*Official* World Test Championship Final 2021

[honestbharani]

W;ould it have been too late to change to somewhere else where it is not ****ing raining all 6 days in England? I mean this was known from last week right?

 

[Bahnz]

The forecast for Manchester (the other English venue with an onsight hotel) is pretty fine - just cloudy with a few showers on day 3. I think the ICC opted for Southampton because - wait for it - the weather in Manchester was considered to be too much of a risk.

 

[honestbharani]

The forecast for Manchester (the other English ground with an onsight hotel) is pretty fine - just cloudy with a few showers. I think the ICC opted for Southampton because - wait for it - the weather in Manchester was considered to be too much of a risk.

Yeah but is it that hard to shift in a week's notice given it is anyways cricket season in England? I assume Old Trafford would have been able to prep the pitch with 7 days notice?

 

[cnerd123]

In a non Covid world this game would have been played at Lords where the weather is probably better.

So really we should be blaming China instead of the ICC.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah but is it that hard to shift in a week's notice given it is anyways cricket season in England? I assume Old Trafford would have been able to prep the pitch with 7 days notice?

Would depend on whether there are any other games scheduled to be played there. Also, with covid-cases on the rise in England, moving the teams at the last moment would've been a pretty major logistical challenge.

 

[nzfan]

Wonder if we might get a scenario where there are a couple of forfeited innings given days 2 and 6 are the only ones with a clear forecast.

Would that be a farce? Happens all the time in first class to force a result.

I'm guessing both NZ and India wouldn't want that. They'd rather take a draw and claim we're still the top test team.

 

[honestbharani]

Would depend on whether there are any other games scheduled to be played there. Also, with covid-cases on the rise in England, moving the teams at the last moment would've been a pretty major logistical challenge.

True but still think it could have been pulled off had they built in some flexibility. I mean this could have been pre-pandemic or post and it would have still gone down this exact same way and that is just frustrating, that they can never be a bit more agile about stuff like this.

 

[Bahnz]

There's also the problem that you can't really rely on long-range weather forecasts. It's only really now that we can confidently say yep the 1st day will probably be a washout and days 3-4 will probably be heavily weather affected as well.

 

[honestbharani]

Can the ICC move the start date back by a day? And play Sat-Wed with Thursday as the reserve day? Seems we have more probability of getting more cricket that way.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

should just not leave the covers on, that'd spice things up

 

[Lillian Thomson]

The only potential, grasping at straws, degree of hope is that it’s thunder storms that are forecast and they can move through quicker or be less severe than anticipated or drop most of their load before arriving. Could also be worse and more prolonged of course, but you’re only young once.

 

[Victor Ian]

Should have played the test in australia at Docklands Stadium (with the roof).

 

[_00_deathscar]

Should have played it in India

 

[Moss]

True but still think it could have been pulled off had they built in some flexibility. I mean this could have been pre-pandemic or post and it would have still gone down this exact same way and that is just frustrating, that they can never be a bit more agile about stuff like this.

Yeah, you'd think after WC 2007 they'd learn not to mess with a final too much and be flexible when needed.

 

[Teja.]

We'll get 4+ days of play overall in the 6 days.

 

[honestbharani]

Are you suggesting more than 360 overs of play overall? I doubt it. If we do, it maybe enough time for a result though, especially if it is stop and start which means it will mess with the batsmen's rhythm as well as aid bowlers through overcast conditions etc.

 

[Burgey]

Be a shame if this is washed out after such a long build up. I understand they have a sixth day set aside, but it probably won't be enough if the forecast holds.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

The forecast for Manchester (the other English venue with an onsight hotel) is pretty fine - just cloudy with a few showers on day 3. I think the ICC opted for Southampton because - wait for it - the weather in Manchester was considered to be too much of a risk.

i'm wondering if it's not the weather but the drainage that's the issue. Certainly a few years ago Old Trafford was pretty bad wrt drainage and all the best groundkeepers around there work on the soccer fields.

Any Lancs posters able to confirm?

(Anyway this is not really relevant to the Southampton ground which supposedly has quite good drainage)

 

[honestbharani]

Didn't they rebuild the drainage when they moved the pitch perpendicular to what it used to be etc?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Didn't they rebuild the drainage when they moved the pitch perpendicular to what it used to be etc?

Yes and it wasn't all that successful (eg 2nd Test v India 2014, which was after the pitch had already been rotated)