The meeting of the county championship’s top two between Somerset and Surrey at Taunton has been called off the wicket was damaged due to the effects of Storm Bronagh.
The pitch was deemed unfit for play ahead of day four after strong winds blew the covers off overnight, exposing the wicket to heavy rain that dampened the surface.
Storm Bronagh has been battering parts of the UK with gusts reaching 78mph. Flooding and fallen trees has disrupted transport services
County champions Surrey had been looking to extend their winning streak to ten games and were in a strong position in the game, leading by 171 runs with Somerset 168-3 in their second innings.
Surrey take 13 points from the game while Somerset earned six with only one bonus point added onto the standard five for a draw.
BREAKING: Unfortunately the match has been abandoned. The storm last night blew the covers from the wicket, meaning the playing surface has been deemed unfit. More to follow…#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter.com/Y91EruAqss
— Somerset Cricket ???? (@SomersetCCC) 21 September 2018
“It’s very frustrating. We were trying to win a game and it’s been taken out of our hands in a game where we were well ahead,” Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart told Sky Sports.
Stewart added: “These things don’t happen too often but imagine if this game was a championship decider, which at one stage it was looking to be, and this had happened. It’s probably worth the ECB looking ahead to see what would happen.
“Is it an abandoned game? Is it the home side’s responsibility to make sure the covering is of the right standard? I don’t know but we’re disappointed as are Somerset.”
Somerset CEO Andrew Cornish apologised for the abandonment on Twitter, stating: “Not even additional sandbags and secondary ties on covers could hold them [the covers] in place.
“Apologies for those planning to come today but that was a prolonged and exceptional storm last night.”
