No wind, no sun, no cricket in Kolkata
The weather did cricket a favour in Kolkata yesterday by forcing the abandonment of the third Twenty20 international between India and SA. Rain stopped falling at about 6pm Indian time, but enough water had soaked into the deeper reaches of the outfield to thwart the groundstaff, who deployed three super soppers in their efforts to dry the ground. Twoand-a-half hours after the scheduled start, match referee Chris Broad appeared with members of the umpiring crew for a third pitch inspection. That done, the match was called off. And not a moment too soon: there was no point prolonging a series that was decided on Monday when SA added victory in Cuttack to their win in Dharamsala last Friday. Ravi Shastri, who is India’s “team director”, found a novel way to put the problem in a nutshell: “There was no wind and the sun doesn’t shine at night.”