Day 1 of practice match washed out

The first day of the three-day match between the Indians and South Africa 'A' was on Monday abandoned after overnight rain rendered the outfield unfit for play.

After an inspection in the afternoon at 2 pm local time (5:30 pm IST), play was officially called off.

The abandonment cost the Indians an invalauable day's practice as the match is the only warm-up fixture before the visitors take on South Africa in the first Test, at Bloemfontein, on November 3.

India coach John Wright and manager M K Bhargava visited the venue -- Chatsworth Oval -- on Monday morning and returned disappointed after an hour.

"A mild shower on Sunday evening was enough to cause the delay as the ground has no drainage facility. Apparently, the facilities are not up to mark at the venue," Bhargava said.

"There are also not enough people to get it mopped up," he added.

Wright said it was disappointing to lose an important day's play of a lead-up game to the Tests in this manner.

The tourists are looking to sort out their team for the first Test, and are particularly keen to have a look at young opener Connor Williams and seamers Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, as well as give some practice to middle order batsman V V S Laxman.

In a late development, captain Sourav Ganguly changed his mind about skipping this game and decided to play. Ganguly will lead the team while wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta will sit out.

Earlier, Wright had named Anil Kumble as captain for the match since vice-captain Rahul Dravid is also not playing.

Mail Cricket Editor