It just wasn't cricket - Hawke's Bay game stumped by the rain

Players limber up before the game that never started - Hawke's Bay at Donnelly Park, Levin, on Saturday. Photo / Supplied

Hawke's Bay cricket captain Angus Schaw's chance to break the record for the most matches for the region's premier representative cricket sides is on hold for another three weeks after rain forced the abandonment of a Furlong Cup match against Horowhenua Kapiti in Levin during the weekend.

It was also a lost opportunity for new hopefuls James Rawnsley and Dion Joll, now having to wait at least another three weeks to get their first matches for Hawke's Bay.

It was the first time for many years that a Hawke's Bay Senior A representative game other than in limited-overs cricket has been abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Hawke's Bay Cricket Association chief executive Craig Findlay, whose administrative and playing career with Hawke's Bay dates back to 1990, said: "I can't remember any others, not in my time. There might have been one back in the 1990s, there've been a few where we got a start and then it was rained out."

"It wasn't a good weekend – the Magpies lost, the All Blacks lost, the Aussies beat us in the cricket – and Hawke's Bay didn't get to play any cricket," he said.

After overnight rain, there had been hopes of an early-afternoon start on Saturday.

But with teams on the field practising during the morning, the west coast rain returned and barely stopped as play was abandoned for the day and the match finally called off at 10am on Sunday as conditions back home in the Bay were fine and sunny with temperatures heading towards 30C.

It was to have been Schaw's 90th match for Hawke's Bay, having a fortnight earlier against Taranaki in Napier, equalled a record held by 1980s and 1990s representative Stu Duff.

Hawke's Bay opened its Furlong Cup defence by dismissing Taranaki for under 80 runs in each innings and winning by an innings and 85 runs in Napier, and its next is in Masterton on December 4-5, against Wairarapa, whose round 2 game against Taranaki in New Plymouth was cancelled because of a Covid-19 outbreak in New Plymouth.

Each side in the abandoned games was awarded eight cup points.