DIRECTOR of Cricket Tom Moody has pledged that Worcestershire will be as fit as any other first-class county despite their pre-season preparations at flood-damaged New Road being hampered by the wet weather.

Further heavy rain this week left large areas of the ground under water, adding to the misery caused by some of the worst flooding since the record levels of 1947.

Moody said: "I think it's the same for everyone around the country. We are probably in a little worse position than most because we are situated on the river, but it's something that's not in our control. We have just got to concentrate on what we can control.

"Our side, though, will be as fit as any side on the park this year. We won't have the practice on grass wickets probably as much as anyone else, but we can't do anything about that unless we jump on a plane to Perth!

"With everything else, though, we are in as good a nick as anyone else. It's just that we are in an unfortunate position where we are not getting the exposure on turf as early as we would like."

Worcestershire are hoping to get a couple of 'warm-up' matches against Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire under their belts next week with another planned for April 17 against Glamorgan.

Moody, however, is determined to keep the problems caused by four floods during the winter down to a minimum as far as his pre-season plans are concerned.

He said: "There's no question the weather has affected us, particularly when you haven't set foot on the ground yet. But it's one of those things that is out of your control.

"I have talked to the guys about it and really what we have got to do is concentrate on what is in our control. We have had an excellent week training even though most of it's been indoors.

"A lot has been physical and mental training against skill training because we haven't had the facilities to do it.

"We have been up to Edgbaston a few times this week at the indoor centre and we have been to various different indoor centres doing some training. We've also had some one-on-one meetings.

"There are a whole lot of varied things in preparation work. It's not just take your bat and ball along and hope to have a good season. There's more than that which makes up a good season."