The fourth match of the five-match one-day series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe was abandoned on Friday without a ball being bowled following an overnight and early morning showers.
Though the sun shone brightly at the Chittagong divisional stadium in the afternoon, it was not enough to make the waterlogged ground playable and the match officials called off the game at 12:40pm.
‘The match referee after inspecting the field has decided that the match could not be possible due to the heavy rain throughout Thursday and also in the morning of the matchday and with the weather condition right now there is no way the outfield could dry up any time soon to hold a match,’ BCB chairman of the media committee Mohammad Jalal Yunus informed the press after the match referee’s decision.
‘If we did not have the rain in the morning then the water that you see in the outfield probably would not have been there,’ he further added.
Thousands of cricket fans of Chittagong, who lined up outside the stadium since early morning to watch their Tigers’ play, were disappointed to hear that no match will be played due to a poor outfield condition.
There was a discussion whether there could be at least a curtail-over match, which also the crowd wanted at any cost, but the poor condition of the outfield did not let the match referee to give it a re-think.
The outfield was soggy and there was every chance of the players picking up
injury during fielding, so none of the sides were interested in risking their players ahead of the World Cup.
The players and officials of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh arrived at the stadium at around 11:30am only to be surprised to see the condition of the outfield.
‘We lack a proper drainage system in Chittagong but even if we did have it, with the heavy downpour we had it would not have been possible to hold the match,’ claimed Jalal Yunus.
The fans who were waiting in the rain patiently, vented their frustration on the ticket counter located just outside the stadium and the customs and excise office but a quick response by the police did not let the situation get out of control.
The BCB for security purpose had announced that the ticket sales will not be at the venue any longer, rather the tickets will be sold from four Grameenphone outlets located at the GEC Mor, Agrabad, Anderkilla and CDA.
The BCB has further announced that the 1,100 tickets they sold for the fourth one-day match will remain valid for the fifth one-dayer and they will only release an additional 1,500 tickets. All complimentary tickets they distributed ahead of the game, however, have been cancelled. The BCB also said they will not issue any complimentary tickets for the fifth ODI.
The fifth and final match of the series will be held on Sunday at the same venue.
