NO play was possible in the Royal London One-Day Cup South Group match between Gloucestershire and Surrey at the Brightside Ground, Bristol, yesterday.

The fixture ended up being flooded, rather than floodlit, as incessant heavy rain throughout the morning and early afternoon left numerous areas of casual water on the outfield.

With Surrey going into the game needing a victory to guarantee third place and qualification for the quarter-finals, umpires Jeff Evans and Billy Taylor delayed the abandonment for as long as possible.

But there was no let-up in the rain and after a 3pm inspection they decided there was no chance of the ground drying out sufficiently.

That left Surrey hoping that Sussex, the one team with a chance of snatching third place from them, would suffer a similar fate at Southampton where prospects for play against Hampshire looked equally bleak.

Gloucestershire were already out of the battle for a place in the knock-out phase.