MORE RUN FORECAST Play abandoned on fourth day of test

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33447, 31 January 1974, Page 28

MORE RUN FORECAST Play abandoned on fourth day of test

(From D. f. CAMERON) ADELAIDE. The sound of G. M. Turner singing, not untunefully, “You Are My Sunshine” helped to provide the New Zealand cricketers’ high spirits in the dressingroom as the rain poured down on the Adelaide oval yesterday.

The rain was so per-i distent, and occasionally heavy, that play on the fourth day of the third test against Australia! was abandoned at 2.30 p.m.. and there seems a chance that New Zealand might be helped towards a draw by more rain today. At the moment, New Zealand, at 218 and 98 for four wickets, is still 161 runs behind the Australian first innings score of 477, and the Australian players yesterday maintained that they could

finish off the test given four hours of playing time. If forecasts can be believed, and Tuesday’s predictions about consistent rain were very accurate — there will be more rain today. Forecast for today Last evening, the Bureau of Meteorology in Adelaide forecast further heavy falls in an area extending 120 miles north and 90 miles west from Adelaide. The accompanying weather map showed three large lowpressure troughs to the west and north-west of Adelaide, two of them reading 994 millibars. Although the umpires

made several hopeful inspections yesterday, there was never really any chance of playing. About 2 p.m., the rain gave way to a very light mist. The umpires inspected the ground, which was sodden with pools of water near the covers, but another heavy shower washed out play 30 minutes later.

The pitch, surrounding areas, and the bowlers’ runups, are covered, but so far the ground staff have not been able to remove the covers and check whether the pitch has been affected. Poetic justice? "Maybe this is poetic justice after we lost a winning chance at Sydney because of the rain,” said the New Zealand captain, B. E. Congdon. “I won’t mind if the rain keeps on coming down, even if it means we lose the series, 1-0. I think we rather proved our point in Sydney.”