Flooding hits sport

The cricket ground looked more like a muddy beach than a top-class sports venue.

When you first arrive at New Road, the home of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, you are hit by the smell, and then the scale of devastation to the cricket pitch becomes apparent.

There has been no official announcement yet, but it is extremely unlikely there will be any more balls bowled here until next year.

The clean-up operation is under way, but it is going to take months.

Mark Newton, the club's chief executive, said: "Our last home game was 14 June. We won't probably play another home game here this season. We'll be at Edgbaston, Derby, Taunton playing our home games.

"So for the cricketers, pretty unsettling - dressing room unusable, practice facilities unusable, so they're gypsies really at the moment."

Because the cricket ground is on a flood plain, it is impossible to get insurance here. The cost to the club is already estimated to be �450,000, and that figure is rising.

Down the road at the racecourse, it is a similar story. So much water remains there that Environment Agency workers are still on site, rescuing thousands of fish from the middle of the track. Hungry birds hover overhead, looking for easy pickings.

Lost business alone will cost the local economy at least �300,000. Staff are still holding out hope of reopening next month, but October is a more realistic target.

Mary Atkins, of Worcester Racecourse, said: "It's devastating, it's really upsetting, because all the hard work that you've put into putting races together, and race meetings together, just gone."

Pitch re-laid

As far as sport is concerned, nowhere in England quite matches the devastation seen at Worcestershire. Both amateur and professional venues have been affected.

Hillsborough, the home of Sheffield Wednesday football club, was so badly flooded the pitch had to be re-laid.

Frantic work continues to make sure the ground is back to as close to normal as possible in time for the start of the new season.

Parts of Southwell racetrack were also washed away. There is still no date set for when that might reopen.

Many sports venues struggle to make money even during the best of times. The floods will leave a financial burden on some for many years to come.

Source: BBC Sport