NAPIER, New Zealand (AP) The second limited-overs international between Australia and New Zealand was abandoned Thursday after umpires decided the outfield was unplayable because of morning rain.
Many in the crowd at McLean Park booed and jeered when the decision was finally announced just before 7 p.m. local time, five hours after the scheduled start of play.
Umpires Kumar Dharmasena of Sri Lanka and Chris Brown of New Zealand had announced a toss time several hours earlier, and indicated each innings would be shortened to 37 overs from 50.
But after a fifth inspection of the ground, the umpires deemed it too dangerous to play.
It's not the first time wet grounds have forced matches to be abandoned at McLean Park. ODIs in 2013 against West Indies and 2016 against Pakistan were called off when the outfield failed to dry in time after downpours, despite long hours of dry weather.
New Zealand leads the three-match series after winning in Auckland by six runs. The final match in the three-match series is scheduled for Hamilton on Sunday.
