Rain set to have say in second ODI

Photo / Scott Fletcher

Fingers are crossed over the possibility Napier's big-match cricket wet-weather bogey will return for the second of the Black Caps' three One-Day Internationals at McLean Park tomorrow.

After more than a week of hot weather since the last rain in Napier on January 20, there has been heavy downpours today.

Large puddles have formed on the McLean Park outfield while there was flooding in the nearby suburb of Onekawa.

The rain has since eased off but expected to return later in the day.

The match set to start at 2pm is just five days before the 20th anniversary of the day McLean Park staged the first floodlit day-night international in New Zealand, when the Black Caps were beaten by Zimbabwe on February 3, 1996.

Statistics from cricket website Cricinfo show McLean Park has been the venue for 42 scheduled one-day internationals since the ground's first in 1983, with only six disrupted by rain in Napier - four in March and two in the last few days of December.

By comparison, five of the last 12 ODI matches scheduled at Eden Park Auckland in the last six years have been disrupted by rain.

On March 3, 1992, New Zealand beat Zimbabwe in a game limited to less than 40 of the scheduled 100 overs. The next was seven years later on March 25, 1999, with no result possible in a game between New Zealand and South Africa, who then won a shortened replay the next day.

On December 28, 2007, New Zealand beat Bangladesh after batting out the 50 overs but seeing rain shorten the visitors' innings to a maximum 43 overs and India batted first for just 38 overs and New Zealand failed to reach a revised target for 28 over on March 3, 2009.

The only match abandoned without a ball being bowled because of rain was that scheduled between New Zealand and West Indies on December 29, 2013, but a match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka for December 29, 2004, was cancelled on compassionate grounds in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami three days earlier, in which more than 35,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka.

Tomorrow's match continues at McLean Park New Zealand-Pakistan rivalry dating back 37 years to the first international cricket match at McLean Park in 1979, when the park became the 50th venue used for international cricket throughout the World.

Rain washed out the third day, a Sunday, but started on time the next day which had originally been scheduled as a rest day. Although all five days were completed, the match ended in a draw.

Of the 38 one-day matches New Zealand has played at the park, the Black Caps have won 24, with two being tied. Two other matches were between other countries in last year's Cricket World Cup.

New Zealand and Pakistan have played played six ODI matches at McLean Park, New Zealand winning five, all by wide margins. Pakistan won the 2011 match by two wickets with an over to spare and also won last year's World Cup match against United Arab Emirate at the park.

New Zealand's record at McLean Park has included wins over all nine other major test and ODI cricket nations - Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England, Zimbabwe, India, Australia, West Indies, South Africa, and Bangladesh.

- With HB Today