Afghanistan and New Zealand coaches vent over the 'frustrating' abandonment of the one-off Test

Persistent rain and incompetent ground management had the last say in Greater Noida as the Afghanistan vs New Zealand one-off Test was abandoned on Friday. Scheduled to start on September 9, the first day of the match was called off due to a wet outfield at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Stadium. Despite the absence of rain on the first three days of the Test, not even the toss was possible because the ground remained unfit to host play. Ultimately, rain marred the last two days, and the one-off Test was called off on Friday without even the toss being observed. As the coaches of the respective teams addressed the media on Friday, they termed it ‘frustrating’ as the match concluded without any action.

Gary Stead and Jonathan Thrott weigh in on the Afghanistan vs New Zealand Test being called off

The cancellation of the Afghanistan vs New Zealand one-off Test is only the eighth instance in cricket history of a Test being called off without a single ball being bowled. With no on-field action, the New Zealand cricketers spent their time playing ‘hallway cricket.’ The clash against Afghanistan was intended to acclimatize New Zealand to the subcontinent conditions before they faced India and Sri Lanka at their homes for red-ball series. Instead, the team was left frustrated as they repeatedly headed out on the field to see if conditions would permit the match to start.

“It’s frustrating for us,” Gary Stead, the New Zealand head coach, said. “It was our first Test match against Afghanistan, and we were really excited about that as well. They’ve been great competitors of ours over the last few World Cups as well. We’ve had some great games of cricket,” he added.

The Kiwi head coach went on to explain how the match cancellation has hampered their chances to prepare for the upcoming Test series against India. The Afghanistan vs New Zealand Test was not part of the WTC cycle, with Afghanistan still excluded from the WTC proceedings. However, for New Zealand, the away red-ball series against India and Sri Lanka plays a significant role in their chances to secure a place in the WTC Final.

“For us, we have the World Test Championship just around the corner in Sri Lanka as well. So, the preparation towards that would have been really useful for us. And the most disappointing part for us is that we’ve lost the ability to be match-hardened and match-ready when we go into our Test match next week,” Gary Stead further emphasized.

The Afghanistan head coach, Jonathan Trott, voiced similar sentiments regarding the one-off clash. However, Trott noted that ensuring the safety of the players was the priority. Afghanistan would have been playing at their home ground if the situation in Greater Noida had proceeded as planned. The venue was chosen over other available options in Kanpur and Hyderabad. However, rain had the final say as the teams failed to face each other in the longest format of the game.

“There were a few things discussed, but we looked at the ground today, and it was never really going to be attainable, unfortunately,” Trott said. “There’s obviously a huge desire to play cricket, but the safety of the players—because New Zealand has significant tours coming up—unfortunately, you’ve got to take that into account. So as much as we want to play cricket, we don’t want anything to go wrong. We have an important ODI series against South Africa and a few more before the Champions Trophy,” he added.