Michael Vaughan was left frustrated with his cricket after Melbourne Renegades’ match with Perth Scorchers was called off after 6.5 overs due to an unsafe, wet pitch.
Heavy rain fell in Geelong in the lead-up to the match and water seeped through the covers onto the pitch causing uneven bounce and dangerous conditions for the batsmen.
Adam Gilchrist revealed the thoughts of the Fox Cricket broadcast team in the lead-up to the match, which saw both teams get one point each, but fans left disappointed.
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“The minute we got on the ground, we were all a little skeptical,” Gilchrist said.
“There’s talk about how much you talk about it and do you try to ignore it and let the show go on because of all the contributing factors, the fans, the kids that are here, us as broadcasters and the players.
“But it was very clear, and then Nick Maddinson said it during the toss. We heard him say: ‘The wicket is wet and that’s why I’m going to bowl.’ I want to know what this will do so I have any idea how to plan and play this game.
“That is the suspicion of smoke and fire. “There was heavy smoke and fires were burning.”
However, Vaughan believes cricket needs to do more to protect the game from such situations and respond to wet weather forecast warnings to put systems in place to ensure matches can go ahead.
“I’m just frustrated with cricket. Cricket has a habit of having these scenarios,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
“I’m sure they knew it was going to rain all day yesterday, couldn’t you get some extra blankets?
“I saw it in a UK Test match at Old Trafford, and I saw it last year at the SCG when they didn’t have enough cover… it took a lot of time out of the match.
“We always think ‘Oh, it’s a shame’, but seriously, you can’t have enough covers to cover an area of grass and have more covers to make sure today’s game goes ahead.
“I find sometimes in cricket we make a lot of excuses for things that shouldn’t happen.
“The match should not be abandoned due to water entering the field.”
Vaughan was pressed if more should be done.
“Absolutely,” Vaughan said.
“If it rains unexpectedly, I totally understand. But I’m pretty sure it was always going to rain all day yesterday.”
“So why don’t we cover more to make sure what happened tonight doesn’t happen.”