England Women's ODI with Pakistan rearranged for Tuesday due to bad weather
Monday 20 June 2016 19:38, UK
England Women's opening ODI with Pakistan at Grace Road will take place on Tuesday after rain caused a complete washout on Monday.
Heavy overnight rain in Leicester, coupled with more wet weather on Monday morning, meant play was unable to start at the scheduled time of 2pm.
Umpires Martin Saggers and Alex Wharf conducted an initial inspection of the Fischer County Ground pitch at 3.30pm, concluding there was still too much standing water on parts of the outfield for play to commence.
The match officials reconvened for a further pitch inspection at 5pm before advising both captains of the decision to come back for a 10.30am start on Tuesday with a view to getting a full game in.
"We've just let [the captains] know that we're abandoning it [for the day]," Wharf told Sky Sports. "It's a saturated outfield, wet in areas, so we'll come back tomorrow.
"It's probably the best for both teams. The ground staff have been fantastic. They got rid of a lot of water but there's obviously still a lot of wet areas."
The decision means that Heather Knight must wait to make her debut as England's new full-time skipper.
Berkshire and Western Storm batter Knight was handed the captaincy by coach Mark Robinson after former skipper Charlotte Edwards retired from international cricket last month.
England are scheduled to play a further two ODIs against Pakistan at Worcestershire on Wednesday and Taunton next Monday.
The side will then contest a three-match T20I series with Pakistan, starting on July 3, during the inaugural Women's Cricket Week.
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