SKIPPER Ben Smith continued his free-scoring start to the season when Worcestershire's four-day match with the New Zealanders opened at New Road yesterday.

He followed up his Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy career-best score of 91 against Herefordshire on Thursday with an unbeaten 72 which helped his side close last night on 163-3 off 50.2 overs.

After a delayed start, due to torrential overnight rain, he pepped the County's fortunes following the departure of Stephen Moore (18) and Stephen Peters (9) in the space of four deliveries from paceman Daryl Tuffey.

Graeme Hick, dropped on 23, fell for 36 after figuring in a 69-run stand in 19 overs with Smith whose progress, along with Kadeer Ali (26 not out), was ended prematurely by poor light.

After the County had won the toss, play eventually started after lunch following extensive mopping up operations sparked by the previous night's storm which left the ground flooded.

A decision to switch pitches enabled the action get under way start at 2.30pm with New Road chief executive Mark Newton again singing the praises of the groundstaff.

Storm

He said: "I seem to have spent the whole of this season so far giving the groundstaff credit and not the players. Unless you were underneath the storm we had on Thursday night you wouldn't appreciate it. It was the most intense we've had this summer and the outfield was literally underwater.

"Ironically, on the pitch we allocated, the run-ups were covered and they weren't dry enough to play on. But the wicket next door, which was used against Sussex, the run-ups were drier and the bowlers from both sides were happy to bowl on it."

Newton felt the County were 'very unlucky' to be hit by such an intense storm on Thursday .

He said: "It's cricket at it's most frustrating where you have a blue sky, sunshine coming down, but you still can't play. People would turn around and say 'surely there's the technology to sort that out', but the fact remains that nobody yet has come up with the technology that can keep a cricket ground totally dry, apart from a sliding roof."