‘Snorkel and flippers’ weather thwarts Yorkshire cricketers

9:52am Monday 30th April 2012

By Chris Parrott

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale isn’t a weatherman, but his assessment of the conditions at Canterbury over the weekend couldn’t have been more accurate.

“We’re having nets in a snorkel and flippers this morning,” he tweeted yesterday.

Shortly after, the Tykes’ LV= County Championship division two match was abandoned after two days of heavy rain.

It was the only sensible course of action to take at the St Lawrence Ground, with the game officially called off at 9.15am because of a wet outfield.

The draw means Yorkshire take home seven points from the contest, with Kent picking up ten.

Gale said: “It’s a shame because it was set up for a really good end to this match.

“I knew on Saturday that it was going to be a struggle to play if there was any more rain, but I didn’t anticipate it would be called off quite so early.

The result means the Tykes’ first three Championship matches of the 2012 season have all ended in draws because of the elements.

After two full days of play on Thursday and Friday, less than nine overs of action were possible over the weekend.

While it offered little entertainment for the spectators, it was at least enough time for Yorkshire to pick up a third bowling bonus point on Saturday.

Tim Bresnan struck twice in as many balls, with Adil Rashid also picking up a wicket as Kent were reduced from their overnight score of 316-6 to 350-9 in reply to Yorkshire’s first innings total of 247 all out.

Gale added: “It’s been very difficult. Over the last few years we’ve been very lucky to have good weather over April, so I guess we were due a bad one.

“The last two games have been particularly frustrating. We’ve only been able to play two-and-a-half days out of four.

Meanwhile, the county have confirmed that Australian international fast bowler Mitchell Starc is to join the squad.

He will move to Headingley as the Tykes’ overseas player for an unspecified amount of time.

Starc is due to fly from Sydney on May 4, subject to the player receiving his visa and a certificate of no objection from Cricket Australia.

It means the 22-year-old, who won his fourth Test cap in his country’s recent win over West Indies, could be available to make his debut in Yorkshire’s game at Gloucestershire next month.

The county’s next fixture starts against Leicestershire at Scarborough on Wednesday.