Cricket: Test umpires all washed out

The new definition of an optimist these days might be a New Zealand cricket umpire carrying a sunhat. Already we have seen Steve Dunne create test history at Carisbrook, and Doug Cowie is not having much better luck in Faisalabad.

When the plug was finally pulled on the first test between India and New Zealand here yesterday, Dunne was still waiting to umpire a test match on his home ground. It was supposed to have happened 10 years ago but the match met an identical fate to this one, and if it happens again he may want to consider water-divining as a second vocation.

In 121 years only five tests have been abandoned without a ball being bowled and Dunne -- along with Carisbrook -- now holds the dubious honour of being involved in two of them.

Cowie spent his weekend in much the same way as Dunne, except the leaden skies he monitored were over the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, where the third test between the host nation and Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink of abandonment after three days of fog.