New Zealand 'A'-Mumbai tie abandoned

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 2. Lal Bahadur Stadium is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. This is a venue, which is under serious debate for its acceptability as an international centre after ICC match referee Ranjan Madagulle's adverse report on the ground conditions to host any international matches after the last one between India and New Zealand in 1999.

Even as the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) was determined to treat New Zealand `A' as a special guest and decided to host all its matches in the Coromandel King Moin-ud- Dowla cricket tournament at the Lal Bahadur Stadium, the Kiwis' inaugural encounter with Mumbai had to be abandoned on Sunday under strange circumstances.

Fate seemed to have spelt doom for HCA. With the Kiwis, chasing a victory target of 251 in 50 overs, they looked good at 128 for three in 24 overs. But for no fault of the HCA, a tap of the `spread water' pipeline at the ground burst due to high pressure and created a huge puddle just to the right of the square-leg, which led to the abandonment of the match.

Mr. M. Ranga Reddy, vice-president of HCA, rushed to the middle as soon as the players trooped off the ground donning the role of Sherlock Holmes to know what exactly had happened. Apparently the issue was out of his control. Though lot of saw dust and sand was used to patch up the area, it was not just good enough and there was no possibility of getting dried up.

This incident led to animated discussions between the international umpire V.K. Ramaswamy and the two teams. Clearly, the area near that tap was too dangerous for any further action. What led to this was ironically the failure of the groundstaff to ensure that all the valves of the taps of the pipeline at the ground were closed. With the valve of this pipe open it had to bear the brunt of the high pressure and within seconds there was a puddle of water.

Mr. Ramaswamy told The Hindu that the rules of the game don't have a provision either to reduce the number of overs and let play continue after such an incident or declare a team winner by virtue of better run-rate. ``Interruption can only be by way of bad weather and nothing else,'' he clarified. ``Since, the fielding side would be at a huge disadvantage with that wet area, we decided to abandon the game,'' Ramaswamy explained. However, Mr. Ranga Reddy said that the two teams would be given one point each instead of going for a replay.

Significantly, the two teams didn't dispute the decision of the umpires but were obviously disappointed. ``There is no question of debating the umpires decision and they have done the right thing under the circumstances,'' said Ajit Agarkar, captain of Mumbai, and Ashley Ross, coach of Kiwis. Interestingly, the New Zealander reminded that once in Eden Park, Canterbury in New Zealand, the final of the Shell Cup two years ago had to be stopped for sudden bursting of the sprinkling water system. ``However, then because the ground dried out quickly, play was continued. Here, since it didn't look like that, it had to be stopped,'' he explained.

Certainly, not a start, which the HCA could have hoped for this season with two international matches scheduled to be held at the same venue - a one-dayer against Zimbabwe and a three-day match against England. Unfortunately, HCA could well get the flak for no fault of its, as obviously it might not have expected such an unforeseen incident to abandon a match.

For the record, Mumbai posted 250 for nine with Paul Valathaty (65, 10x4) and Bhavin (79, 8x4) were the top-scorers. For the New Zealanders, Drum (two for 35), Mills (two for 51), Oram (two for 50) and Joywitch (two for 45) bowled well.

In reply, Kiwis were in a comfortable position at 128 for three after Oram (37, 6 x 4) gave a good start. Sulzberger (27 not out) and Marshall (29 not out) were at the crease. The fielding of Mumbai was dismal as the wicketkeeper Nilesh Patwardhan and Jatin Paranjpe dropped two sitters each.

The scores:

At Gymkhana: Karnataka 209 for six (Aditya Mishra 33, K.M. Aiyappa 72) bt Sical 185 (S. Reuben Paul 69, Robin Singh 40, Sunil Kumar three for 47, Anand Katti three for 31).

At ECIL: Cricket Association of Bengal 215 (Saikat Mukherjee 63, J.P. Yadav three for 30) lost to Associated Banks 218 for five (Daniel Manohar 52, B. Akhil 79, Tilak Naidu 31).

At NFC: HCA President's XI 196 (T. Suman 37, Adithya Agarwal 37, Rajesh Pawar three for 40) bt IOC 178 (Amit Dani 49, Rajesh Pawar 37, Fahad three for 31, Ramakrishna three for 38, Noel David three for 22).

At LB Stadium: Mumbai CA 250 for nine (V. Paul 65, Bhavin Thaker 79) vs New Zealand `A' 128 for three in 28 overs (J. Oram 37). Match abandoned.

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