Rain ruins Worcestershire hopes

The groundstaff struggled to get New Road ready after rain saturated the outfield

Worcestershire finally gave up their hopes of reaching the Friends Provident Trophy quarter-finals after a desperate struggle to get New Road fit for their final group game against Gloucestershire.

Steady rain from the early hours left pools of water on the outfield but umpires Peter Willey and Nigel Cowley gave the groundstaff as much time as possible before abandoning the match on their fourth inspection at 3.45pm.

The ‘no-play’ decision impacted 100 miles down the M5 where Justin Langer’s Somerset learned they would be going to the quarter-finals despite an early morning call-off in their game against Glamorgan in Cardiff.

With both matches in the group abandoned, Gloucestershire topped the table to earn a home tie in the knockout phase and their West Country neighbours also went through after remaining one point ahead of Worcestershire.