HEAVY overnight rain meant the final day of Worcestershire’s County Championship clash with Lancashire got washed out.

The ground was left saturated in parts and prospect of any play looked remote from the off.

More than 1,100 gallons of water got removed from the outfield to no avail with just 71.3 overs possible over the four days.

Lancashire finished on 110 for three in their first-innings in reply to Worcestershire’s 98 all out.

Worcestershire first-team coach Alex Gidman said: “We struggled with the bat which was disappointing.

“We didn’t have great preparation due to the weather so it’s just been a frustrating week for everyone.

“After the Middlesex performance we had a bit of time off last week and were really keen to start to get over those two losses (Lancashire away and Middlesex home) and starting to move forward again.

“We’ve just hit a bit of a stalling point this week with the weather and still not quite getting it quite right with the bat.

“It is what it is. We can’t control the weather. We’ve come out of it with six points and it could have been a few more.

“It was not to be, we just have to accept it for what it was and start looking forward to next week.”

Alex Davies, who earned a recall to the Lancashire side at New Road following injury, said: “It has not been ideal.

“We would have liked to play a bit more out there and maybe try to force a result but the weather beat us in the end.

“You look at the past three games that have been affected by rain and we have been dominating in all three.

“We could potentially be six wins from six games but for the weather. You have to put the weather to one side and control what we can control, though, and we played some good cricket.

“I’ve had a tough start to the season but injuries happen and you just have to crack on.

“There are a lot worse things going on in the world but I was really happy to be back.”

The damp squib came after an unbeaten half century from Liam Livingstone had strengthened the visitors’ position on day three.

The Division Two leaders had already been kicking their heels for the bulk of the two middle days after skittling Worcestershire in the opener which saw England’s James Anderson claim four wickets for 24 runs and fellow seamer Graham Onions take four for 55.

When the action finally resumed at 2.10pm on Wednesday, Lancashire recovered from a shaky start to reach 110 as Livingstone dominated an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 78 with Haseeb Hameed.