Fans react as snow stops play in multiple County Championship warm-up matches

Several county cricket grounds have been hit with snow showers today, with warm-up matches between Kent and Lancashire and Northamptonshire and Durham affected.

The new County Championship season is set to get underway next week, with the first round of fixtures due to begin on April 7. However, snow has had an effect on some counties' preparations for the new season, with the Kent vs Lancashire match at Canterbury ending prematurely due to the snow.

Northamptonshire's game against Durham and Gloucestershire's clash with Glamorgan were also hit by a snow shower, while Nottinghamshire's pre-season photoshoot was also affected by the weather. The club shared a selection of images on social media with the caption: "It's beginning to look a lot like... cricket?"

Northamptonshire, meanwhile, shared a clip of ground staff clearing snow on the outfield with caption: "Play cricket in March they said. It'll be fun they said." They also joked: "Northamptonshire have won the toss and refused to field."

"A break in play here for, errr… snow," joked Gloucestershire. "What happened to Spring?" Supporters were also quick to react to the weather, with @jimgilch tweeting: "A warm welcome back to the cricket seaso.... ....Ok maybe not that warm!" @TestMatchDan joked: "Challenging the definition of a warm-up match".

Other fans also took aim at the ECB, questioning why the season is set to begin in a week given the weather conditions. @HarriGlazier tweeted: "It is such a mystery as to why England are struggling to generate international talent able to play in the sub-continent? Clearly starting our red ball season in the ACTUAL SNOW every year is not a contributing factor".

"And we wonder why we’re s*** at test cricket when the longer