County on the road in early season (From Stourbridge News)

Worcestershire County Cricket Club start season at Lancashire

3:19pm Monday 26th November 2012 in News By Tom Guest, @tomguestWN #WENsport

WORCESTERSHIRE will be on the road for the first month of the 2013 season while the redevelopment work at New Road continues.

Steve Rhodes’ men will get their LV County Championship Division Two season under way on April 10 when they head to Old Trafford to take on Lancashire.

However, the first game on the New Road turf will not be until May 8 when Leicestershire visit for what will be the County’s fourth four-day campaign of the season.

Worcestershire will also have played the university match against Oxford MCCU at The Parks (May 1-3), as well as getting their Clydesdale Bank 40 campaign under way at Sussex (May 5) before they do battle on home soil.

To compensate, New Road will be jam-packed with fixtures throughout May as the County have three LVCC games scheduled, as well as two CB40 home matches.

If the County are to bounce back from relegation from Division One at the first time of asking, they will have the added bonus of finishing the season with back-to-back home matches. The New Road club complete their four-day campaign with visits from Hampshire (Sept 11-14), before closing with a match against Northamptonshire (Sept 24-27).

Worcestershire will also be looking to tap into the added excitement of an Ashes summer when the club hosts the touring Australians in a four-day practice match, starting on Wednesday, July 2, just prior to the opening Test match.

International cricket will then return to new Road on Thursday, August 15 when the England Under 19s battle against Bangladesh Under 19s. Bangladesh ‘A’ will then follow the youngsters on Friday, August 16 with a tour match against Worcestershire.

The Friends Life t20 season bursts into life on Friday, June 28 with the visit of Glamorgan, before occupying most of the July fixture list.

Memebership packages begin at £144, which includes the four-day game against Australia, and they can be purchased at wccc.co.uk or by calling the ticket hotline on 01905-337921.

WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2013 FIXTURES

APRIL

Wed 10th-Sat 13th LVCC 2 Lancashire Old Trafford

Wed 17th-Sat 20th LVCC 2 Glamorgan SWALEC Stadium

Wed 24th-Sat 27th LVCC 2 Hampshire Ageas Bowl

MAY

Wed 1st-Fri 3rd UNI Oxford MCCU The Parks

Sun 5th 40L Sussex Hove

Wed 8th-Sat 11th LVCC 2 Leicestershire New Road

Sun 12th 40L Nottinghamshire New Road

Wed 15th 40L Kent Canterbury

Fri 17th-Mon 20th LVCC 2 Kent Canterbury

Wed 22nd-Sat 25th LVCC 2 Gloucestershire New Road

Sun 26th 40L Northamptonshire New Road

Tue 28th-Fri 31st LVCC 2 Essex New Road

JUNE

Sat 1st 40L Warwickshire New Road

Mon 3rd 40L Netherlands TBC

Wed 5th-Sat 8th LVCC 2 Northamptonshire Northampton

Sun 16th 40L Netherlands New Road

Thu 20th-Sun 23rd LVCC 2 Glamorgan New Road

Mon 24th 40L Northamptonshire Northampton

Fri 28th T20 Glamorgan New Road

Sun 30th T20 Gloucestershire Bristol

JULY

Tue 2nd-Fri 5th TOM 4 Australia New Road

Sun 7th T20 Gloucestershire New Road

Fri 12th T20 Warwickshire New Road

Sun 14th T20 Somerset Taunton

Wed 17th-Sat 20th LVCC 2 Gloucestershire Cheltenham

Sun 21st T20 Northamptonshire New Road

Tue 23rd T20 Glamorgan SWALEC Stadium

Fri 26th T20 Warwickshire Edgbaston

Sat 27th T20 Somerset New Road

Tue 30th T20 Northamptonshire Northampton

AUGUST

Fri 2nd-Mon 5th LVCC 2 Kent New Road

Tues 6th/Wed 7th/Thur 8th T20 QF TBC TBC

Sun 11th 40L Kent New Road

Tues 13th 40L Nottinghamshire Trent Bridge

Thu 15th 190DL England U19 v Bangladesh U19 New Road

Fri 16th TOM 1 Bangladesh A New Road

Sat 17th T20 Semi Finals & Finals TBC Edgbaston

Mon 19th 40L Warwickshire Edgbaston

Thu 22nd-Sun 25th LVCC 2 Lancashire New Road

Mon 26th 40L Sussex New Road

Wed 28th-Sat 31st LVCC 2 Leicestershire Grace Road

SEPTEMBER

Tue 3rd-Fri 6th LVCC 2 Essex Chelmsford

Sat 7th 40L Semi Final TBC

Mon 9th 40L Semi Final TBC

Wed 11th-Sat 14th LVCC 2 Hampshire New Road

Sat 21st 40L Final TBC Lord's

Tue 24th-Fri 27th LVCC 2 Northamptonshire New Road

 

key: LVCC2 - LV=County Championship Div 2; 40L - Clydesdale Bank 40; T20 - Friends Life t20 (FL20); TOM1 - 1 day Tourist; TOM 4 - 4 day Tourist; UNI - County v MCC Universities.