Surrey content over New Road decision

12 April 2012

Surrey have backed the decision of the England and Wales Cricket Board to order a re-staging of the LV County Championship match between their main relegation rivals Worcestershire and Kent.

The four-day game at New Road was abandoned without a ball being bowled on Tuesday after attempts to prepare the ground after recent severe flooding of the ground proved futile.

Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon said: "We are at the bottom of the County Championship with these two teams and replaying the game may not help us but you have to be objective and, in the circumstances, it was a fair decision by the ECB."

He added: "The ECB would have to decide about whether they were setting a precedent but they have made the decision on the basis that this is a one-off situation.

"Of course, we would want to avoid relegation but it would not be really fair on Kent and the only way to give them the potential to earn more than the four points from an abandoned game would be by replaying it."

The game will now be held from July 30 to August 3 - with Worcestershire breaking off on August 2 to play a floodlit NatWest Pro40 game at Essex.

Kent pushed for the game to be restaged after it was abandoned after only an hour of the third day by umpires Richard Kettleborough and Martin Bodenham after consulting with the ECB.

Their cricket co-ordinator Simon Willis said: "It is a pleasing decision. All we ever wanted to do was to play a four-day game in first-class conditions and the ECB have come up with a solution.

"The main grievance was being denied the chance to earn any points and now we will have the opportunity to get maximum points."