THE flood water may have dropped, but the Rapids are about to rise at New Road with the County revealing they will be known as Worcestershire Rapids for the NatWest T20 Blast.

Worcestershire opted to drop the ‘Royals’ part of their branding last season as it clashed with the name intended to be used in the short form of the game by Hampshire.

Worcestershire’s business development director Jon Graham said: “Four-day cricket is our bread and butter and our membership is vitally important to us, which is evident in that we generate close to half-a-million pounds through membership each season.

“While we will be known as the Worcestershire Rapids for NatWest T20 Blast, we will certainly be staying as Worcestershire CCC for both four-day and one-day cricket.

“However, we see a different audience that comes to watch this shortened format of the game and we need a brand that compliments that. We did a lot of internal soul-searching over the last 12 months to come up with an identity that people can relate to.”

Graham added: “With the NatWest T20 Blast, we see New Road as an entertainment venue, a place to be on five Friday nights, a Saturday and a Sunday and ultimately it’s about the build-up to the game on each match day.

“We want to try and bring a bit of life to the city. Music is going to be key and we are going to have live music both inside and outside the ground.

“Our traditional business and corporate business will be housed in the new ‘The View’ facilities but we want something relative to our main target audience, probably 18s to 35s, and the marquee is going to be rebranded as The Watershed marquee bar.

“Again, it is called that to have that connection with the Rapids brand. Everything we do with the Rapids follows through so, from a marketing perspective, everything we do, there is a reason behind it.

“What we are trying to do is provide really good value for money and really good entertainment.”