Game write-off

THE fifth one-day match between India and Australia has been abandoned without a ball bowled in Cuttack.

It took only a brief inspection under relatively sunny skies from umpires Nigel Long and Sundaram Ravi, as well as match referee Roshan Mahanama yesterday to confirm the ground unfit for play.

Both teams inspected the ground on Friday and found the outfield to be waterlogged and unlikely fit for action.

However under ICC law, the ground must be inspected on game day before it can be officially called off.

But the decision had unofficially been made earlier, with neither team arriving at the ground yesterday.

Both teams will now travel to Nagpur for the penultimate ODI, to be played on Wednesday, before the series ends in Bangalore the next Saturday.

Victory in either match would ensure Australia, who leads the series 2-1, maintains a recent dominance on Indian soil in the one-day format.