Inquiry findings released
The Canterbury Cricket Association inquiry into the circumstances leading to the abandonment of play on the first day of the First Grade game between High School Old Boys and Old Collegians were released today
Canterbury Cricket Association
15-Mar-2001
The Canterbury Cricket Association inquiry into the circumstances leading to the abandonment of play on the first day of the First Grade game between High School Old Boys and Old Collegians were released today.
The inquiry, which was conducted by the CCA's Club Cricket Advisory Group who had received written reports from the respective clubs and the umpires.
The Club Advisory Group findings are as follows:
- The wet patches on the wicket block were caused by water pooling in low spots on the playing surface.
- The water had seeped under the covers from the surrounding areas
- The extent of these patches in the Waikari soil based block caused the abandonment of play for the day
- The Old Collegians Cricket Club had acted properly in covering the pitch but may have erred in not removing the covers on Friday
The Advisory Group considered the request from the High School Old Boys Club to play the game in full this weekend (Sat/Sun). This request was rejected on the following grounds:
- The conditions which rendered the pitch unfit for play were not caused by deliberate act
- There is no provision in the Club rules to allow for play to be made up when play is abandoned for an entire day
- There are no previous precedents to allow an exception to be made to allow a full days play to be made up
The Advisory Group did not wish to create a precedent of this type. It was concerned that in the future such a decision could possibly lead to future abuse of the playing conditions.
The Advisory Group acknowledged previous concerns expressed over the state of the wicket block at Elmwood. These concerns had been passed on to the CCA who instigated a pitch inspection and had set up a 'pitch-conditions' reporting system.