Pooraka set to complain after wet pitch causes game against Hope Valley to be abandoned

LADDER leader Pooraka will lodge a complaint with the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association after failing to play a one-dayer on Saturday because of a damp Hope Valley pitch.

Pooraka Cricket Club’s Matt Rogers, Mark Hanson, Jye Bailey and Craig Pocock after Saturday’s game was abandoned. Picture: AAP/Dean Martin.

LADDER leader Pooraka will complain to the Adelaide Turf Cricket Association after a damp Hope Valley pitch cost it a chance to notch its 30th victory from 31 matches on Saturday.

Umpires abandoned play before a ball was bowled in the one-day clash at Hope Valley Oval and awarded both teams five points for a draw.

Pooraka coach Craig Pocock, whose side has been unbeaten since March 2015, did not believe fifth-placed Hope Valley had deliberately wet the pitch so the game would be called off.

But Pocock said his club was very disappointed, given every other A1 game played and Hope Valley last had rain on Thursday night, and it wanted Adelaide Turf to consider overturning the result.

Pooraka would be awarded 10 points and Hope Valley none if the association decided the result was a forfeit against the Demons.

“Water was already soaked in it (the pitch) and it was just like plasticine,” Pocock said.

“We wouldn’t have even played the next day, it was that dangerous.

“If every other game got away, the club’s got a responsibility, in my opinion, to get a wicket up.

“If they’ve made a mistake, they’ve got to carry the can for it.

“So we’ll take it further with Adelaide Turf and see where it ends up.”

Hope Valley president Michael Barton said the oval’s independent curator did his best job to ensure a game was played, even preparing an alternate wicket, but that rain had taken its toll on the pitch.

“We had a lot of rain on Thursday, to the point we couldn’t train at our oval,” Barton said.

“The curator has gone to do what he’d normally do on the Friday but the centre wicket was too wet, then he went up on Friday night and continued preparing the wicket.

“The wicket had some damage done to it – simple things like someone had walked their dog through the wicket – so it was all mud and a bit of a mess.

“Unfortunately, the umpires deemed it unfit and the alternate pitch unsuitable for play either.”

Adelaide Turf chief executive David Heyzer said his organisation would investigate the matter.

“We’ll be asking Hope Valley for a please explain,” Heyzer said.