Rain stops play as cricket pitch turns into lake in one day
08:43am 16th August 2006
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Above: Old Woking Cricket Club's pitch now has ducks of the feathered variety.
Until Sunday, it was a cricket pitch. Then the heavens opened - and any batsman would have needed waders to get to the crease.
Months of meagre rain and the record heat had left the field a brown, parched desert.
But in the space of one afternoon, a torrential downpour and flash floods turned the pitch in Woking, Surrey, into a lake. Ducks were even seen swimming between the wickets.
This astonishing picture shows what happened when nearly a month's rain fell in less than a day.
Old Woking Cricket Club was left with more than a foot of water lapping over its pitch when a nearby stream burst its banks.
Second XI team captain Mike Tilley said: 'The groundsman told me there was well over a foot of water. We were even a bit worried about the clubhouse, which is two feet above ground. It is on a flood plain, but we've never had floods like this in August.'
Last night the waters had receded. The club said it did not expect long-term damage.
Firemen were called to more than 200 incidents in eight hours as the floods broke. A number of homes were evacuated.
The Met Office said more than one and three-quarter inches of rain fell in the area on Sunday, half of it in three hours. The monthly average is two inches.
dailymail.co.uk
08:43am 16th August 2006
Reader comments (0)
Above: Old Woking Cricket Club's pitch now has ducks of the feathered variety.
Until Sunday, it was a cricket pitch. Then the heavens opened - and any batsman would have needed waders to get to the crease.
Months of meagre rain and the record heat had left the field a brown, parched desert.
But in the space of one afternoon, a torrential downpour and flash floods turned the pitch in Woking, Surrey, into a lake. Ducks were even seen swimming between the wickets.
This astonishing picture shows what happened when nearly a month's rain fell in less than a day.
Old Woking Cricket Club was left with more than a foot of water lapping over its pitch when a nearby stream burst its banks.
Second XI team captain Mike Tilley said: 'The groundsman told me there was well over a foot of water. We were even a bit worried about the clubhouse, which is two feet above ground. It is on a flood plain, but we've never had floods like this in August.'
Last night the waters had receded. The club said it did not expect long-term damage.
Firemen were called to more than 200 incidents in eight hours as the floods broke. A number of homes were evacuated.
The Met Office said more than one and three-quarter inches of rain fell in the area on Sunday, half of it in three hours. The monthly average is two inches.
dailymail.co.uk