Lancashire chief angry at T20 abandonment by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Event:

Australia in British Isles 2009

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DateLine: 2nd September 2009

 

Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes reacted furiously to the abandonment of the Twenty20 at Old Trafford.

 

The CEO could only watch in dismay as match officials called off the game at around 8pm, with a capacity 19,500 crowd leaving the stadium without a ball being bowled.

 

Cumbes said that a domestic match would have been allowed to go ahead in the same conditions and insists international teams should either follow the same norms or not play the shortest format of the game.

 

"I'm angry and bitterly disappointed. It's my view that for a Twenty20 match we should have played a game out there tonight," he said.

 

"When we started playing Twenty20 cricket a few years ago we were told to be prepared to play cricket in conditions you wouldn't normally play in in first-class cricket.

 

"To my mind, if that was Yorkshire against Lancashire on a Friday night in front of 16,000 people we would have been playing.

 

"If we can't do that at international level I accept that, but in that case let's not play it at all at international level.

 

"If it's not the case that we can play in these conditions then I would advocate we don't play it (internationally) and we leave it as a hit and giggle at domestic level to draw the crowds in.

 

"If we're not expected to play in those conditions then that's a problem because we're going to come up against them more often than not, especially in this country."

 

Cumbes though refused to apportion blame to anyone, but looked visibly unhappy after he himself conducted an inspection of the bowlers' run-ups at the Brian Statham End, the worst affected area of the pitch.

 

"It's not a question of blame, it's a matter of opinion. But when I went to look at the spot that was causing bother I fully expected to put my foot down and bring water up, but there was no water there," he said.

 

"It's up to the umpires to consult the two captains. Player safety is important, of course it is, but the conditions we are expected to play Twenty20 cricket in are less than perfect.

 

"I know umpires have a tough decision to make and I know we have to think about players' injuries, because I played the game for 20 years, but there's a time when you have to think about the people who paid £50 to come and see a game.

 

"Sometimes I think we'd rather be playing in front of empty stadiums.

 

"Twenty20 cricket was invented on village greens 50 years ago on a Wednesday night when it was pouring with rain. I know that's club cricket and it's probably stretching the point but we've played domestic cricket here in much worse conditions than that."