WORCESTERSHIRE supporters will be planning their summer of cricket next year after the fixture list for the new 2024 season was released on Thursday morning.

Following last season's promotion from the County Championship Division Two, The Pears will mark their return to the top-flight with a trip to rivals Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Friday, April 5. 

Round two of the County Championship season will take Worcestershire to Trent Bridge to face Nottinghamshire before they play their first home game of the season against Durham in round three.

Alan Richardson's men will play four of their opening six Championship games on the road, including a trip to face the reigning champions, Surrey, at the Kia Oval from May 17th as Friday start days become the norm.

With a 10-team division, Worcestershire will face five teams home and away, missing out on home fixtures with Essex and Hampshire and away matches against Lancashire and Somerset to accommodate the 14 fixtures in the 2024 campaign.

Full fixture list: 

  • Warwickshire (A) April 5
  • Nottinghamshire (A) April 12
  • Durham (H) April 19
  • Somerset (H) April 26
  • Kent (A) May 10
  • Surrey (A) May 17
  • Nottinghamshire (H) May 24
  • Surrey (H) June 23
  • Durham (A) June 30
  • Kent (H) August 22
  • Essex (A) August 29
  • Warwickshire (H) September 9 
  • Hampshire (A) September 17
  • Lancashire (H) September 26​

"We put in an incredible amount of effort last season to secure promotion and put ourselves in this position," said head coach Richardson.

"Now it’s time to embrace and enjoy the challenge that lies ahead. We’ll be facing some top players and teams who have been performing exceptionally well recently.

"This is an opportunity to test ourselves against them and measure our worth."

The group games for both the Vitality Blast and the Metro Bank One Day Cup have also been revealed.

At New Road, the Rapids will face Lancashire Lightning (May 31), Notts Outlaws (June 14), Northants Steelbacks (June 16), Birmingham Bears (June 21), Leicestershire Foxes (July 11), Yorkshire Vikings (July 14) and Derbyshire Falcons (July 18).

Away from home, the schedule is as follows: Yorkshire Vikings (May 30), Notts Outlaws (June 6), Northants Steelbacks (June 7), Leicestershire Foxes (June 9), Durham (July 5), Lancashire Lightning (July 7) and Birmingham Bears (July 12).

And at home in the One Day Cup: Middlesex (July 24), Durham (July 28), Kent (August 7) and Hampshire (August 11).

On their travels, they will head to Derbyshire (August 2), Northants (August 4), Somerset (August 9) and Lancashire (August 14).