The ECB investigated the circumstances leading up to and during last month’s match which saw no play possible on all four days due to the wet conditions at New Road.
Submissions were requested and received from Worcestershire County Cricket Club and Kent County Cricket Club along with a report from the umpires.
These were submitted to the chairman of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC), Mr Gerard Elias QC.
Having considered all the evidence and submissions from both counties and applying the relevant CDC Regulations, Mr Elias determined there were no grounds for any further action. He found that there was no evidence that the pitch itself was unfit, or that Worcestershire had, by the action or wilful inaction of its groundstaff, done anything which materially adversely impacted upon the possibility of play?
He was satisfied that reasonable decisions and actions had been taken by Worcestershire in the light of the condition of the playing area in the period leading up to the match and weather conditions that prevailed.
Specifically, in the 24 hours before the commencement of the match, when the home team practised on the whole of the square and playing area, Worcestershire reasonably believed that the ground would be fit for the match commencing the following day, April 10.
However, Mr Elias recognised that significant financial loss and inconvenience, as well as disappointment, will have been experienced by both counties and their supporters, as well as other members of the public as a result of the abandonment.
Accordingly, he invited the ECB to consider whether any further actions and/or safeguards were possible to seek to ensure that county grounds staging matches in April were more likely to be able to do so satisfactorily.
Worcestershire interim CEO Tom Scott welcomed the findings and said the wash-out was ‘not desired from a playing point of view and also financially’.
“Obviously Worcestershire CCC were as disappointed as anyone that the elements conspired in such a way to lead to the entire game being abandoned without a ball being bowled,” he said.
“We also have sympathy with supporters from both sides who may have travelled considerable distances and spent substantial funds and were frustrated by events.
“But the fact of the matter is that on the Friday before the game the outfield was perfectly playable and the players were also able to practice on the Saturday.
“That we then had substantial amounts of rain over two of the next three days is nothing we had no control over.
“Everyone at Worcestershire CCC was left frustrated, none more so than the groundstaff who put in herculean work to ensure the ground was fit to play after our two winter floods.”