Several county cricket grounds have been hit with snow showers today, with warm-up matches between Kent and Lancashire and Northamptonshire and Durham affected.
The new County Championship season is set to get underway next week, with the first round of fixtures due to begin on April 7. However, snow has had an effect on some counties' preparations for the new season, with the Kent vs Lancashire match at Canterbury ending prematurely due to the snow.
Northamptonshire's game against Durham and Gloucestershire's clash with Glamorgan were also hit by a snow shower, while Nottinghamshire's pre-season photoshoot was also affected by the weather. The club shared a selection of images on social media with the caption: "It's beginning to look a lot like... cricket?"
Northamptonshire, meanwhile, shared a clip of ground staff clearing snow on the outfield with caption: "Play cricket in March they said. It'll be fun they said." They also joked: "Northamptonshire have won the toss and refused to field."
"A break in play here for, errr… snow," joked Gloucestershire. "What happened to Spring?" Supporters were also quick to react to the weather, with @jimgilch tweeting: "A warm welcome back to the cricket seaso.... ....Ok maybe not that warm!" @TestMatchDan joked: "Challenging the definition of a warm-up match".
Other fans also took aim at the ECB, questioning why the season is set to begin in a week given the weather conditions. @HarriGlazier tweeted: "It is such a mystery as to why England are struggling to generate international talent able to play in the sub-continent? Clearly starting our red ball season in the ACTUAL SNOW every year is not a contributing factor".
"And we wonder why we’re s*** at test cricket when the longer format is played in unfavourable conditions," wrote @tomp1987. "The Hundred is played in the prime of Summer and the county championship looks like this...priorities," added @izwdse99.
Following two seasons where the competition was greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the County Championship is returning to a two division structure this year following a vote by all 18 counties. In 2020, the inaugural edition of the Bob Willis Trophy replaced the County Championship, with a three-group conference system used for last year's campaign.
However, the county's have voted for a return to two divisions, with 10 teams playing in Division One and eight teams in Division Two. There will also be a two-up, two-down promotion and relegation system, with the counties getting placed in their respective divisions based on which one they would have been in for the 2020 season.
