Kent have made another attempt to salvage extra points from the wreck of their two championship fixtures against Worcestershire. The abandonment of play at Canterbury yesterday meant that six days of cricket between the counties have produced not a single ball and no more than four points each. Kent are third from bottom of the first division.

Carl Openshaw, the Kent chairman, has written to the four counties who rejected the ECB’s proposal to award Kent an extra five points for the match abandoned in July because of a wet and polluted ground at New Road.

In a letter to Durham, Lancashire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire asking them to reconsider, Openshaw reminds them that the failure to start at New Road had nothing to do with prevailing weather conditions. “The weather had been relatively fine in Worcester in the days leading up to the match,” he wrote, adding that the average number of points obtained by other counties against Worcestershire before the scheduled game against Kent was 16.

Surrey have strongly contested assertions by Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, in a paper to the ECB that was revealed in The Times this week.

Reacting to Bransgrove’s claim that Surrey’s agreement to stage Tests and other international matches until at least 2019 has brought “little or no contribution” to the ECB pool and “vast profits” to Surrey, a club statement read: “In 2007 Surrey will have paid in excess of £2 million to the ECB as a result of its international programme. This represents a substantial proportion of the total monies raised by international cricket.

“Surrey have secured considerable borrowings against their long-term agreement and the profits made go towards the repayment of this debt. The club has made small profits in the last two years and is likely to make only a nominal profit in 2007.”

Surrey, in the early stages of fund-raising for a further £35 million development of the Brit Oval, say that they have “no agenda” to deny Hampshire or any other ground seeking to stage more international cricket.

Warwickshire also reacted yesterday to claims that they took an unreasonable share of the profits from staging the semi-finals and final of the Twenty20 Cup at Edgbaston on August 4. “Our ground is centrally located, can accommodate large crowds and offers a great atmosphere on big match days. Our bid to the ECB guaranteed significant funds to the centre for distribution throughout the game,” Colin Povey, the Warwickshire chief executive, said.