Match abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain (no toss)
Match abandoned. Well, this is quite sad. The rain has the final say, and the groundsmen and the umpires officially give up. It's pretty unfortunate for the Dutch, who don't get a lot of top quality cricket against big sides. But we have three ODIs to look forward to, which we hope the rain stays away from. Until we see you around on some other tab, ta ta!!
The rain is getting heavier, and the umpires cut short their inspection and go back inside.
19:50 Local Time, 06:50 GMT, 12:20 IST: Ah, well, guess who's back. It's just been that kind of a night where we keep shuffling the status for the delay from a wet outfield to rain. It's rain at the moment.
19:37 Local Time, 06:37 GMT, 12:07 IST: The next inspection is scheduled for 20:00 local time.
Mark Richardson | Pitch and conditions report: The conditions are cold out here in the middle. The pitch looks pristine. It is rock hard. It is magnificent. The area of concern for the umpires is around the bowlers' runups which is still pretty damp.
19:22 Local Time, 06:22 GMT, 11:52 IST: Okay, it has stopped raining again. The stumps have been put up as well. The umpires are having a look. We should have something official soon.
19:05 Local Time, 06:05 GMT, 11:35 IST: Oops. The drizzle is back. But the good news is that there is a lot of breeze blowing across, and the skies do look a lot clearer than they were a while ago. The players too haven't gone off the ground yet. They're happy playing their game of football.
18:56 Local Time, 05:56 GMT, 11:26 IST: The next inspection is scheduled for 19:00 local time. The New Zealand players, meanwhile, are busy playing football by the boundary.
18:33 Local Time, 05:33 GMT, 11:03 IST: There was a fair amount of rain in the afternoon, but the good news is that all that is on it's way out now, and so are the pitch covers. The teams too have made their way out to the middle and are going through their drills. It does look like we'll be starting on time, unless there's something dramatically wrong with the outfield. Anyway, the umpires are out there inspecting.
6:10pm local time | Only T20I: Hello. In a place and at a time when all the attention is around the Women's World Cup, and whatever little energy left after that is taken up by IPL talk, the New Zealand men are here, towards the fag end of their season, to take on the touring Dutch. Correction: the remainder of the New Zealand men, who haven't been snapped up by some IPL team. Given the amount of rotation that usually goes on among the Kiwis in the T20s, there aren't very many new faces. Netherlands, who are now starting a new era in their cricket post the T20 World Cup last year with some of their big names having retired, would have a point to prove. Hang around, the toss isn't far away ..
Squads:
New Zealand Squad: Martin Guptill, Tom Latham(c), Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Dane Cleaver(w), Colin de Grandhomme, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears, Matt Henry, Blair Tickner, Doug Bracewell, Will Young
Netherlands Squad: Stephan Myburgh, Max ODowd, Vikramjit Singh, Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards(w), Pieter Seelaar(c), Logan van Beek, Fred Klaassen, Clayton Floyd, Brandon Glover, Philippe Boissevain, Aryan Dutt, Boris Gorlee, Ryan Klein, Shariz Ahmad