New Zealand's miserable summer weather created another casualty on the cricket scene today when the Central Districts-Otago State Shield match was abandoned in Nelson today before a ball was bowled.

Normally one of the contenders for the highest number of sunshine hours in New Zealand, Nelson went the way of many other venues by being unable to host what was an important game for both teams at Trafalgar Park.

The rain set in at 1am today and has not abated since.

Match umpires Evan Watkin and Dave Quested went through the motions of ground inspections, but they were purely that, inspections, because there was never any chance of play.

It was a case of reaching for airline schedules and making fresh arrangements well before the game was called off at 2pm.

Central Districts, the defending one-day champions, have had a horror start to this year's series and needed today's game to try and get back on track while Otago, who ended an eight game losing streak when beating Canterbury in their last game, were looking to consolidate and keep their hopes alive of making the semi-finals.

It was also disappointing for Otago captain Lee Germon who was hoping to play his first game for over a week after suffering a hip injury and for Blenheim player John Nelson it meant his one-day debut for CD was delayed until another occasion.

And for the cricket public of Nelson it was the only chance of a representative game being played on their ground gone for the summer.

© CricInfo