Cricket: Rogue carry-over rule lands Doig in trouble

By RICHARD BOOCK

WELLINGTON - It was not as much the players as the officials who were running for cover yesterday as rain washed out the opening one-day cricket international between New Zealand and Australia.

Forced at the 11th hour to accept the International Cricket Council's decree on weather-affected ODIs, New Zealand Cricket had an early opportunity to display its commitment to the ruling yesterday when persistent rain and a wet outfield forced the game to be abandoned just after 3pm.

The match will be played today, starting at 2pm.

NZC had been anxious to apply the provision used in the recent West Indies series, when weather-affected ODIs were continued rather than restarted, but were told in no uncertain terms by the ICC to revert to the system set down in the formal playing conditions.

Chief executive Chris Doig acknowledged yesterday that NZC, which reached an in-house agreement with the West Indian board and match referee Raman Subba Row before the previous series, were out of order for changing the conditions without ICC permission.

"You could say that I was reprimanded," he said. "Mike Denness [the match referee for the Australian series] is under instructions from the ICC to follow the playing conditions as they are set down, and it was made pretty clear to me that CEOs don't have the right to persuade match referees to change their mind."

However, while Doig said NZC accepted the need to keep to the agreed processes, he believed there was logic and commonsense in the "carry-over" rule, which was used in the World Cup and was better suited to New Zealand's unstable climate.

The only time the rogue rule came into effect against the West Indies was, ironically, at the WestPacTrust Stadium in Wellington last month, when only 10 overs were bowled on the first day of the fourth ODI, after which the match continued on the reserve day.

Doig said the rule had been a success in Britain and that NZC would petition the ICC for permission to use the variation in future series.

"We've served notice to the ICC that we intend to have the altered condition approved at the next meeting of the ICC cricket committee, and I don't see any likelihood of difficulty there, because we're talking about logic.

"I feel that all we've done is to take an existing condition from another part of the world and apply it to our situation. It's not that we were trying to reinvent the wheel.

"But the bottom line is that Mike Denness and I are both under instructions that the conditions cannot be changed for this tour, and we're abiding by that."

The NZC boss defended yesterday's abandonment, which came after umpires Steve Dunne and Evan Watkin decided the bowlers' run-ups were dangerous.

The weather has not been kind to the new stadium as far as cricket is concerned, with all three representative matches, including the Shell Cup match between Wellington and Northern Districts and the fourth ODI in January, affected.

Doig said both sides were desperate to play but that the safety of the players was paramount, and suggested the amount of rain which fell over the past few days would have tested any venue.

"The outfield was very wet," he said. "Conditions weren't conducive to drying and it was felt that the ground simply wasn't fit. It's disappointing, but it would have been more disappointing if someone had been injured."