London: After the match between Victoria and West Australia in the ongoing Sheffield Shield competition was abandoned, Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb said that there was a genuine risk of a player getting seriously injured on the at that Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) pitch.
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The first day's play at the MCG was abandoned after a series of deliveries reared up at WA's batsmen. More: https://t.co/XHdEA1N9rS#SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/4cvTv49LCP
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 7, 2019 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">The first day's play at the MCG was abandoned after a series of deliveries reared up at WA's batsmen. More: https://t.co/XHdEA1N9rS#SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/4cvTv49LCP
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 7, 2019The first day's play at the MCG was abandoned after a series of deliveries reared up at WA's batsmen. More: https://t.co/XHdEA1N9rS#SheffieldShield pic.twitter.com/4cvTv49LCP
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 7, 2019
"The game's been abandoned so it was a pretty genuine risk," Handscomb said.
"The players want to play cricket, that's why we are here, but player safety is key and that's where this decision has come from," he added.
Yesterday, the day one of the match was suspended with two deliveries remaining in the 40th over after an Andrew Fekete delivery struck Marcus Stoinis.
"It was quite dangerous and as the game went on it got worse," said Marsh.
"As the pitch dried out it became unplayable. My players' safety is at the forefront of my mind. The right decision has been made and lessons will be learnt."
Umpires Phillip Gillespie and Geoff Joshua asked ground staff to roll the pitch in the interests of player safety but following an inspection, the play was abandoned.
"We're very disappointed at today's play being abandoned in the Marsh Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia. But we also acknowledge that there have been two previous Shield matches at the MCG this season without incident," CA's Head of Cricket Operations, Peter Roach, had said in a statement.
