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Live cricket scores: New Zealand v Australia 2nd ODI from McLean Park, Napier

Australia look to hit straight back in the second ODI after their six run defeat in Auckland earlier this week.

Gaining experience: Sam Heazlett.
Gaining experience: Sam Heazlett. Photo: Getty Images

Match Abandoned

After almost five hous sitting around waiting, the match has officially been abandoned. The players will now head to Hamilton for the third and final ODI with the winner claiming the Chappell-Hadlee trophy. Thankfully the weather forecast is for sunshine, but New Zealand weather can be quite unpredictable.

Thank you for joining me today, shame about the result, or lack of.

The captains and umpires have moved behind closed doors to discuss the state of the outfield. And while they are in the midst of these discussions, the rain has started to fall. It's not looking good.

For those looking for a laugh, I found this on the Napier City Council website.

"[McLean] park drains quickly and always has a good strong rooted sole of grass which also makes it a top surface for rugby."

 

This could be the final march for the umpires. If they're not happy now, unlikely that they'll ever be happy with this outfield

To make matters worse, the weather prediction for Napier tomorrow is glorious, 31 degrees and sunshine. The weather gods certainly didn't align with the cricket gods today.

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We have our next pitch inspection in 15 minutes, hopefully it will result in some good news, but based on the past few hours, it's not looking too positive.

The punters are starting to vent their frustrations on Twitter. Plenty of comparisons between the football codes, who play in driving rain, and the cricketers who won't play because of a bit of water on the outfield. 

The chance of any play today is growing slimmer by the minute. This from former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull in commentary "this ground can't dry any more." 

If we haven't had play in the four hours since the rain last fell, it's looking unlikely the outfield will dry any more in the next 90 minutes before the latest possible start time for us to still have a match.

This from AAP at the ground.

NAPIER, Feb 2 AAP - Australia's ODI against New Zealand in Napier continues to be delayed by a sodden field, with both teams harbouring concerns about player safety.

The trans-Tasman match was listed to start at noon (AEDT) but that was when the covers, anchored at McLean Park throughout a dreary morning, came off for the first time.

Umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Chris Brown scheduled the day's fourth pitch inspection for 3:30pm. That has come and gone with no sign of play anytime soon.

Play must start before around 5:20pm, otherwise the clash will be called off.

An ODI can be shortened to 20 overs per side and still constitute a game.

Dharmasena and Brown inspected the pitch and field twice before agreeing on a start time of 2:45pm, with the contest reduced to 37 overs a side.

However, that became the time of a third pitch inspection when opposing captains Aaron Finch and Kane Williamson shared a long discussion with Dharmasena and Brown some five minutes before the coin was due to be tossed.

It's understood both Finch and Williamson declared the field wasn't fit for play.

Water came to the surface when both teams were warming up.

Finch and Williamson earlier convened on the cusp of the inner circle, with Australia's stand-in skipper none too pleased with the size of a divot created when he kicked the turf.

Finch, Williamson, Dharmasena and Brown had another animated chat after the third inspection.

In addition to the two skippers, management from both sides have expressed concerns to match referee Ranjan Madugalle.

The venue's drainage has been an issue. A one-dayer between New Zealand and West Indies in 2013 and last year's ODI between the hosts and Pakistan were both abandoned without a ball bowled.

Still no play

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I have more bad news. We have had our 3:30 pitch inspection and the outfield has not got any drier. No word just yet on when the next inspection will take place, but player safety is the umpire's primary concern. 

The groundsman driving the Super Sopper must be getting dizzy, because he has been doing countless laps of the oval for the past couple of hours. 

Hopefully this is the only patch the umpires are concerned about.

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For those looking for their cricket fix during this rain delay, there is plenty of Sheffield Shield action taking place across Australia. 

Over in Glenelg, Western Australia are currently batting for the second time, after trailing South Australia by 46 runs after each team had batted once.

In Brisbane, Tasmania are 1/16 after Queensland declared at 9/405. Chris Hartley was the star for Queensland, with 102 not out.

And at the MCG, New South Wales are 3/185, trailing by 73 runs after Victoria were bowled out for 258 yesterday. 

More bad news

The umpires have inspected the outfield and we still have no sign of play in Napier. Our next inspection will be at 3:30 AEDT. It appears as though the umpires efforts to get play started are being thwarted by the players, with the New Zealanders not especially eager to get play underway. 

Another delay

More bad news from Napier. The umpires are still not happy with the state of the outfield and they have delayed the toss by a further half an hour. Looks like this will no longer be 37 overs a side, no word just yet on how many overs each side will face.

Play to commence at 2:45

The umpires have inspected the outfield and determined that it is still wet. But, we have some light at the end of the tunnel. Play will commence in just under an hour at 2:45 AEDT, with the toss at 2:15 AEDT. The match has been reduced to 37 overs each. The clouds are clearing and blue skies have set in, so once we get going, we shouldn't have any more delays.

I'll be back in 25 minutes for the toss.  

Still delayed

The umpires have completed their pitch inspection and the outfield is still quite waterlogged. They will conduct a further inspection at 1:45 AEDT and in the mean time the groundsmen will run the Super Sopper around this oval as many times as possible.

So no play just yet from Napier, but hopefully I'll have better news for you in half an hour.

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Match Delayed by Rain

Good afternoon and welcome to Fairfax's live blog of the second ODI between Australia and New Zealand from Napier. After New Zealand claimed a thrilling victory in the first ODI on Monday, Australia will be desperate to hit back and keep the Chappell-Hadlee series alive. 

Unfortunately the match has been delayed by some light drizzle and a wet outfield. However, the rain has stopped and the covers are starting to come off. The outfield remains quite wet though and the umpires will not come out for another inspection until 1:00pm AEDT. 

Hopefully there is no more rain and we'll get the all clear for play to commence following that inspection. 

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