No practice for West Indies due to wet ground

The West Indies could not undergo training at the JU Campus at Salt Lake, the venue of their three-day practice game against Uttar Pradesh starting 31 October, due to wet ground conditions. The visiting players, however, did some net practice later at the nearby Sourav Ganguly’s Academy. ‘It’s really frustrating to see both the outfield and the wickets in wet condition. We spoke to the authorities and hope it improves Wednesday,’ West Indies operations manager Richie Richardson said. The practice match, which was originally scheduled in Cuttack, was shifted to Kolkata because of heavy rains in the Odisha town but there was no respite here as well as Saturday’s record showers had left both Eden Gardens and JU Campus ground waterlogged. While the Ranji Trophy Group B match between Bengal and Baroda at Eden Gardens was called off on the third day Tuesday without a ball being bowled, while the Windies were deprived of a practice at the JU Campus ground. Even as the condition looked grim, the Cricket Association of Bengal is hopeful that the practice match would not be affected.