‘We don’t have two teams’: ODI thrown into chaos as ‘gridlock’ forces unparalleled cricket first

Chaos ensued in the lead up to the third one-day international between England and the West Indies, with London traffic delaying the toss by over half an hour.

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Traffic-light failures in the Vauxhall area of London (roughly 15 minutes from the match’s venue, The Oval) forced the toss to be pushed back by 40 minutes from its original time of 12:30pm local, to 1:10pm — 10 minutes past the scheduled first ball.

The journey from their accommodation in Chelsea, which is not far beyond where traffic issues arose, ended up taking close to a painstaking two hours.

Confusion understandably rang around the 40,000-seat venue, with England players humorously enjoying a warm-up with no opposition in sight for a prolonged period of time.

“The toss has been delayed, because basically, we don’t have two teams, would you believe it,” England Test cricketer and Sky Cricket commentator Ian Ward told viewers in their pre-game coverage.

“We have an England Cricket Team (but) we do not have a West Indies cricket team. The traffic in and around The Oval ... all around, is absolutely gridlock.”

An ECB statement prior to the West Indies arriving at the ground read: “Due to a delayed arrival of one of the playing teams, who are stuck in heavy traffic north of the river, the scheduled start of play will be delayed. Once all members of the playing teams arrive, the match officials will co-ordinate updated timings and discuss any impact on the schedule of play.”

Hilariously, to avoid the aforementioned traffic chaos and arrive pre-game on time, England players such as former captain Jos Buttler and Saqib Mahmood rode into the ground on Lime bikes.

Upon the West Indies’ eventual arrival, the touring side jumped instantly into their warm-up, as London drizzle hovered over the venue.

England eventually won the toss and elected to bowl, as play finally began 20 minutes after the revised toss time at 1:30pm local. The grim start to the Tuesday continued for the West Indies players early in the encounter, as they lost three early wickets before recovering to sit 3/83 after their first 15 overs.

England currently hold an unassailable lead over the visitors, having won the first two 50-over clashes by 238 runs and three wickets respectively. At the conclusion of the three-match ODI series, the two teams will play three T20s, starting June 6 (local time).

Australia will defend their World Test Championship title next Wednesday against South Africa at Lord’s, starting next Wednesday.

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