WORCESTERSHRE have had to revise their 2024 pre-season programme after the switching of the opening two home Vitality County Championship matches against Durham and Somerset from New Road to Kidderminster.

The move was made due to the flooding at New Road over the winter. The Pears' ground was submerged underwater four times in total and requires more work to be fit to host cricket, meaning the start of the season will be played at Kidderminster's Chester Road ground.

The opening three-day game with Durham UCCE at Chester Road - free entry for supporters - will still get underway tomorrow (March 21-23) before a two-day fixture versus Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl (March 25-26).

But the meeting with the South Asian Cricket Academy at Kidderminster from March 30 to April 1 has been cancelled.

Instead, the four-day Second Eleven Championship game with Gloucestershire has been brought forward a week and will be staged at Kidderminster from March 30-April 2. Head coach Alan Richardson has said that some of the first-team could be involved in the game.

This is to allow the ground-staff additional time with their preparations for the Championship games with Durham (April 19-22) and Somerset (April 26-29).

Head Coach, Alan Richardson, said: "We’ve had to juggle our fixtures around a little bit now we are at Kidderminster for the first two home County Championship matches.

"We’ve had to bring the Seconds game forward against Gloucestershire Seconds to still be able to host it at Kidderminster.

"It will give the ground-staff more time to get the surfaces ready for our first two Championship games.

"Unfortunately we’ve had to cancel the SACA game which is unfortunate because it was a game we were really looking forward to."