NEW Road chief executive Mark Newton has appealed for sympathy from Worcestershire's fans as the club faces up to a mammoth £200,000 bill in the wake of this week's unprecedented floods.

The club will play its next two Twenty20 games at Kidderminster and is bracing itself for huge financial losses as the venue switch has re-sulted in the cancellation of all hospitality packages.

Newton, who has described this week as the worst of his stewardship, estimates the lost revenue, combined with the cost of the clean-up operation, will hit the club's coffers to the tune of £200,000.

He admitted that it would cost the club a further £100,000 to refund all the advance Twenty20 ticket sales.

He said: "Twenty20 is the prime product we have and no-body could legislate for this. We are asking everyone who supports Worcestershire and wants to see us survive to understand how serious this is. These are the four biggest games of the year and the ticket sales account for approximately 40 per cent of our annual gate receipts.

"We have our rain check policy in case games are rained off and we have to go with that. We cannot afford to refund all Twenty20 tickets, but ticket-holders can use them to attend other non-Twenty20 games this season.

"The cost of not being able to stage all four of our home Twenty20 games will run to around £150,000 and on top of that there will be the cost of the clean-up.

"Cleaning up and cleansing the ground after the winter floods cost us £50,000 so we are facing a potential total loss of around £200,000.

"We only make around £50,000 per year, so this is pretty devastating for us, but it won't break the bank because we are financially stable."

Following discussions with the ECB and Kidderminster Victoria Cricket Club, the County have been given thegreen light to switch venues for the games against North-amptonshire Steelbacks (Friday, June 29, 5.30pm) and Gloucestershire Gladiators (Sunday, July 1, 3pm).

I understand that the final group game against Glamorgan Dragons on July 5 will be played at Birmingham League side Himley's ground, near Stourbridge.

As far as a return to action at New Road is concerned, New-ton believes the ground will still be out of action for the scheduled visit of Kent in the LV County Championship on Sunday, July 8.

He said: "Hopefully the floods will have disappeared by early next week but, even if that is the case, it will be difficult to prepare a wicket in time for the Kent game.

"I am optimistic the ground will be ready in time for the day-night Pro40 game with Hampshire on July 13."

Newton added: "We are extremely grateful to officials at Kidderminster for helping us out at such short notice."