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England v New Zealand, NatWest Series, Old Trafford Rain rules at Old Trafford June 24, 2004
England v New Zealand - match abandoned
Manchester's weather in the last few days has been more akin to the bleak midwinter than the summer solstice that recently passed, and so it came as no surprise when today's opening NatWest Series fixture was abandoned without a ball being bowled. "After last night's battering of rain, we were hopeful that the skies would clear this morning," said Peter Marron, Lancashire's head groundsman. But further belts of bad weather swept in throughout the afternoon, and it would have taken at least two hours of clear conditions to enable the mopping-up operation to be completed. The umpires did attempt several inspections throughout the day, although the sight of Daryl Harper's umbrella being blown inside-out was a apt commentary on the state of the conditions. The high winds would have been a factor later in the day as well, as the temporary floodlights around the ground would not have been allowed to be erected to their full height. On the plus side for England, Marcus Trescothick, who had been passed fit to play after overcoming a sprain in his left ankle, will be given a couple of extra days to fully recover, while the captain, Michael Vaughan, spoke for his squad when he admitted he wasn't too disappointed at being freed up to watch the European Championships quarter-final against Portugal. In a masterful stroke of PR, the ECB had announced that the latest that play could have started was at 7.47pm, exactly two minutes after the start of that game, but in the end there was no conflict of interests for the smattering of spectators who remained to the end. For England's one-day team, however, it is business as usual. They have been phenomenally unlucky with the weather ever since their pre-Christmas tour of Sri Lanka, and of their last nine scheduled one-day matches, five have been abandoned as washouts (four of them without a ball being bowled) and a sixth was restricted to 30 overs a side. This latest abandonment is particularly hard luck on Yorkshire's Anthony McGrath, who has tagged along with the squad since the tour of Bangladesh, without once getting a game. Now, in the absence of Andrew Flintoff, he had been inked in to start, but once again, he has been left to watch and wait. © Cricinfo
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