Bangladesh Cricket: Rain washes out Day 3

Rain washed out the third day’s play of the second and final Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand at the Hagley Oval today.

It was a very frustrating day as rain poured in from the morning and did not stop when umpires Paul Reiffel and Nigel Llong had the final inspection at 4pm and called off the game for the day. Weather permitting the game will resume at 10.30am tomorrow, half an hour ahead of the scheduled play, with New Zealand at 260-7, chasing Bangladesh’s first innings total of 289.

“We still have two more days and I think there is a chance for us to get a positive result. We can’t do anything about rain. What we want to do is to be focused in the next two days,” said debutant wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan while talking to the reporters after the postponement decision.  

The day was even frustrating for the Tiger because they had to stay at the ground for seven hours. The lucky ones were of course the Black Caps who did not even bother to turn up at the venue.

Bangladesh arrived at the venue at 9 am after that unpleasant experience on the third day of the opening Test at Wellington. They stayed at the hotel a bit longer due of drizzle and they thought that there would be a delayed start. But by the time they turned up to Basin Reserve, a venue with first-class drainage facility, they were almost running behind the schedule to get ready for the game.

But if that was a scary experience, today’s one was very boring for the players since they were not allowed to leave the ground until that final decision from the umpires – a standard procedure that ICC match referee Javagal Srinath religiously followed.

Since it rained quite heavily for most part of seven hours the players spent time sitting in the dressing room, having fun among them.