Rain washes out Pakistan's warm-up match

Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer inspect the outfield at Uxbridge © Getty Images

Pakistan's first match since they forfeited the final Test at The Oval has been abandoned without a ball bowled after heavy overnight rain at Uxbridge. The umpires inspected the pitch half-an-hour before the scheduled start and decided there was no chance of any action.

The rain started yesterday afternoon and continued through the night and although the morning had been drier, the outfield had taken on too much water. The ground was packed around the boundaries, no doubt reflecting the huge level of interest and intrigue surrounding the Pakistan team following the events of the last few days. Refunds for the match will be handled through the ECB.

"The pitch is still very damp and it's not conducive to play cricket, someone could get hurt," John Emburey, the Middlesex coach, explained. "It would be unfair on the public if we would make them hang around."

Vinny Codrington, the Middlesex chief executive, said: "If this had been a C&G game it probably couldn't have been called off until about one o'clock, but given that it was in effect a friendly both teams were happy to agree to the early decision."

Given what they have been through, Pakistan were only too happy not to hang around and, cheered by a large number of supporters, boarded their team bus shortly after the announcement. The squad remained tight-lipped although Bob Woolmer, the coach, did tell reporters that he believed that the hearing would take place after the series and that the ODIs would proceed as planned. He added that Sunday was "the lowest day of my career".

This was Pakistan's only warm-up match before the Twenty20 international on Monday, which is then followed by five one-day internationals.