England cleared of time-wasting

ICC match referee Javagal Srinath has cleared England of time wasting as their NatWest Series clash with New Zealand at Edgbaston ended in a controversial wash-out.

England bowled only 19 overs in 83 minutes before umpires Steve Davis and Ian Gould decided to take the players off with rain falling - one over short of the minimum number needed to obtain a result.

New Zealand were at that stage on 127 for two and would have secured victory to level the series had they reached 134 by the end of the 20th over without losing any more wickets.

Kiwis skipper Daniel Vettori believes Davis and Gould should have done more to hurry the game along. But the spinner conceded he would have adopted the same "gamesmanship" shown by England if he had been in the same situation.

Former Indian pace bowler Srinath insisted England had not been in breach of the required over rate once stoppages and injury breaks had been taken in consideration.

Srinath said: "England were not in breach of any over rate. They had enough allowances. There were a few referrals to the third umpires, like checking on whether a four had been struck, and injuries so England were not in breach of anything.

"There will be no action taken against England. They were well within the frame of the time that they were supposed to finish the overs taking into account the allowances."

Srinath also defended the actions of Davis and Gould after they had come under attack from Vettori for not speeding the game up.

He said: "That is an opinion from a player and I understand that coming from Vettori. The umpires did a commendable job in handling the situation.

"It was a brave decision by the umpires. It wasn't easy in the centre to come off. But as soon as they were walking back to the pavilion, it rained heavily."