Jonathan Trott speaks on Noida’s poor drainage facilities after the one-off test vs New Zealand was abandoned.
Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan’s head coach spoke about the disappointment his team is going through after the test was called off.
The one-off test was abandoned without a single ball being bowled after rain and a wet outfield rendered the start of play impossible.
The major concern is that it was not even a complete washout—two days had been lost to wet patches around the outfield. Trott went ahead and said that this test will be a “good learning case” for the future.
“We’re disappointed. We’d geared ourselves up, and we’d trained really well. So really disappointed. The thing was we got to train on the square [on] the days before, so we got to see the pitch. The guys were starting to get there; their appetite for the game was growing even more. So heartbreaking not to be able to play.
“What I hope it is, it’s just a good learning case that things can crop up. All things need to be in place to ensure it’s ready for Test Cricket.
“And I think sometimes we take it for granted with regards to drainage or ground staff, those sort of things. I think the ground staff have worked, obviously, very hard here. It just unfortunately hasn’t materialised.”
In contrast to the first two days, there was rain during the night and early showers on the third and fourth days. Rain on the following two days made conditions worse, as the outfield was unplayable even in the sun on the first two days.
“The real sad thing is I think it was a really good pitch. And it would have been a good contest, which is the most disappointing thing”, Trott concluded.