A soggy Sabina Park outfield forced officials to abandon yesterday’s opening day of the third-round Digicel Regional four-day match between Jamaica Scorpions and hosts Barbados Pride without a ball being bowled.

The wet surface was largely caused by heavy rainfall which lasted virtually all of Thursday, and matters were compounded with moderate but steady showers yesterday morning.

The skies were mostly clear yesterday afternoon as some sunlight streaked into the venue, but at approximately 2:20 pm the umpires decided that the condition of the field was not fit for play.

Nikita Miller, the Scorpions captain, told the Jamaica Observer he was disappointed that so much play has already been lost, but said players took the chance to unwind in the dressing room.

“We had rain for a few hours and we can’t have any play, so it’s disappointing and now it’s a three-day game,” he said.

“Today [yesterday] we kind of relaxed and we played some games as a group and took our minds off what we can’t control. Come tomorrow [today] when we know exactly what’s going to happen we switch our minds on for the game,” Miller added.

During last weekend’s game against Windward Islands Volcanoes at Sabina Park most of the opening two days were lost due to a drenched outfield after a few instances of persistent drizzle.

A drainage issue linked to lack of scheduled maintenance to the outfield is believed to be the major reason for the problem.

The Scorpions skipper noted that Sabina Park was in danger of being overlooked for hosting international fixtures.

“We are struggling with this ground; we need to sort it out. I think the drainage needs to improve though I don’t know exactly what needs to be done. It needs urgent attention or else [Sabina Park] is not going to be awarded international games if the field is in that condition.

“The ground has deteriorated a lot because last year when we had rain it didn’t take more than 20 minutes to an hour to get started, so I don’t know what’s happening. I think probably it needs some maintenance work,” he explained.

The Pride’s manager Wendell Coppin acknowledged it was an “unfortunate” situation, while praising the officials for trying to salvage something yesterday.

“It’s unfortunate [and] disappointing, but we have no control over the weather conditions. As everybody knows the rain here in Jamaica over the last 24 hours has not been good. I think we did well to attempt to play and I think the umpires did a fantastic job in prolonging the day as they did to try to see what was possible, but ultimately we had to give in to the elements.

“I played here as a youth cricketer in 1984-85 and I’m not sure I’ve seen this much rain in Jamaica so it’s difficult to gauge whether the weather conditions over the last 24 hours would have allowed play based on the outfield,” he told the

Observer yesterday.

Toppin said the Pride’s players are unlikely to lose focus despite the first day being ruined.

“We have very good camaraderie within the entire group and most of the players expected that, given the conditions, the likelihood was that play would not have started today. At the same time I think mentally we are prepared that whenever the umpires call play that we are ready to go,” he said.

Rain also forced the abandonment of the first day in the encounter between hosts Trinidad & Tobago Red Force and Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

More rain has been forecast for today’s second day in Kingston and Port of Spain.

Guyana Jaguars are set to take on Windward Islands Volcanoes, starting today at Darren Sammy National Stadium in Gros Islet.

The Scorpions are fifth in the six-team standing with 21 points, while the Pride have 24.4 points. Leeward Islands Hurricanes are second with 24.2 points, ahead of Guyana Jaguars (24 points) and Trinidad & Tobago (22 points). The Volcanoes are last with 9.6 points.