Picture Credit: Cricket Australia
There are various reasons which can cause a game of cricket being abandoned for some time. From rain to bad light, these are common obstacles often faced by the sport. However, the reason behind the stoppage of play during Day 1 of the Sheffield match between Queensland and South Australia on Tuesday, was absolutely bizarre.
The sun was shining at the Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide but still, the umpires were not really happy with the playing conditions. It all started when Joe Burns after a ball took off after pitching on one of the wet spots on the pitch which absolutely surprised the right-handed batsman. He was dismissed after gloving the ball and getting caught out and left the ground but not before giving a staring look to the wicket.
Play stopped due to pitch conditions
And then Marnus Labuschagne walked out in the middle and he had to face the same demons of the pitch. The right-handed batsman had no answers to some of the deliveries from David Grant which had a lot of uneven bounce. He was undoubtedly struggling in the middle, especially after getting hit by few body blows.
However, things went from bad to worse after the tea break. Two deliveries from Nathan McAndrew really took off the wet spot on the pitch making them absolutely unplayable for Labuschagne. The umpires realized that the conditions were just not feasible to play cricket and to ensure the safety of players, they took the decision to abandon the day's play in shocking circumstances.
Watch the video here:
Match referee explains the reason behind umpires' decision
The Day 1 action was stopped with Queensland's score reading as 87/1 in 50 overs. While Bryce Street was batting at 45* off 147 balls, Marnus Labuschagne was unbeaten on 21* off 48 deliveries.
Reflecting on the decision to abandon the day's play, match referee Steve Davis said, "There's a particular area of concern that's being operated on now, and that's why the players came off the field... What we're trying to do is just get some play, but it's obvious from the way the ball has behaved recently that was going to create a bit of a problem and the umpires were quite right to come off."
"There was a couple of people that were hit on the gloves and in the stomach area, and it was just behaving a bit unusual and that always gives you a bit of an alert. Then the umpires decided to bring them off and see what we can do about it. The playing conditions say the umpires can allow anything that can be done to make the game continue, and we clarified that with CA as well," he concluded.
