09-01-2009, 11:12 PM
The England & Wales Cricket Board have launched an inquiry into Tuesday night’s farcical Twenty20 at Old Trafford as recriminations fly over the decision to abandon the match due to a wet run up.
The decision to call off play with out a ball bowled brought loud boos from the sell out 19,000 crowd and led former Australia fast bowler Jeff Thomson to label the players “soft” for not wanting to play.
Jim Cumbes, the Lancashire chief executive, pointed the finger at the officials and players for not wanting to put on a match after heavy rain fell in the area but cleared an hour before the match was called off at 8pm.
“I’m angry and bitterly disappointed,” he said. “I am angry because to my mind we were told when we started playing Twenty20 cricket several years ago you should be playing in the kind of conditions you wouldn’t normally play in first class cricket.
“To my mind if that had been Lancashire v Yorkshire on a Friday night in front 16,000 people we would have been playing. I know the umpires have tough decisions to make and I am aware of the importance of the safety of players, Christ I played the game for 20 years, but there comes a time when you have got to think about the people who paid £50 to come in here. Sometimes I think we would rather play in front of empty stadiums.”
But the two captains, Paul Collingwood of England and Australia’s Michael Clarke, agreed the run ups at the Brian Statham End were not safe and dismissed suggestions they could have bowled from one end in order to get a match on.
“The umpires came up to us and said they thought it was unfit for international cricket,” said Collingwood. “When you have got a lot of people in the ground it is hard but it is good they are brave enough to make a decision like that.”
telegraph.co.uk
The decision to call off play with out a ball bowled brought loud boos from the sell out 19,000 crowd and led former Australia fast bowler Jeff Thomson to label the players “soft” for not wanting to play.
Jim Cumbes, the Lancashire chief executive, pointed the finger at the officials and players for not wanting to put on a match after heavy rain fell in the area but cleared an hour before the match was called off at 8pm.
“I’m angry and bitterly disappointed,” he said. “I am angry because to my mind we were told when we started playing Twenty20 cricket several years ago you should be playing in the kind of conditions you wouldn’t normally play in first class cricket.
“To my mind if that had been Lancashire v Yorkshire on a Friday night in front 16,000 people we would have been playing. I know the umpires have tough decisions to make and I am aware of the importance of the safety of players, Christ I played the game for 20 years, but there comes a time when you have got to think about the people who paid £50 to come in here. Sometimes I think we would rather play in front of empty stadiums.”
But the two captains, Paul Collingwood of England and Australia’s Michael Clarke, agreed the run ups at the Brian Statham End were not safe and dismissed suggestions they could have bowled from one end in order to get a match on.
“The umpires came up to us and said they thought it was unfit for international cricket,” said Collingwood. “When you have got a lot of people in the ground it is hard but it is good they are brave enough to make a decision like that.”
telegraph.co.uk
