Essex CCC would like to address the condition of the outfield at The Cloudfm County Ground and as to why the first day of the Specsavers County Championship match against Hampshire was abandoned.
Over the summer, Chelmsford was subject to a drought with temperatures consistently surpassing 30 degrees and there was no rainfall at The Cloudfm County Ground for over 10 weeks.
Understandably, this had an uncontrollable effect on the outfield, drying it out and making it both hard and patchy.
Since the drought, 90% of the outfield has recovered, however, there are minor areas spread out all over the field, including the wicket-keeper area, the slips and areas on the boundary which are still damaged.
The grass and roots in the damaged parts of the outfield are completely dead, as a result it is retaining a lot of moisture, making it very slippery and potentially hazardous.
Yesterday, Umpires Rob Bailey and Mike Burns inspected the outfield several times and it was solely their decision that, despite attempting to let the relevant areas dry out, it was of all the players best interests and safety to abandon play for the day.
