Anything Cardiff can do…

In Yorkshire it has a tendency to rain.  Every now and again.  Yorkshire CCC knows this, therefore, they decided to spend £600,000 of ECB funding installing a new drainage system at Headingley, which they didn’t finish until April.  Today, the weather said “oh yeah, well drain this”.  To which Headingley replied “nay lad, not worth t’bother”.

So much for that then.  Here are some reassuring words from Stewart Regan, Yorkshire chief executive, in defence of the new system:

We are confident it will be able to handle major downpours, that’s why we are investing in it

Feeling better?  There’s more:

As of last night the weather was perfect, the outfield had been signed off and the forecast was good.  We were all happy with it and the ECB were happy with, we have just had some very unusual circumstances. We are very disappointed for the public and nobody likes upsetting spectators, but you can’t legislate for the rain. We live in a country that gets more than most.

Apparantly rain qualifies as a “very unusual circumstance” which can’t be legislated for even though we live in a country that gets more than most.  And the majority of that falls in the general vicinity of Yorkshire.  We sense that Mr. Regan has attended the Giles Clarke School of Cricket Administration and is destined for a long career at the top echelons of the ECB.  Just in case you are still unclear, here is Mr. Regan again:

I think the key issue here is that there were two torrential downpours and the water couldn’t drain away quick enough.

And here he rehashes the argument, along with the requisite hint of schoolboy desperation:

It’s very easy to say spend [an extra] £400,000, but that money simply doesn’t exist. The £600,000 is deemed sufficient to put in a drainage system capable of doing the job and that’s what we’ve got. What we have here are unusual circumstances and torrential rain and any ground would have struggled to cope, apart from Lord’s.

So that’s two out of five Ashes venues now under fire for the quality of the playing surfaces.  But wait, Headingley is not finished yet.  Literally, according to Cricinfo:

The club are spending £21million on a new pavilion at the Kirkstall Lane End which is largely funded by Leeds Metropolitan University, but that is also behind schedule and the ground will resemble a building site for the Ashes. It was due to be completed for the fourth Test in August, but now won’t be completed until 2010

Next week, moles are scheduled to move in to their new home at Lord’s, and crop circles will appear just short of a length at the Oval.