GREATER NOIDA: Rain forced the fourth successive day of the only Test between Afghanistan and New Zealand to be called off on Thursday, leaving the match in danger of being washed out without a ball being bowled.

With overnight downpours falling on an already saturated Greater Noida ground, umpires inspected before the scheduled start time of 9:30am (0400 GMT) and declared that no play would be possible.

The officials will inspect again at 8:00am (0230 GMT) on Friday’s final day with the Test set to become only the eighth in history to be abandoned without a ball being bowled — and the first for more than a quarter of a century.

The last time an entire Test was washed out was in December 1998 when New Zealand hosted India in Dunedin.

An abandoned 1970 Test match between Australia and England in Melbourne gave birth to one-day international cricket.

The two teams instead decided to play a 40-over contest on the originally scheduled fifth day once the weather had relented and it was later officially recognised as the first-ever ODI.

Afghanistan are unable to play international matches at home because of the security situation Afghanistan’s adopted Greater Noida home ground, near New Delhi, has seen incessant rain for two weeks.

Afghanistan have successfully played six Twenty20 and five One-day Internationals at the Greater Noida venue since 2017.

But it is hosting Test cricket for the first time and has come under fire for lacking world-class facilities and having only basic drainage.

Hand-held electric fans had been used earlier in the week in a desperate attempt to dry the waterlogged turf.

This is only Afghanistan’s 10th five-day match since they were granted Test status in 2017.

Tim Southee’s New Zealand will next travel after Friday’s scheduled final day for two Tests in Sri Lanka before returning for three more against India.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024