International Test match Cricket hit a New Low with the 2nd Test(In Antigua) being abandoned because of the dangerous state of the Bowlers Run Ups
They had laid turf on top of sand and as soon as any weight went on it The turf disintegrated
May as well as run on a Beach with potholes
They got 1 over & 3 balls Bowled. England were 7 for 0
even Hit the US press Pages ...Rare!

And did Fred write this headline? I turned on for the cricket, only to find Gardeners’ World

Isn't that the second time that has happened in WI. Coincidently the first time was also against England. I remember the time when Walsh and Ambrose were bowling and after a couple of overs Mike Atherton came in, to ask the umpires to call of the match because of the pitch conditions.

And a few more embarrassing Abandonments.
I think its the complete list

quote:

9/10/96 Estonia-Scotland.

Match abandoned after three seconds when Estonia refused to turn up.

Thankfully Scotland won the toss and chose to kick-off otherwise an impasse could have ensued. Scotland were awarded a 3-0 walkover win but FIFA ordered a replay in Monaco which ended 0-0.

And this Infamous incident:

quote:

19/8/75 The Ashes. The final day of the third Test between England and Australia was wrecked when supporters protesting the innocence of George Davis in an armed robbery, got on the pitch during the night, dug up the wicket and poured oil on it. The match was drawn and Australia retained the Ashes.

Dear old George Davis, professional, top-ranking criminal, guilty as ever but with good friends to protest for him. In those days the pros had quite a bit to complain about.The police had the right idea who'd done the crime but were none too....um... careful in 'finding' the evidence.The number of people who resolutely denied a crime and who were professional villains who knew to keep their mouths shut, yet who, unaccountably, confessed or made damaging admissions to policemen in questioning, which were not contemporaneously recorded, or seen by the suspect at the time, was quite astonishing! And that was only part of it.

He may have been guilty but took exception to the methods employed in 'proving' so."It wasn't cricket" as we say.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G..._Davis_(armed_robber)
There was a song or 2 written about him

I recall in Liverpool somebody wrote "George Davies is Innocent" in big letters on a Railway Bridge (West Derby Area I think?) or was it The similarly named character in Defunct UK TV soap Brookside ?(Forget the right spelling)

Mike Selvey, who used to be a pace bowler for Middlesex and even had a couple of caps for England is now a fine jounalist and cricket writer. He penned this fine background piece for the Guardian just after the fiasco referred to in this thread. It's well worth reading. I learned a lot:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spor...t-indies-pitch-farce

If you look closely at the other venues(Antigua Recreation ground) Pitch, there is a Football pitch centre circle plumb Middle of the playing area!

Better than that,Bedstor, watching the match, it's obvious that part of that centre circle crosses the pitch on a length! This feature is affecting the play.