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Netherlands v South Africa, Group A, Basseterre
An hour's delay expected due to rain
Andrew Miller at St Kitts
March 16, 2007
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Heavy overnight rain has delayed the start of play at St Kitts
© Andrew Miller
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A mopping-up operation is underway after torrential overnight rain
at St Kitts left a sodden outfield at Warner Park and an uncertain
start-time for the Group A fixture between Netherlands and South
Africa.
Andy Atkinson, the ICC Grounds Consultant, told Cricinfo that he
envisaged a delay of at least an hour. "Realistically we are looking
at an 11.00 AM start time at the earliest [play was scheduled to get
underway at 9.30 local time]. We are working with limited equipment,
and it also depends on the willingness of the teams to play.
"South Africa want to get started," Atkinson added, "but already one
or two of the Dutch have been looking a bit uncertainly at the
conditions. They know their gameplan, and they know that with two
wash-outs, they'd only need to beat Scotland to qualify for the next
round."
The overhead conditions had at least eased significantly since the
last of the rain at dawn, although there remained significant puddles
on the outfield, and the grass remains extremely damp underfoot.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
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