Worcestershire have received an unexpected £370,000 insurance pay-out in their battle to recover from the floods which wrecked the 2007 campaign.
The county suffered losses of more than £1 million after being unable to play any cricket at New Road after mid-June as two severe floods hit their headquarters in the space of a month.
The Pears are normally unable to obtain insurance cover for such setbacks as their ground lies on a flood plain.
But the renewal of a policy taken out in 2006 against any possible ground damage caused by an Elton John concert at their headquarters has given them a massive lifeline.
County chairman Percy Price explained: "We didn't know if we were going to have another concert in 2007 so we renewed the policy.
"It had no mention of the floods in it and so through that policy we ended up with a £370,000 pay-out to the club. That is why we are nowhere near as badly off as we could have been."
Worcestershire chief executive Mark Newton admitted: "We were a little fortunate with this policy. It made no mention of flood damage which meant we were able to claim.
"Had we not had this policy, the situation would have been worse and would have meant it would taken us even longer to recover."
