Steve Birks and his team have worked another “miracle” at Trent Bridge and insist that tomorrow’s Twenty20 Cup clash with Derbyshire will go ahead.

The groundstaff assembled for duty this morning and set to work to deal with the latest deluge of rainwater from the outfield.

And after removing more than 50,000 litres of water over the course of seven hours, head groundsman Birks passed the ground fit for action and actually said: “We could have played today.”

He added: “It’s been a long, hard day for all of us but if there had been a fixture tonight, it could have been played.

“And while I’ve been told that there might be a light shower tomorrow morning, the forecast is good enough for me to say that I’m 100 per cent confident the game will be on.

“The conditions were such that I was able to give the pitch for next week’s One-day International a cut - and then water it, ironically.”

Nottinghamshire have sold more than 1,700 tickets for the match, which begins at 5.30pm.

Tickets on the day are still available and cost £14 for adults, £7 for under-16s and £35 for a family of two adults and two under-16s.

Entertainment on the night includes a crèche, face painter, bouncy castle, free supervised cricket net sessions, a ‘Venda Blender’ smoothie-making bicycle and a Chocolate Fountain.