Somerset and Glamorgan will have to return to Trent Bridge on Monday after persistent rain ruled out any play in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup Final scheduled for today at the Nottingham venue.

Umpires David Millns and Rob White had hoped conditions would relent enough to allow the teams to bowl 20 overs each - the minimum to constitute a final under the competition rules - which would have avoided the contest spilling into a reserve day.

However, although there were breaks in the rain, none lasted long enough to allow ground staff any hope of completing their mopping-up process ahead of  the latest time permitted for a start. It had taken a soaking overnight when the Nottingham area was hit by thunderstorms.

Unfortunately, the local forecast for Monday is for more and perhaps heavier rain, raising the prospect of the 2024 trophy being shared if the minimum required overs cannot be bowled. 

Although the County Championship has been shared three times, it would be the first time in English cricket history that there has been no outright winner of a one-day competition.

It would be only the fourth time that a reserve day has been needed to decide a domestic one-day final, including the October T20 Blast final in 2020. 

This instance will revive the debate over whether scheduling a major final late in September is wise but the last time a reserve day was required to decide a 50-over competition - the Friends Provident Trophy of 2007 - the final at Lord’s was on August 18.

A shared trophy would be an unsatisfactory conclusion for both finalists, although in Somerset’s case it would mean that they at least had something to show for a season in which, until eight days ago, they were in the running to land a treble.

That dream disappeared when they were beaten by Gloucestershire in the Vitality Blast Final at Edgbaston on September 14. Last week, their hopes of winning the Vitality County Championship ended with the defeat against Lancashire that ensured Surrey would be champions for a third year running.

To reach this final, Somerset, who were One-Day Cup champions in 2019, finished top of Group A before edging out holders Leicestershire in a high-scoring semi-final at Taunton, where Lewis Goldsworthy made a brilliant 115 not out.

Glamorgan were Group B winners, then ended Warwickshire’s hopes of reaching the final with a 39-run win at Cardiff, where leading wicket-taker Dan Douthwaite’s four sixes in a 35-ball 55 was key.

The Welsh county are looking to repeat their success at Trent Bridge in 2021, when they downed Durham to lift the 50-over title.