Worcestershire wipe out flood losses

The 2007 flood at New Road cost the county around £1million in lost revenue

Worcestershire have recouped the £1million losses of 2007 when New Road was flooded and ruled out of use for the final three months of the campaign.

The Royals had their entire lucrative Twenty20 Cup campaign wiped out and had to play all their home one-day games at various grounds around the country and LV= County Championship matches at Kidderminster.

But the England Lions v Australia game at Worcester last week was “the final piece in the jigsaw” in terms of putting the county back on an even financial keel.

Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton said: “The England Lions game was always planned to be part of our recovery from 2007 and what we achieved from that game in term of gate receipts, hospitality and catering.

“The recession meant we did not achieve financially as much as we anticipated but it still helped us to mark the end of our recovery from the losses of 2007.

“What happened in 2007 was soul destroying, not something of our making, a natural disaster, the first time the ground had flooded during a season for nearly 40 years.

“But you have to get on with it. It represented a challenge and you either go under or you get off your knees and fightback and we have done really well to recover from that.”

Newton is full of praise for the support the county received from the ECB who initially gave them a grant and granted them the Lions fixture.

He said: “For a club of our size, it has been very hard but we’ve had great support from the ECB who have been very helpful throughout our recovery.

“We had a two-year plan and recouped the majority of the money last year but the Lions game was the final piece of the jigsaw.

“We can now put the losses of 2007 to bed and move on.”