JUST 26 overs were bowled on a rain-ravaged first day of Worcestershire’s LV= County Championship Division One encounter with Surrey at New Road.

County captain Daryl Mitchell won the toss and opted to take first use of the wicket, which proved to be fairly slow following the recent rainfall.

However, the fact the game was played at New Road at all was credit to the hard-working groundstaff who ensured the match could be switched back to headquarters after it was originally moved to Kidderminster because of the flooding.

Mitchell (30 not out) and fellow opener Michael Klinger (16no) successfully negotiated the morning session, which was concluded by the arrival of the rain 15 minutes before the scheduled 1pm lunch break.

No further play was possible as the weather set in for the afternoon and Worcestershire will hope for clearer skies today when they resume on 58 without loss.

Gareth Andrew continued his recovery from injury by hitting 69 out of the Worcestershire Second XI’s day one total of 236 all out against Hampshire at Ombersley.

Batting at number five, the all-rounder took 121 balls for his innings, which featured seven fours and two sixes.

Jack Manuel opened with Shaaiq Choudhry and gave the County a solid start with knocks of 47 and 32 respectively.

However, Alexei Kervezee’s struggles with the bat continued as he made just one, before wicketkeeper Ben Cox’s 30 helped the hosts to post a target of more than 200.

Hampshire saw off the final nine overs of the day to finish on 22-0.