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Black Caps boss Mike Hesson admits the abandonment of Thursday’s second Chappell-Hadlee ODI makes securing the trophy all the harder.
The match against Australia in Napier was cancelled in farcical fashion on Thursday evening due to a rain-soaked outfield both sides deemed unsafe.
Battered by dreary weather for much of Thursday morning, covers came off the McLean Park pitch at the scheduled start time of 2pm.
But the wet outfield simply wouldn’t dry out, with five inspections conducted before umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Chris Brown called off the game at 6:30pm local time.
Hesson said both players and management were supportive of the umpires’ decision, as the ground was clearly unfit for play.
“One of those aspects is player safety but you also need to be able to play a game of cricket,” Hesson said.
“Whether it be diving around or digging your knee into the ground, whether it be slipping over, the ball landing and plugging.”
An ODI can be shortened to 20 overs per side and still constitute a game, convincing many Napier fans to wait out the delay in vain.
Curator Phil Stoyanoff, Dharmasena, Brown and skippers Aaron Finch and Kane Williamson shared a lengthy discussion at 5:30pm, appearing highly disgruntled.
Dharmasena and Brown had earlier inspected the pitch and field twice before agreeing to a 37-over match at a start time of 4.45pm.
However, that became the time of a third pitch inspection when the opposing captains declared the field wasn’t fit for play.
Water came to the surface when both teams were warming up.
The venue’s drainage has been an issue in the past, with two Black Caps ODIs in Napier abandoned without a ball bowled since 2013.
“We were training on Nelson Park, 100 metres away, and the ground was bone dry four hours ago, and the outfield here is not,” Hesson said.
The abandonment plays right into Australia’s hands as Chappell-Hadlee holders, as they now need one win rather than two to retain the trophy.
The Black Caps won the first game at Eden Park by six runs, despite an extraordinary Marcus Stoinis century and lower-order resistance.
“It takes a chance away (because) we had to win one out of two, but now we’ve got to win one out of one,” Hesson said.
“We’ve all missed out on a really good day’s cricket, and it’s also taken away an opportunity for us to win the Chappell-Hadlee.”
New Zealand Cricket chief operating officer Anthony Crummy apologised to fans who waited in vain for the match to begin, saying he was gutted by what happened.
A full investigation will be conducted alongside local council into the oval’s drainage before any action could be taken.
He also stopped short of ruling out the relocation of the Black Caps’ ODI against South Africa in Napier on March 1.
“Ultimately we need to understand what it is, if something is fundamentally wrong under the ground then we need to make decisions,” Crummy said.
“Until we know, there’s no point speculating.”
All general admission ticket holders will get a full refund for the match.
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