At 2 pm local time, after the rain stopped, the umpires inspected the pitch and outfield and it was hoped that a 20 over rain curtailed match could in fact be played. However one hour later it became evident that barely any of the rain water had been drained and in the event a match, even a truncated one, became impossible. The amount of water on the outfield was deemed a “risk to the players” and even the so called super-sopper machines used to mop up the water proved useless.

The irony of the whole situation was that by the time the match was called off and it was announced that the spectators would receive their money back, the sun was out and it seemed an ideal set up for a match to take place. So it was left to the English players to mollify an irate crowd by some mingling and a lot of autograph signing.

The Headingly venue has recently undergone an expensive Pounds 600,000 resurfacing operation. This included a new drainage system, however both these were not enough to permit a single delivery being bowled in the first ODI in the currently ongoing three ODI series. As stated by the ECB, this drainage system will not reach its full potential until later this summer, since the new systems are required to “bed down” which will take a few weeks.

According to a cricket news report in the BBC, every first class ground in England was paid six hundred thousand pounds for a new drainage system and the Lords ground spent as much as a million pounds for the new drainage systems and over the coming summer’s playing season the benefits of it will become evident, according to the ECB.

The ECB is now receiving criticism regarding the timing of the installation of the new drainage systems. Dominic Cork, former English player is of the view that the new drainage system should have been installed after the T20 World Cup and the Ashes series rather than prior to these important fixtures. Players are evidently of the view that just one bad shower would preclude play.

At this time the situation is that only Lords is equipped with the kind of drainage that will allow play after heavy rain and there will be quite a bit of treatment required before the other grounds are competently able to deal with downpours. Many in international cricket are looking at the fate of the T20 World Cup with some trepidation.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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