Fog stops play in Napier

What next for poor old McLean Park?

In the latest and last round of the Plunket Shield four-day competition for the season, Central Districts and Auckland were forced to leave the field due to fog.

It comes after drainage issues put paid to a pair of one-day internationals, and in December, even intense sunlight saw play halted for half an hour.

Head south, and New Zealand and Bangladesh played through 140kph winds and light drizzle in their test match in January. In Napier, however, they can’t seem to catch a break.

Listed on the official scorecard as ‘bad light’, the Central Stags were forced from the field while bowling to Auckland because of a wall of fog invading the ground.

Poor weather hit the country yesterday as flooding and fog caused issues throughout the North Island, although blue skies had soared above Napier for at least part of the day.

That was until sea fog rolled in. Auckland were only five overs into their innings, having waited for McLean Park’s infamous drainage system to kick in throughout the day, when play was halted after 4pm.

It didn’t last long, with players back on the field about 10 minutes later, but it adds to a bizarre run of form for Napier’s besieged ground.

In December, a Twenty20 clash had to take a 30 minutes break when the sun beamed in at an awkward angle at the ground, meaning batsmen couldn’t see the ball as it was bowled.

What followed at the start of 2017 was less humorous, as the ground swallowed up limited rain in Napier and then wouldn’t dry.

The ODI between New Zealand and Australia was in turn abandoned.

Thatsaw another ODI at the ground, this time against South Africa, moved to Hamilton instead. Now, fog is getting in on the act. Having dismissed Robert O’Donnell before the fog rolled in, Navin Patel trapping him LBW, Blair Tickner came on after the delay to remove Glenn Phillips. Patel then removed Michael Guptill-Bunce to have Auckland 33-3 in the final session of the day.

Auckland ended on 57-3 when fog rolled in for a second time, ending play at about 5pm.

Elsewhere, Anaru Kitchen scored an unbeaten 141 for the Otago Volts in their match against Northern Districts. Kitchen hit six sixes and 14 four in his 160-ball knock. Otago finished on 301-4. Wellington, meanwhile, have Canterbury fighting hard to ensure a Plunket Shield title win, restricting them to 143-7 at the end of the first day.

It could have been far worse, but for Todd Astle’s fighting 62 batting at seven for the hosts at Hagley Oval.