A frustrated Nasser Hussain questioned the “bizarre” decision for the players to have lunch while the sun shined as rain interrupted day three of the Lord’s Test between England and New Zealand.
After the weather had delayed the start of the third day’s play, the umpires ruled that lunch would be taken at 12.20pm BST as conditions and the surface dried out ahead of a planned resumption at 1pm – even with more rain forecast to arrive.
And, almost inevitably, the clouds rolled in just as play restarted, with just 10 minutes and 11 balls of action possible before the officials took the players from the field as another short shower began.
While a wretched forecast had always looked likely to cause frustration on Saturday, Hussain was disappointed that the forecast had not been considered.
“[It was a ] bizarre decision, really, for the umpires to take lunch at 12.20,” the former England captain said on Sky Sports. “You must know the weather forecast.
“In the sunniest part of the day, everyone was having lunch. Basically, when the weather was good, we were eating. When the weather was bad, we were trying to play cricket. That can’t make sense.
“All the people that have come in on a Saturday – it is one of the great days of a Lord’s Test match with a different feel about it, people have waited all week to come and watch a Test match at Lord’s, and we are off for rain.”
New Zealand added one run to their overnight tally to sit at 37/3 chasing a fourth-innings target of 254 to avoid falling 1-0 behind in the series.
Mercifully, the interruption was brief, with New Zealand batters Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway soon back out there as the rain relented.
