Knights vs Reds, 5th Match at Belfast, Inter Pro T20, Aug 27 2020 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Good afternoon and welcome to ESPNCricinfo's live coverage of the Test Triangle IP20 match between the Knights and the Reds from the home of CSNI here in Stormont Northern Ireland. It's Justin here again and weather permitting I will be bringing all the coverage of today's game. With Tuesday's game between the Knight and the Lightning being called off due to the heavy rain and wind from Storm Francis, hopefully conditions today will be a little more favourable to Cricket!

With Tuesday's game being called off, the Knights still sit one point behind the Lightning after their bonus point win over the Reds last week. Paul Stirling was the star performer in the Knights batting last week, although as he has now headed over the water to play for the Northampton Steelback's in the Vitality Blast, so won't be available for them for the rest of the competition. Marc Ellison has been brought into the squad in his place.

Munster Reds will have been disappointed with their performance last week and I'm sure will be looking forward to getting the chance to make up for it today. Once again it's a very young looking team that's made its way up North today, although having ex-Glamorgan Jeremy Lawlor in the team will hopefully lend some experience to the batting. It's going to be a tough task although T20 is supposed to be all about upsets and surprises isn't it?

12:45pm Sadly it does look like the weather wants to get involved today. The covers are firmly in place, with little bits of drizzle around the ground. It does look a little grim out there. Lots of cloud cover too isn't going to help dry the ground if it does stop raining. It is going to be a delayed start.

1:20pm The Umpires have been out for a look at the outfield, which is just when it started raining again! It's almost as if the weather can let when a bank holiday weekend is coming. Typical. There really is nothing that the ground staff can do but wait and wait…

2:10pmGood news! The rain has stopped and its definitely got a lot brighter here. The ground staff have just driven a tractor with lots of sawdust out into the middle, there is still lots of water on the covers. All the spare time has been used up. We are losing overs now. To get a five over blast in then we need to get going by 4:17pm.

2:35pmThe Umpires have been out for a little look. There are a couple of areas of the outfield which is still a little wet, so they are going to have a look again at 3.15pm If there is no more rain, which is a big ask, than we might be getting underway at 4pm. Possibly 6 overs a side. There is still hope.

The weather is better down in Dublin where the Warriors have won the toss and are going to bowl first against the Lightning. 17 overs a side. They get underway at 2:40pm there. We have live ball by ball coverage of that game too.

A question has just come in from Gary Murphy: "Afternoon Justin! Hope it's not too soggy up there today. What's the cut-off time for a start do you know?", Soggy? Yes a little. To fit in 5 overs a side, then we have to get going by 4.17pm. So fingers crossed on that one!

3:15pmThe bad news is that we have just had some rain come across the ground, so the covers that had been taken off have just been dragged back on again. Just as it had looked so promising! Some of the players are still warming up, so hopefully this isn't terminal. Umpires out having a look now too.

3:45pmThere was a long chat between the Umpires and the two captains. Lots of hand waving at certain parts of the outfield. They seem to be waiting as long as they can to give us a chance of play. Full covers are back on though.

3:50pmBad news I'm afraid, the final inspection has been and gone and the elbow bumps have taken place between the Umpires and the Captains. The ground's just not going to dry before the cut off time. So Sadly no play today. What a poor week of weather we have had! 2 points each, I'm sure the Reds will be happier with that then the Knights.

The next round of IP20 games will be next Tuesday, so hopefully you'll be able to join me then. Until then this is Justin saying goodnight from a soggy Stormont.