Rob Andrew takes aim at umpires Graeme Lloyd and Paul Baldwin who deemed conditions unplayable, after a burst of morning, rain shortly after 2pm
Cricket must stop conspiring against itself after the early abandonment of day one of the tour match between Sussex and New Zealand, according to the county's chief executive Rob Andrew.
Umpires Graeme Lloyd and Paul Baldwin deemed conditions unplayable after lashings of heavy morning rain shortly after a 2pm inspection.
But the conditions soon made way for a warm, cloudless afternoon on the south coast, leaving Sussex fuming at the decision.
"The immediate reaction is I am very disappointed," Andrew said, according to BBC Radio Sussex.
"It is not playable at the moment (2:50pm) but it has stopped raining for quite a while and there isn't a cloud in the sky.
"We feel we should have been given a bit more time to get the opportunity to get ready for play.
"The umpires are responsible for what happens on the field, the safety of players and in their view, that is why they've made the decision to call it off now."
Asked what the call did for the sport's reputation, the former England rugby union fly-half added: "Not a lot, to be honest, and that is where the frustration is with the decision.
Morning rain saw the umpires take an early decision to call off the day (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
"Why make the decision at 2pm? Give the groundstaff the chance to actually get this bit dry which is where the problem is and make a decision, come back in an hour's time, and then make a decision.
"I completely understand the umpire's responsibility around player safety but we also have to understand that cricket does shoot itself in the foot. It seems to happen a lot which doesn't make any sense to me."
The silver lining for Sussex is any revenue lost from refunding ticket holders will be reimbursed having insured against an abandonment. Nevertheless, there are still three days remaining of a warm-up game that does not have first-class status - at the behest of the tourists.
"The only good thing is we remembered to insure it, thankfully," revealed Andrew. "That is another debate for another day around logistics of that but it is not so much that.
"The money aspect, we're protected as far as that is concerned it is just the game, the profile of the game.
"We had really good ticket sales for the first three days and we've got the world champions getting ready for a Test series in two weeks against England.
"Our lads (are) desperate to play, a lot of our youngsters, really talented young players want to play this game.
The day began with New Zealand revealing three positive Covid-19 cases in the camp (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
"We'll deal with the money, we'll sort that out. It is the frustration of the effort that has gone in to get the game on from everyone at the club.
"We've had the New Zealanders here for three days, in colloquial terms, it is sod's law that the first time it rains for about two months is this morning."
After a day that began with news of three positive Covid-19 cases in the camp, the Black Caps were unperturbed by the early, perhaps premature, decision to call the day off.
"There was a heck of a lot of rain this morning, and it's really made the ground sodden," said head coach Gary Stead.
"I had a walk around just before and you still had squelching and water coming up. So there's little point sitting around all day when the groundstaff just need time to get it right, and hopefully, we'll start on time tomorrow.
"We've still got three days here and another four-day game (vs a First Class Counties XI at Chelmsford). Ideally, we want to play as much cricket as we can, but we can't help the weather."
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