Umpires halted play after 4.5 overs of chase with home side ahead on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern
ESPNcricinfo staff and ECB Reporters' Network27-Jun-2021The Sussex Sharks and Surrey were just one ball away from completing a Vitality Blast match at Hove when umpires Tim Robinson and Paul Baldwin led the players from the field. They did not return, so each team took one point from a no-result.Surrey had scored a challenging 175 for 7 at the 1st Central County Ground and with rain in the air, the Sharks openers Luke Wright and Phil Salt began their innings at a hectic tempo in order to get ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern rate. They took 36 runs off the first three overs and at 43 for 1 off 4.5 overs, they were well ahead on the DLS.But with the fourth ball of a Kyle Jamieson over, the New Zealand bowler struck Sussex skipper Wright on the helmet. One ball later, with light rain falling and the light deteriorating, the umpires conferred and then left the field with the players as a number of the controlled maximum crowd of 2500 vented their frustration. To make a match a minimum of five overs had to be bowled, and while Sussex were ahead of what a revised five-over target would have been – meaning they would have won if the umpires had decided the rain cleared sufficiently for the final ball to be bowled, without taking the field – they had to settle for a point.”It’s not how you want to finish a game of cricket,” Sussex coach James Kirtley said. “The lads are very gutted but they’ve shown incredible character in what might have been a provocative situation. As a coach I’m there to keep calm and keep the team calm. We would obviously have liked to see it managed differently. But the decision was made and sadly we were a ball away from securing two points.”The umpires said conditions had got worse. And it was their judgement that that was the time to call it. It’s frustrating. It’s hard from the sidelines. But we’ve got to remain calm. The lads have shown real maturity because it could be blue touch paper time, things like this. Because we play at the height of our emotions. They’ve handled themselves incredibly well.”