The fourth and final day of the LV County Championship match against Lancashire at Stanley Park was called off due to an unfit pitch and the match abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The players returned to the ground on the final morning wondering if the better weather on Friday had managed to dry out the outfield and make it fit for play to begin. However, the saturated ground was still extremely soft and deemed unsafe by the umpires to allow play to start. The entire pitch at Stanley Park had become saturated and boggy after recent rainfall in Blackpool, and the weather conditions during the last four days has not been helpful in aiding proceedings. A lack of sun, little wind and some persistent mizzle on the first two days have seen the groundstaff fight a losing battle to get the match underway.

With the match abandoned both teams leave Blackpool with four points each. That means Surrey are languishing on 110 points at the foot of Division One of the LV County Championship. With Hampshire picking up a valuable win against Durham yesterday and with Yorkshire drawing against Kent at Scarborough it leaves Surrey currently 21 points away from moving out of the bottom two relegation spots. With only three games to go they are in ever increasing danger of seeing themselves in Division two for 2009.

Alan Butcher spoke to Surrey TV's Mark Church after the match was called off, click here to listen to his thoughts.

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