MID Wales’ cricket clubs are facing one of the most difficult seasons in their history, as rain continues to cause havoc with the fixture list.
Last weekend saw only one of Mid Wales’ clubs able to complete a fixture - Llanidloes - and even then the match had to be reduced to 35 overs a side.
Montgomery’s Lymore ground was particularly badly hit with the entire pitch submerged.
Brian Kitson, secretary of the Shropshire County Cricket League, said the situation is unlike anything he had ever seen before.
He said: “I think this is probably unprecedented. It just goes on, there’s no end. I think we have come to terms with it, everyone’s expecting that it’s just going to rain every weekend now.”
Adam Phillips, publicity officer for the league said they are desperately hoping to avoid a situation where teams are penalised for the bad weather.
He said: “We want it to clear up just because we don’t want teams a the bottom end of the table, because they have not played enough games.
“The league does not want to see any team disadvantaged because of wet pitches and we just hope it clears up as soon as possible.
“Some clubs are in better positions than others. Montgomery’s is a lovely ground but it’s in a position where it can flood and there’s nothing they can do about that.”
Montgomery’s Neil Tuffin said: “It was a pretty astonishing sight, it was completely submerged.
“I don’t think there’s much chance of playing this weekend either because it will take a while to recover from that.
“It’s becoming a massive problem for a lot of clubs because there have been that many cancellations. You expect the odd game to be off but it’s getting depressing now.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into organising a cricket match. Our youth team has been decimated. They have only been able to train three times this season.”
He added: “It has decimated our plans for the season. To say it’s a disappointment is an understatement.”
Montgomeryshire’s North Wales County Championship match at Anglesey and Caernarvon-shire was also cancelled.