The opening of the new season at Derby was marred by anticlimax and despair when the Vitality County Championship match between Derbyshire and Gloucestershire was called off before a ball was bowled.
Weeks of rain leading up to the match, followed by more bad weather over the next four days, rendered the County Ground outfield soggy and unsuited for first-class cricket. Following heavy rain on Sunday night, umpires Ian Blackwell and Neil Pratt called the match off following an inspection at 9.45 a.m. on Monday.
It is the first time a County Championship game at Derby has been called off without a ball being bowled since the match against Nottinghamshire was entirely wiped out in May 1981.
Both teams have eight points and will hope for better weather in their upcoming matches, with Gloucestershire playing Yorkshire in Bristol and Derbyshire facing Glamorgan in Cardiff on Friday.
Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire’s head of cricket, said: “It’s quite frustrating. We work so hard at the start of the season, and then we don’t get along, which is quite disheartening. Everything about the past four days has been incredibly frustrating. But we had a notion coming into this game that you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to imagine you wouldn’t get along.
“So we are going to train now and get some good time into the bowlers and get another spell into them. The batters have hit so many balls in the last couple of days indoors and we need them to test their defence outdoors so we are going to do that and give them a good training session.
“We’ll have a day off tomorrow, the boys need to mentally refresh, then come in Wednesday and we’ll train again and then we will be ready to go down at Cardiff “
Gloucestershire’s head coach, Mark Alleyne, said: “I was just telling the players today that you generally play all these games in your heads and talk about outcomes and things that might or might not happen, but I must admit that not playing for four days wasn’t on my radar.
“I never really processed that one so it’s really disappointing that we didn’t get out there. But we do know it’s part and parcel of the English season so, as disappointing as it is, it’s not going to derail what we look to do next, we are going to crack on and get ready for the next challenge.
“There are not a lot of positives to take away from not playing. For the players to maintain such a strong work ethic and great attitude even though we weren’t playing is a real takeaway for me, they’ve been brilliant these four days.”
For more updates and insights on IPL 2024, visit CricAdvisor, your ultimate cricket companion
