Windies frustration increases

This follows the second consecutive day in which not a single ball has been bowled.

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.

The tourists, who lost the first two Tests in Auckland and Wellington, are scheduled to fly out of Napier this evening, and in light of the prevailing conditions,

most of the party may already be packed 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 on Monday 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 lunchtime 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, anticlimactic finale seems inevitable on the scheduled last day of yet another disappointing West Indies tour. (CMC)