Joe Root’s bid to have one final hit before England’s World Cup departure was thwarted by a sodden outfield and what proved a maddening abandonment at Headingley.
Boos rang around the ground when the first one-day international against Ireland was called off at 4.50pm without a ball bowled. It had not rained for more than two hours by this stage but sections of the outfield – including the run-up area for bowlers at the Kirkstall Lane End – were deemed dangerous by the officials.
