It's just not cricket or is it?

Coach Mike Hesson with Adam Milne (left), Doug Bracewell and Henry Nicholl walk off McLean Park yesterday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Should the match officials have applied the mercy rule much earlier to put the smattering of Hawke's Bay cricket fans out of their misery yesterday in the Black Caps v Pakistan one-day international match in Napier?

After five wait-and-see delays, almost on the hour, following a 2pm start delay to 3.30pm, umpires Bruce Oxenford and Brent Bowden symbolically shook hands with the respective captains, Kane Williamson and Azhar Ali, under the Harris Stand at McLean Park at 6.20pm before abandoning the second ODI on the grounds of making player safety paramount.

Coach Mike Hesson said everyone had tried their best but the weather didn't come to the party, as fans wrapped in winter attire braved the spring-like conditions for a coin toss.

"I think we have to be a bit careful there. They have to make every effort and I know Phil and his team certainly made every effort to get the game going but it's a real shame for the Bay, to be fair," Hesson said of head groundsman Phil Stoyanoff, adding the region would have been expecting a bumper crowd following 30C-plus days.

Ground announcements of impending delays, providing leeway for as late a start as 7.30pm, drew collective groans, especially about 5.30pm.

However, when ground staff removed auxiliary covers on the wicket the McLean Park faithful clapped and cheered.

Stoyanoff and his men had persevered with tractor and rollers to soak up pockets of residual moisture on the outfield but it was to no avail after players from both camps strolled on and off the park.

The players, Hesson said, had to take the emotion out of it to ensure the ground was fit and safe to play on but, unfortunately, it wasn't yesterday.

"I think they made every effort to give it a chance."

In some respects, the ODI left a question mark on how the fans would have reacted to convicted spot-fixing bowler Mohammad Amir whose taunting at the Basin Reserve days earlier had overshadowed even the inclement weather.

Nevertheless, Hesson revealed the hosts would have looked at a Twenty20-type of line up, opting for another allrounder rather than a batsman.

With the return of outgoing skipper Brendon McCullum back in the equation of 14 from a back injury, they would determine a starting XI for Eden Park on Sunday depending on what the wicket would offer.

"Hopefully Brendon will be right but it's important that we don't expose ourselves ... we need the right players," Hesson said, stressing not everyone in the squad would play every game.

While Doug Bracewell was "a big part of our bowling group", he was a good chance to play on Sunday.

Reserve days, NZC head of cricket operations Lindsay Crocker said, were not a goer nowadays mainly because of congestion in the schedule.

It was tantamount to "putting a dollar each way" and "allowing for potential work days to move on", he said.

"At the moment you have to move the day after a match or you have to double book everywhere so, logistically, it becomes very difficult."

To delay, Crocker said, meant insuring everyone's flights and accommodation as well as double booking hotels for three games over a nine-day spell.

That included catering for match officials and media.

Flights to and from other centres near Hawke's Bay weren't much of an issue but by road and between North and South Islands it became more challenging.