AFG vs NZ: Persistent rain washes out play on third consecutive day

The third day of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand in Greater Noida was also washed out. While the first two days were abandoned due to the wet outfield, the third day had incessant rain overnight and early morning, which made play impossible because the venue lacked a drainage system.

Hence, instead of any inspection and other such formalities, the umpires called off the play as early as 9.15 AM, 15 minutes before the start of play was scheduled. 

It rained heavily at the venue yesterday evening (September 10) after play was called off which itself was a good enough hint at the grim chances of play on the third day. To pile on the misery, there was plenty of early morning rain as well. The groundstaff, learning from their past mistakes, covered the whole square but it wasn’t enough to prevent the rest of the field, now leaving the whole ground soaked in some capacity.

The venue has received flak for inadequate facilities both on and off the field. However, Menhajuddin Naz, the international cricket manager at ACB, clarified yesterday that playing in Greater Noida was Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) choice due to logistical reasons. “The BCCI offered us three venues - this one, Kanpur and Bengaluru, but we chose Greater Noida as it was most convenient in terms of logistics. It was closer to Delhi and also connectivity from Kabul was better.

"This has always been our home venue. We have hosted teams like Zimbabwe, Ireland here since 2016. Recently, during our discussions with the BCCI, this ground was offered and this was the best logistical venue for us,” he said.

He also mentioned the three washed-out days as unfortunate, given that the weather isn’t in anyone’s control. Regarding the ground’s inability to absorb water, he also mentioned that the Afghanistan team played a three-day fixture before this Test and found the surface to be adequate for Test cricket. 

"We had a three-day game here with one of the local teams and faced no issues but the rain is something which is uncontrollable,” he had said. 

The Test match is under threat of being abandoned without a ball being bowled. There have been seven such Tests that have been abandoned without a ball being bowled. The last such instance was in 1998 when the Dunedin Test between India and New Zealand was washed out on the first three days. On the fourth day, however, the two teams decided to play an unofficial ODI. 

In a similar vein, Australia and England opted to play an official limited-overs match after the first few days of the MCG Test were abandoned due to bed weather. That limited-overs match later became the first-ever ODI match. 

Can we see something similar in this Afghanistan-New Zealand clash? We will have to wait for the conditions to get better first.

(Cover image credits: Blackcaps on X)

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