Cricket-Durham upbeat after their big day is washed out

By Richard Sydenham

DURHAM, England, June 15 (Reuters) - Durham County Cricket Club were philosophical despite the first day of England's fourth test against West Indies -- the biggest match they have staged -- being washed out on Friday.

The 15,600 sell-out was the third England test match at Durham and the first against a major cricket nation after Zimbabwe and Bangladesh played tests there in 2003 and 2005 respectively.

Rain, which scuppered the two practice days, prevented any play on the first day at the Chester-le-Street ground in the northeast of England.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will refund all spectators and their losses of 640,000 pounds ($1.26 million) will be met by an insurance scheme.

"It's bad luck for us and is not great news financially but it's not dramatic either," Durham chief executive David Harker told Reuters.

"The biggest loss of ticket sales is covered by the ECB, while our corporate punters turned up and still had a few drinks but we will probably have to offer them an (incentive) deal for the future.

"We will lose some revenue from around the ground (catering and merchandise) because people haven't turned up. The bigger loss is losing the opportunity to stage this event, our biggest test match yet. But there's nothing we can do about the great British weather."