There's bad new folks! The match has been called off. Thanks for joining us today. Please do join us for the 1st ODI on Tuesday, 29th of March. Till then, good night from all of us
Meanwhile Pieter Seelaar saying on air that rain is following them. Talks of the time when they went to Qatar to play Afghanistan. It hadn't rained there for a couple of years apparently and voila! There was rain as they landed in Qatar
Aidan: "@Liam It does, but it's a lot better since it was re-turfed in 2018 for exactly that reason. Still though, it's been raining hard for days, so chances of any play are pretty dicey even with no more rain I reckon"
Liam: "I wouldn't hold out too much park, McLean park has a history of drainage issues"
7.50 PM local time: There's some bad news! There's a drizzle and the hessian is back on the pitch. This will only add to the woes of the groundstaff as the wet patches might get wetter
7.33 PM local time: According to the blackcaps site, the next inspection is scheduled to be at 8.00 PM. Will we get a full game? Doubtful as they don't have a lot of time to play around with
As we speak there has been a 44-minute delay to the toss. So, as the delay gets longer, the chances of a full game might diminish. It's easy to say that the umpires might need to get a move on, but we need to understand that the wet spots on the bowlers run-up areas pose significant risks
The news from the middle is that the outfield is the problem and needs a bit more drying at this point. Another problem is the area from where the pace bowlers will run in. As they run in to that part, there might be a problem that they might slide.
7.13 PM Local time: The umpires are out in the middle and the groundstaff are fixing the stumps and painting the lines
6.48 PM Local time: The umpires are scheduled to conduct another inspection at 7.00 PM. The good news is that the covers are off
We have seen that once the rain stops, the groundstaff are superb with their work. So, let's keep our fingers crossed that we get a full game in
We will provide you with the updates as we get them
6.40pm Evening everyone. Welcome to the coverage of the only T20I between New Zealand and Netherlands
