Joe Root’s bid for World Cup form thwarted by Headingley abandonment
Joe Root’s bid to rediscover his 50-over form ahead of next month’s World Cup was thwarted by rain, as the first ODI between England and Ireland at Headingley was abandoned without a toss.
Root was added to England’s squad for this match at his own request after scores of 6, 0, 4 and 29 against New Zealand, and trained indoors on Monday and Tuesday. He has only played 16 ODI innings since the 2019 World Cup, scoring three half-centuries and no hundreds, but England are not overly concerned about his form.
He is unlikely to stay with the squad for the second ODI at Trent Bridge on Saturday, and is instead expected to rest, in keeping with his team-mates in the World Cup touring party. “I think he’s going to rest now until the World Cup”, Zak Crawley, England’s stand-in captain, said. “I’m not certain: if he wants to have a bat, that’s his decision.”
England fly to India next Wednesday and will play warm-up fixtures against India and Bangladesh in Guwahati, before travelling to Ahmedabad ahead of the World Cup opener against New Zealand on October 5. Root is nailed on to start the tournament at No. 3 and will be backed to rediscover the form that saw him finish the 2019 tournament as their leading run-scorer.
Rain showers meant that the scheduled 12pm toss was pushed back, but the rain had largely stopped by 1.30pm, barring a brief shower at around 2.15pm. The umpires repeatedly inspected the ground, but a saturated patch around the take-off area at the Kirkstall Lane End meant the ground was deemed unplayable.
Yorkshire sold around 10,000 tickets for this fixture and gave around 4,000 more away to local schools and clubs. Many of the fans who turned up greeted news of the abandonment – which arrived at 4.50pm – with boos; half an hour after umpires Mike Burns and Adrian Holdstock called the game off, the ground was bathed in sunshine.
“I was very disappointed that we didn’t get a game on,” Crawley said. “It was just the run-up at this end, really. It wasn’t fit for play, and I think that was probably right in the end. It was very wet and would have churned up if we’d played on it. It wouldn’t have been fit for the bowlers.”
“It was covered up, the bit that was wet,” Crawley added. “This time of year, it doesn’t dry as well as at other times of the year. We were unlucky with the weather leading into the game and then there was rain all this morning as well. I’m not sure there’s any more the groundsmen could have done: they worked very hard to try and get the game on.”
Yorkshire confirmed that all ticket-buyers will be refunded in full. The club did not make officials available for comments on the abandonment, but tweeted: “We would like to thank all of our ground staff for working incredibly hard today to try and get the game on.”
England were due to hand ODI debuts to at least two players, having selected a second-string squad for this series in order to allow their World Cup travelling party some time off. The two remaining fixtures are at Trent Bridge on Saturday and in Bristol on Tuesday.
(Cricinfo)
