New Delhi: New Zealand head coach Gary Stead and Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott weren’t the happiest men when the highly-anticipated one off Test between the two sides was washed out on Friday. The dark clouds in Greater Noida remained intact for the duration of the game which was from September 9 to 13 with not a single day getting to see a single bowl being bowled.
It is understood how frustrating it would have been for the players, who sweat it out in the nets in the tune-up to the tests but the situation was nothing different for the head coaches as well. For Stead, the Kiwis spent their week playing “hallway cricket” and it wasn’t the kind of build-up they were looking for ahead of their crucial World Test Championship (WTC) games against Sri Lanka and India.
In the press conference that was held after the abandonment of the match, words like “frustrating” and “disappointing” were frequently used. The game was notably only the eighth instance of a Test match being abandoned without a ball bowled. It marked the first-ever instance in India as the rain gods weren’t kind throughout the scheduled five days, keeping the outfield wet.
“It’s frustrating for us. It was our first Test match against Afghanistan and we were really excited about that as well. They’ve been great competitors of ours over the last few World Cups as well. We’ve had some great games of cricket. For us, we have the World Test Championship just around the corner in Sri Lanka as well. So, the preparation towards that would have been really useful for us as well,” Stead said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
He also added that the opportunity to play in Afghanistan is crucial because of the range of bowlers they boast and the way of playing cricket they display.
What Jonathan Trott said?
Trott too expressed his disappointment but also emphasized the fact of player safety. Trott was asked if a limited-overs game was on the cards for the fifth and final day to which he replied that they did discuss a few things but the condition of the ground made the game it “unattainable.”
“There’s obviously a huge desire to play cricket but the safety of the players.. because New Zealand have got huge tours coming up.. unfortunately, you’ve got to take that into account. So as much as we want to play cricket, we don’t want anything to go wrong. We have got an important ODI series against South Africa and a few more before the Champions Trophy.”
Both Stead and Trott weighed in on the unfortunate situation saying that it is the unexpected weather that has cost the game, reflecting that for a Test to be played this time of year is always “tricky”. When the covers came off the square on the morning of Day 5 (Friday), after the match had reached the conclusion, the pitch turned out to be soaking wet in what was an inevitable end to the five-day contest.
The hopes of Test cricket fans took a beating when the one off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was ultimately called off due to persistent rain in Greater Noida. Head coaches Gary Stead and Jonathan Trott had their take on the disappointing result. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
