Rain continues to play spoilsport, washes out day four of AFG vs NZ Test

Not a single ball has been bowled with wet outfield preventing any action, raising serious questions over preparedness of the venue to host the match

Greater Noida: The fourth day of the one-off Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand was abandoned due to rain here on Thursday. The toss was scheduled to take place at 9 am but persistent rain continued to play spoilsport as the match officials called off the day’s play for the fourth day in succession.

“The fourth day of the only Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand teams is also not going to be played due to continued rainfall,” the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said in a statement.

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“The decision about the start of the game tomorrow morning at 8:00 will be made after the stadium assessment,” the ACB added. Not a single ball has been bowled across four days with the wet outfield preventing any action on the opening two days, raising serious questions over the preparedness of the venue to host the match.

Only seven matches in the history of Test cricket have been abandoned without a ball being bowled. The last time it happened was in the match between New Zealand and India at Dunedin in 1998.

Afghanistan are the hosts of the game and had picked the venue due to logistical reasons. It is their 10th match since receiving Test status from ICC in 2017.

Afghanistan are playing against New Zealand in the Test format for the first time. However, this match is not a part of the ICC’s World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. New Zealand next fly out to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series before returning to India for three Tests, starting October 16 at Bengaluru.