THE decision to abandon play an hour before scheduled at the end of the third day of England’s second Test against Pakistan was called “a joke” by Nasser Hussain.
On a Saturday badly affected by persistent showers at Lord’s, players left the field at 17:08 BST.
At that point, prospects of conditions improving sufficiently for play to resume seemed remote. However, the rain cleared and the sky brightened.
The ground staff partially removed the covers while officials deliberated. At 18:30, with up to an hour of playing time remaining and with the weather the best it had been all day, umpires Paul Reiffel and Allahuddien Parker abandoned proceedings.
The decision was greeted with booing by some of the sparse crowd that remained inside the ground.
“That’s a joke, honestly a joke,” former England captain Hussain said on Sky Sports.
“I earlier said how good the umpires have been. These fans have waited all afternoon for it to stop raining. It’s now bright. There’s blue sky in the distance. That is an unbelievable decision, it really is.
“In about five minutes’ time it’s going to be sunny here.”
The weather stayed dry and the light remained good up to 19:30, the time at which play would have been scheduled to close.
The morning session had been washed out and only 24.5 overs of play were possible as the players dodged the showers, meaning spectators will receive a 50% refund on the price of their tickets.
If 30 overs had been completed, spectators would not have been entitled to any money back.
Still, the abandonment caused some fans to express their displeasure with messages to the BBC’s live coverage of the Test.
“Sat in the Edrich Stand,” wrote Joe at Lord’s. “It hasn’t rained for half an hour and it’s as bright as it’s been all day. Absolutely no justification for not playing right now. A real shame.”
Rachel in Kingswinford added: “Ridiculous to call it off! They want fans supporting Test cricket and those spectators have stuck with it all day – another 30-45 mins of play would have been a better look (plus saving authorities money on refunds)!”
Another message from Paul in Northwich read: “This is a terrible advert for cricket. It’s like the umpires are waiting for it to rain again. At least the spectators can get a refund.”(BBC Sport).