Wet weather accounts for day two at Edgbaston

Cricket365
June 8, 2012

Rain saw day two of the third and final Test between England and the West Indies abandoned without a ball bowled.

Day one's entirety was lost to the inclement weather in Birmingham and persistent showers rendered Friday's first session a washout too.

While umpires Kumar Dharmasena and Tony Hill waited until the tea break to call stumps on Thursday, their decision was a lot more prompt the second time around at 13:50 local time (12:50 GMT).

This is the first time since June 1964, when England and Australia endured a damp stalemate in their second Ashes clash at Lord's, that the first two days of a Test in the United Kingdom have been completely washed out.

Edgbaston sports an impressive drainage facility, but groundstaff will require considerable respite from the hefty deluge in order to have conditions sufficient for play come Saturday.

The home side boast an unassailable two-nil lead in the three-match series on the back of five- and nine-wicket wins at Lord's and Trent Bridge respectively.

Meanwhile, Shivnarine Chanderpaul's participation in the Edgbaston fixture hangs in the balance. Thursday saw the Windies veteran visit a local hospital for a scan after complaining of soreness to his side.

The left-hander, who scored 225 runs in the first two matches of the series, did not bat in the nets in the two days leading up to the third Test and also sat out the two-day tour fixture against Leicestershire.

While Narsingh Deonarine or Assad Fudadin are likely to replace Kirk Edwards, who has managed just 20 runs in eight innings this tour, both will play if Chanderpaul is ruled out. Spinner Sunil Narine, too, was expecting a game ahead of fellow spinner Shane Shillingford.

England were boosted by wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior's recovery from an eye infection, but opted to rested seamer James Anderson, with one of Steven Finn or Graeme Onions set to replace him.