After the third ODI in Bristol was called off 31 overs
into the first innings due to rain, with water also getting onto the play,
England earned a farcical 1-0 series victory over Ireland.
Before the rain began falling at 2.48 p.m. during the
drinks break, England had reached 280 for 4, with Ben Duckett scoring his first
ODI run to add on Phil Salt’s quick start of 61 off 28 at the top of the order.
The umpires opted to call on the groundstaff after a brief pause to check if it
would pass.
Before the three mobile covers arrived from Ashley
Down Road End, there was another problem when the covers got caught in the wind
and left the pitch exposed. A right-hander batting from the Pavilion End would
have been just outside off stump had the tractor not been pulling the covers
driven down there. Additionally, the gaps between the covers took longer to
close, allowing rain to accumulate on the playing field.
In order to towel off the damaged sections at both
ends, members of the ground staff were then forced to squeak under the covers.
Around 3:15 p.m., the reserve umpire David Millns, third umpire Rod Tucker, and
standing umpire Paul Reiffel came out to inspect the damage. At 3.21 pm, it was
decided to postpone the game after inspecting the underside of the coverings
and evaluating the amount of water that was still present on the square. Five
minutes later, the rain stopped.
Play started promptly at 12.30 p.m. despite the
outfield being soaked from an overnight downpour, but worries that the ground
couldn’t handle much more rain eventually came true.
“It caught everyone by surprise,” Zak
Crawley, England’s captain for this series, said. “The ground was already
a bit wet this morning after the rain that happened last night, so it didn’t
need a lot more rain to get abandoned like that. And obviously a lot of rain
fell in not a long space of time.
“I went on the outfield just now and it was
soaking wet as well. I think it was all unfit.”
Ireland skipper Paul Stirling echoed those sentiments,
having initially hoped the delay would allow his side to turn their fortunes
around after a chastening start in the field.
“I think we were all pretty happy when the rain
came, but we weren’t quite expecting it to end the game,” he said.
“We thought we might get a bit of a break or a bit of a rest and try and
regroup and come out there and change it up a little bit. But no, we weren’t
expecting the game to be called off.