A combination of inclement weather, sub-par drainage, lack of trained and adequate ground staff, and insufficient equipment to handle contingency situations led to the two teams mostly spending time at their respective hotels during the duration of the Test.
The first two days, however, saw bright sunshine throughout at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, but play was called off on both days on account of a “wet outfield and damp patches in the playing area”.
Both coaches were “disappointed and frustrated” at not getting any play out of the Test with Trott also stating that Afghan players were “heartbroken”.
“We are disappointed. We had geared ourselves up, and we had trained really well (for the Test),” Trott said about not getting any play despite bright sunshine on the first two days. “We were very excited to play against New Zealand and put ourselves up against the challenge. We had played warm-up matches and got ourselves accustomed to the conditions. The thing was we got to train on the square on the days before (the Test), so we even got to see the pitch. Our appetite for this particular game was growing as it neared. So, not being able to play even one day is heartbreaking.”
Stead echoed Trott’s sentiments. New Zealand wanted to get much-needed match practice ahead of their five World Test Championship (WTC) matches against Sri Lanka (2) and India (3), but that didn’t materialise.
“The most frustrating part for us is that we lost the opportunity to be match-hardened and match-ready when we go into our Test match against Sri Lanka next week,” Stead said. “The guys are really disappointed. It was an opportunity to play Afghanistan. It doesn’t come around that often. They have some unique bowlers and it’s always good to get your head around how you face them. The way they play is a little bit different from other countries. It’s always learning what you can do when you get in those match situations.”
Although in few words, Trott expressed his displeasure over the drainage system of the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex.
“I hope it is a good learning case (for organisers) that situations can crop up… everything has got to be checked out and made sure that it’s ready for Test match cricket. After all, it is Test cricket at the end of the day. And I think sometimes we take it for granted when we go and play. Things have already been done in the past for other nations or other venues – with regards to drainage or ground staff and all those sorts of things,” Trott said.
The former England top-order batsman also rued about the continuous downpour that the city has experienced in the last 10 days.
“To try and play a Test match at this time of the year is always tricky. The amount of water that’s come down is unprecedented for this time of the year or the last three days. But it would have been nice to play some cricket for sure,” Trott said.
Although the one-off Test wasn’t a part of the WTC, Black Caps coach Stead said the format is “very, very dear to the team’s hearts” and that’s why not getting any play was quite “disheartening”.
“We came here to play cricket and play a Test match. Test cricket, certainly to our group of players, is very, very dear to our hearts and every Test you get to play in is a big one. So regardless of whether it has World Test Championship points or not, it was an opportunity to get out there for five days. The surface looked great. The whole block looked fantastic, so it would have been a great match of Test cricket,” said Stead.
