Worcestershire have revised 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 opening three dayer versus Durham UCCE at Chester Road will still get underway on Thursday (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.
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, confirmed: “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.
“We think our relationship with SACA is really good and strong, and we’ve had some good experiences with them, so hopefully we will be able to fulfil a fixture with them later on in the season.
“As it stands we’ve brought the Gloucestershire Seconds fixture forward for that weekend March 30-April 2.
“Nothing else changes, the Durham MCCU game at Kidderminster remains the same as does the two days at Hampshire, March 25 and 26.”
Richardson said some of the first team squad in contention for the opening County Championship game against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, beginning on April 5, may play in the Seconds game.
He said: “I don’t know what teams will be put out in that game and quite a lot will depend on what cricket we get in beforehand.
“But I would imagine quite a number of players who are in contention for the opening Championship game at Warwickshire will be playing in that Gloucestershire game.”
Cricket alert! 🚨
Our 2024 season gets underway with pre-season action on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/ZM4u5C16hQ
— Worcestershire CCC (@WorcsCCC) March 18, 2024