CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

Rain brings respite from rogue pitch

Heavy rain frustrated another large day-night crowd here, forcing Lancashire and Warwickshire back into the pavilion after just 5.1 overs.

The players, however, would have been less than heartbroken to see the clouds rolling in and the prospects of further play receding.

For even that brief interlude was enough to reveal a rogue pitch that was clearly going to make life hazardous for batsmen.

Indeed, Warwickshire captain Neil Smith was guilty of masterly understatement when he admitted, upon winning the toss, that his side would bat because he was unsure of how the pitch would play.

He found out soon enough. On a cracked surface used for a four-day game earlier in the season, the ball flew from a length, making it impossible for the batsmen to enjoy security.

Warwickshire had to wait until the 12th delivery of the innings to open their account with an edged four to third man by Anurag Singh.

In Peter Martin's second over and the fourth of the innings, Nick Knight received a brute of a delivery that lifted from just short of a length and gave him a painful crack on the thumb.

He resumed after treatment but required a further visit from the physiotherapist before the heavens opened, by which time Singh had departed, caught at mid-off from a leading edge as he tried to turn Ian Austin through midwicket.

Surely the whole concept of day-night cricket is to provide a playing surface that will encourage batsmen to play their shots.

The razzmatazz of the National League, particularly in day-night matches, is, we are constantly reminded, designed to attract a new, family-orientated audience to the game.

But without the rain, there would have been little high-speed entertainment in what was clearly destined to be a war of attrition.