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| Sunday, 4 May 2003 |
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Overnight rain washes out first day of Kandy Test SA'ADI THAWFEEQ reporting from Kandy KANDY, May 3 - The worst fears of the Asgiriya International Stadium ground staff were confirmed when the opening day's play in the second cricket Test between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was called off without a ball being bowled at the Asgiriya International Stadium here today due to unfit ground conditions. Although the sun shone brightly, heavy overnight rain ruled out any play for the day. ICC umpires Daryl Harper and Simon Taufel of Australia, had one look at the ground conditions in the morning and decided to call off play for the day without a ball bowled. "We are dealing with international cricket here. To be honest, we couldn't even contemplate playing club cricket on this sort of ground," said umpire Harper who is standing in his 30th Test match. "The pitch looks pretty good, but it is the outfield that is our concern. At this stage it has taken too much moisture. The best thing we can do is to just let the sun take effect. The ground staff has been doing a marvellous job. We'll just let them continue doing their work and try and bring the ground up to as good a standard as they possibly can," he said. "With the prevailing weather conditions we really have to take just one-day at a time. We can't consider what might be coming this evening. Let the boys just work out during the day and let the sun take effect and maybe by tomorrow conditions might be good," said Harper. He said that if there is any more rain today the chances are that they will have to go to base once again tomorrow (Sunday). Harper said that almost every area outside the pitch and the surroundings (the 30m circle) was in very good condition and the 40-50 metres from the pitch. the whole circle basically. Harper said that there was no actual guideline for umpires to decide on ground conditions, but they have to go by common sense and experience. "Common sense and experience tells us that this ground is not going to fit today under these conditions. Under this sun, it will improve. Tomorrow we will gauge it in the same way as we do every other game. We walk on to the ground and see how it feels under our feet. We'll consider how it feels when you try to run on and we will take the necessary steps," said Harper. He said the captains had no say at the moment and that the umpires were dealing with the ground staff to bring the ground up a condition to make a start. "Cricket is a game subject to the weather it also has some niceties," he said. Harper said this was not the first time he had experienced delays of this nature in a Test match. "Even as recently as December when India played New Zealand at Hamilton we started one Test match late on the second day. On the first day it was very bad and it was very similar to this. The wind and the sun improved things so we started at about 4.30 p.m.," he said. The day's events left the local authorities pointing fingers at the BCCSL for delaying the extra four covers they had ordered from Colombo. The covers arrived a few hours late and by that time the rain had set in for the night and done the damage. Rain holding up play is nothing new to Kandy. The worst scenario was experienced in 1993 when only 50 minutes play was possible on the second day in the first Test between Sri Lanka and India played in July. Whether the current Test will outlast it only time will tell. Then as recently as June 2001, a total of 294.2 overs were lost due to rain in the Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. There was no play in the opening sessions, all but 15 minutes of the third day and all of the final two days. Sri Lanka scored 467-5 with Marvan Atapattu (207) and Sanath Jayasuriya (188) sharing the fifth highest partnership in Test cricket with an opening stand of 335. Wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene who made his Test debut neither kept wickets nor batted. |
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