West Indies Runako Morton pulls the ball to the boundary while scoring an unbeaten 70 during day two of the third cricket Test against New Zealand in Napier on Sunday. - REUTERS
NAPIER, New Zealand (CMC):
MORE CONTINUOUS rainfall today resulted in the complete washout of the scheduled fourth day of the final Test between New Zealand and the West Indies, the second consecutive day in which not a single ball has been bowled.
With more inclement weather expected tomorrow (this evening Caribbean time), the match seems doomed to be abandoned as a draw with only 78.1 overs bowled so far, during which the West Indies reached 256 for four in their first innings.
ANTICIPATING HOME
The tourists, who lost the first two Tests in Auckland and Wellington, are scheduled to fly out of Napier tomorrow evening, and in light of the prevailing conditions, most of the party may already be well into their packing and eagerly anticipating the start of the long journey home.
A possible exception will be Runako Morton. The Nevisian batsman was on 70 when rain and then deteriorating light halted play less than an hour after lunch on the second day.
On the same ground where he registered his first One-Day International hundred three weeks earlier, Morton would have been anticipating the prospect of getting the remaining 30 runs to complete a maiden Test century.
That now seems highly unlikely, unless there is a dramatic improvement in the weather to allow for at least some play on the final day of an otherwise meaningless match.
A dry afternoon and night yesterday increased hopes for a prompt start on the fourth day, only for the showers to return by early morning.
While the umpires had waited until lunch time to abandon the third day's play, this time around they made the announcement half-an-hour before the scheduled start with McLean Park completely saturated. As much as Morton may be hoping otherwise, a soggy, anti-climactic finale seems inevitable on the scheduled last day of yet another disappointing West Indies tour.
