The wet start to the first-class season continued to blight Nottinghamshire as the first day of their Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Worcestershire was lost to the weather.

As forecast, heavy overnight rain had already soaked the Blackfinch New Road ground long before the players started arriving.

A bleak, miserable morning prompted umpires Richard Illingworth and David Millns to make an early decision that no play would be possible in the first session.

With puddles forming on the outfield, and no prospects of any significant improvement in the conditions, they called play off for the day at 2pm.

Better weather is anticipated in Worcestershire for the scheduled second day, with optimism high that the match will get underway then.

Following the complete abandonment of their three-day fixture against Cambridge MCCU at Fenner’s, and the loss of the opening day against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford, Notts have now had no play on five of their 12 scheduled match days so far in 2018.

Worcestershire had pulled out all the stops after the flooding at their headquarters three weeks ago to ensure the ground was fit for the opening home game of the 2018 campaign.

Skipper Joe Leach said: “It has been really heartening to see the effort everyone at the club has put in from top to bottom to get the ground ready in time.

“The groundstaff have done a tremendous job and the officer staff, including the CEO Matt Rawnsley, have joined in with cleaning up the place.

“It is frustrating that the weather has beaten us today but hopefully, fingers crossed, it will be clear and dry for the next three days and we can get out there and play some cricket.”

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