High winds lead to farcical finish

Leicestershire 23 for 2 v Kent 226 for 7 (Key 62) - No Result
Scorecard

A full house at Canterbury was left far from impressed as cricket's regulations once again contrived to scupper a well-balanced contest. High winds prevented the floodlights being raised which meant the match was abandoned six overs into Leicestershire's run chase.

The match was always likely to end this way as the winds were gusting well above the permitted 28mph limit from before the start of play. There was nothing in the playing conditions to allow for a shortened match so the umpires, Ian Gould and Richard Illingworth, had no option but to start a 40-over match at the scheduled time.

Kent's innings was completed without any problems, but already the light was fading. After a full-length interval the Leicestershire openers came out at dusk and were already having problems picking up the ball. The aim had been to try and reach the 10-over mark, where Duckworth-Lewis would have allowed a result.

If Leicestershire had been no wickets down their target was 38, but they lost two scalps within six overs and would have needed to be 58 after 10 overs. Captain Paul Nixon came out at No. 4 and was quickly motioning that he couldn't see. He was late on a slower-ball from Azhar Mahmood and the umpires came together. Nixon and Robert Key shared wry grins - both captains knew this had been coming for a long time.

In the end one point each was a fair result for the teams, but it was a far from satisfactory evening for the game. Kent offered to refund spectators, while both sides were left calling for some reworking of the playing conditions to allow for common sense if such conditions occur again.