Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott said he was disappointed over the one-off Test against New Zealand being abandoned due to rain at Greater Noida, citing the team had trained really well for playing a longer format game.
The inaugural Test between the two teams could never happen as wet outfield and persistent rain played spoilsport at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex. Despite sun shining in the first two days of the match, the outfield was so wet that the toss couldn’t even happen. It has also become just the eighth Test match to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.
“We’re disappointed. We’d geared ourselves up, and we’d trained really well. So really disappointed. To try and play a Test match this time of year is always tricky. Personally I was disappointed we were very excited to play against New Zealand and put ourselves up against the challenge of that.
“The thing was we got to train on the square (on) the days before, so we got to see the pitch. The guys were starting to get there; their appetite for the game was growing even more. So heartbreaking not to be able to play,” said Trott to reporters after the match was abandoned.
Trott also hoped the abandoned Test in Greater Noida becomes a good learning case for venues in terms of drainage facilities, which were clearly not up to the mark in this situation for the game to happen.
“What I hope it is, it’s just a good learning case that things can crop up. Everything has got to be checked out and made sure that it’s ready for Test-match cricket. Sometimes we take it for granted when we go and play all these things that have already been done in the past for other nations or other venues – with regards to drainage or ground staff, all those sort of things.
