Notts Outlaws’ 50-over warm-up fixture against Norfolk was scuppered by persistent Sunday showers in East Anglia.
After the first rainfall in the area for quite some time delayed the start of proceedings, Ben Slater and Sol Budinger strode to the middle at 11.30am to begin a 46-overs-per-side fixture.
Budinger would depart from the second ball of the contest in tricky batting conditions, with Haseeb Hameed (8) also falling victim to a productive new-ball spell from Andrew Hanby.
Ben Slater, returning to the format where he boasts a formidable average of 55.72, hit his straps almost immediately, carving Callum Metcalf through point before unfurling the most handsome of cover drives off Hanby.
He would fall for 21, a Metcalf delivery rising unexpectedly to cannon into the opener’s elbow before ricocheting onto the stumps.
But Matthew Montgomery (24*) and Lyndon James (11*) were able to accumulate busily as the first Powerplay concluded, advancing the Outlaws’ score past 50 in between a brace of further interruptions for rain.
The Horsford faithful – with a certain Henry Blofeld amongst their number – remained optimistic as the conditions caused an early lunch, but a further shower arrived at the scheduled resumptiontime of 2pm.
And more rainfall shortly afterwards caused the cancellation of the contest at 2.45pm.
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