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Mike Hesson endorses independent review after Napier washout

by Andrew Wood Thursday 2 February 2017

Mike Hesson was not pleased with the conditions at McLean Park

©REUTERS MEDIA EXPRESS

New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson expressed his disappointment after the second One-Day International against Australia in Napier was washed out without a ball being bowled.

The game which was scheduled to begin by 2pm local time was eventually called off by 6:45pm local time despite the showers slowing down as the outfield was deemed unplayable.

This is also a third washout at McLean Park in the last four years and Hesson said the outfield at the venue left a lot to be desired.

"The ground was unfit for play. It wasn’t even close, to be fair," Hesson told reporters following the abandonment.

"One of those aspects is player safety but you also need to be able to play a game of cricket, whether it be diving around or digging your knee into the ground, whether it be slipping over, the ball landing and plugging.

"The ground was not even close to (being) fit for play which was incredibly frustrating for everybody.

"I understand there's going to be an independent review. It's pretty clear there's an issue with the outfield.

"We were training on Nelson Park 100 metres away and the ground was bone dry four hours ago, and the outfield here is not."

Napier is scheduled to host South Africa in the first week of March and when asked about any suggestion on rescheduling the game considering the condition of outfield, Hesson said he will leave the judgement on the outcome of review.

"It's too early to say," he said.

"I'll be interested in the outcome of the review because we can't have a day like today; you've got two teams fizzing to play, a great crowd and you haven't got a huge amount of rain but the outfield was not even close to fit for play which is very frustrating for everybody."

Following the result in Napier, New Zealand have claimed an unassailable lead of 1-0 with the final game scheduled to be played in Hamilton on Sunday.