Yorkshire's three-day friendly against Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities, which was due to start on Saturday, has been cancelled.

The recent wet weather, even including some snow as recently as Monday, has left Emerald Headingley unplayable.

It also accounted for this week's friendly against Durham at the Riverside.

Yorkshire's hierarchy have taken the difficult decision with next Friday's opening Specsavers County Championship match against Essex in mind, and they are now assessing their options with regards to alternative cricket this weekend and for early next week.

"We have the potential to play Leicestershire in a two-day friendly (at Grace Road) on Monday and Tuesday," said director of cricket Martyn Moxon.

"We're looking down that avenue and hopefully trying to get something else for Saturday and Sunday, somewhere dry in the South.

"We should be able to confirm Leicester by today and have some idea as to whether anything's possible on Saturday and Sunday.

"We are also going to assess Weetwood on Friday as to whether there's any chance of getting anything up there, although the prognosis isn't great because it's wet everywhere. If there's any chance of playing some cricket, even if it's just for a day, we'll try and do that. I think the chances there are pretty slim, however."

The frustration for Moxon, coach Andrew Gale and the players is very clear.

"I think we've had a wet pre-season in the past, but I can't remember it being as bad as this in recent times," he said.

"It's just so frustrating given the shape the lads were in when they came back from Potchefstroom. We've only had two grass nets since we got back a couple of weeks ago.

"But we can't control the weather. The ground is so wet, the square is wet, and the pitch we were due to play on has gone wet due to the volume of water. It's not ideal in any way.

"We're desperate to play, so we've not taken this decision lightly.

"The lads are chomping at the bit to get outside and play some cricket. So to have to go back into indoor nets is the last thing we want.

"At the end of the day, we have to make the best of it and hope we can get some cricket in over the weekend and at Leicester early next week.

"To give us any chance of playing against Essex a week on Friday, we need sone dry weather and some warmth."