Walker wants pitch probe

Cricket

Kent head coach Matt Walker said there were questions to answer after last week’s County Championship match against Derbyshire at Chesterfield was abandoned without a ball bowled in the entire game. Umpires Stephen Gale and Billy Taylor decided there could be no play on day four after heavy rain on Thursday only added to the alreadysaturated outfield at Queen’s Park. Derbyshire switched the fixture to Queen’s Park because there were concerns a Boyzone pop concert at the County Ground in Derby on Saturday night could have damaged the outfield. Walker, above, said: “It’s disappointing because everyone has something to play for. We were looking to give someone a debut this week and people are playing for milestones and places. “Everyone has things to prove at this back end of the season. “But when we turned up on day one, we all knew we weren’t going to bowl a ball on here for the four days and probably not for another four days because it’s just not in a fit state. “I’m not going to get into reasons as to why they did it, that’s up to the ECB to ask those questions. “You don’t expect it these days with the facilities at grounds and everything in place to stop this from happening but when you come to an outground, there is a risk and certainly in September there is an even higher risk. “No one wants to come to a game of cricket and not play for four days, players, umpires, supporters especially, so I imagine everyone has got a few questions to ask. “We weren’t in a promotion hunt, had we been God knows what would have happened, everyone would have been livid about the situation.” Kent began their final match of the season at home to Glamorgan on Monday.

The ECB have announced Matt Walker will work with the England squad for the T20 tri-series involving Australia and New Zealand in February next year.