adminCHEVRONS coach Dave Houghton is not happy his men were forced to play their ICC T20 World Cup Super12 opener in atrocious conditions in Hobart, Australia, yesterday.
The two neighbours shared the points after rain disrupted the match.
“I understand the need to try and get these games (played) for the public and the people watching on TV, and the need to try and play and get a result in slightly inclement weather,” Houghton told a press conference.
“But, I think we overstepped that mark in this game. I thought there were four or five overs where we should have come off.
“I don’t think we should have even bowled a ball, to be fair. But, the umpires are the guys making those decisions out in the middle, and they seemed to think it was fit to play.
“I disagree with them but there’s not much I can do off the field.” The start of the match was delayed by more than two-and-a-half hours, and the game was reduced to a nine-overs-per-side affair.
An interruption saw South Africa’s reply further curtailed to seven overs.
Play resumed, but was called off by umpires Ahsan Raza and Michael Gough with South Africa 13 runs away from hauling in their revised target of 64 and with two overs to be bowled to reach the five overs that would have constituted an innings.
South Africa were ahead of the DLS requirement at that stage, and would probably have retained the advantage had five overs been bowled.
But Houghton didn’t hold back in his criticism:
“The rain had got so heavy at one stage, it was ridiculous. For most of the evening it was misty with mizzle, but it got to the stage where we could hear it thumping on the roof in the dugout.
“To me that’s no longer mizzle and drizzle. That’s time to get off the field.
“And the field was wet when we started – it was wet when South Africa fielded. So they were difficult conditions for both sides. But it just got more and more wet as we bowled.
“When your keeper is sliding trying to move down to the leg side standing up to the spinners, it is too wet. I don’t think the conditions were right to carry on playing.”
Asked about his team’s communication with the officials, Houghton said: “I know that Craig (Ervine, Zimbabwe’s captain) and (Sikandar) Raza had a word with the umpires, and basically asked them what they constitute as rain because we’re getting quite wet. Eventually Sean Williams said, just as he was about to start bowling, that he didn’t think he could bowl, that it was too wet. And then they called us off.”
Houghton suggested the umpires were confused about the match situation when play resumed for the last time: “After the first time we came off, when they reduced it to seven overs, there was a bit of a delay because no-one seemed to know what the target was.”
The major spark for Houghton’s anger might be the fact that Richard Ngarava had to be helped from the field after falling heavily after he had bowled the last ball of the second over.
“He’s lying in the change room with a bunch of ice strapped to his ankle,” Houghton said. “It’s too early to assess the damage but we’re not happy about the fact that he’s not in a great space.” – Cricbuzz
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter