The venue for the third test match, Edgbaston, is now faced with a problem of a pitch that is not quite ready for the test which starts from the 30th of July. And that has to do with the incessant rains that Edgbaston has received so far in the last fifteen days or so.
The groundsman of Edgbaston, Steve Rouse, said that it was a nightmare as there had been only two dry days out of the last ten, because of which the wicket had got a bit soft and felt like jelly.
Rouse added, “I have got to dry that out between now and next Wednesday, because the wicket has to be ready roughly a day in advance, and the chances of getting that solid three or four inches down, there’s no chance, not with the weather coming in.”
This is the second successive time that an Ashes test pitch has been affected because of the weather. Last time around, there had been a tornado that had left the pitch with three inches of rainfall, and that meant that the pitch was four days behind schedule. The match did go on as planned, and produced a thriller, with England winning by two runs.