Organisers of a celebrity cricket match to raise money for the Bradford Lord Mayor's Appeal have been left devastated after rain stopped play.

Popular characters from Emmerdale and The Bill were due to bat it out at the Bradford and Bingley Sports Club at Wagon Lane tomorrow.

But the pitch has been left under water after torrential rain hit the district and the match has been postponed.

The star-studded event was one of the biggest fundraisers in the Bradford Lord Mayor's Appeal calendar and could have raised up to £10,000 for children's cancer charity Candlelighters.

Josie Pennington, chairman of the appeal committee, said: "We have put so much effort into it putting all the posters up and arranging food. Chris Chittell (Emmerdale's Eric Pollard) said he was still quite happy to come up and have a duck race it is so wet!

"It is like a swimming pool, people are having to wade through and it just won't be possible to play."

He said it was hoped to rearrange the match for Sunday, August 18.

Groundsman Paul Markham said Amec workers building a section of the relief road at Dowley Gap helped pile up sandbags to keep rising water at bay. It was a couple of feet deep first thing but once the rain stopped it started to settle down," he said.

"We're just keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't rise again but it's unlikely there will be any sport here this weekend.

"The road-builders have been extremely helpful - they couldn't do enough for us."

A spokesman for Amec said workers were sent home early yesterday because it was too wet to work. Sections along the route were flooded including at the North Bog and the Cottingley viaduct which will span the River Aire.

Characters including Eric Pollard, Rodney Blackstock and Sydney Woolfe from Emmerdale were due to compete against DCI Jack Meadows, PC Jim Carver and new girl Det Sgt Debbie McAllister from Sun Hill.

But now the London-based cast have cancelled their coach and are staying down south.

Bradford-born actor Simon Rouse, who plays DCI Meadows, said: "We are all absolutely gutted that we are not coming up to Bradford to play cricket but we are hoping to come up as soon as we can."

The Lord Mayor of Bradford Richard Wightman said it was a huge disappointment for everyone in particular for Josie Pennington who had put a lot of work into promoting it.