ST GEORGE first grade and NSW fast bowler Trent Copeland said player welfare was the priority on Saturday when the umpires intervened to halt play at Petersham Oval.
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The match between St George and Randwick-Petersham was called off at the drinks break after one hour and 14 overs because the wicket was deemed too dangerous.
Randwick-Petersham were batting and reached 2-45 when play was stopped.
Copeland said that safety had been the first requirement.
"It wasn't a first grade quality wicket," he said.
"There were four or five balls that rolled along the ground in the first hour.
"The umpires did the right thing."
The uneven bounce and balls skidding off the pitch forced umpires Ken Buckland and Greg Davidson to make the call.
Cricket officials were taking no chances in the aftermath of the Phillip Hughes tragedy two weeks ago, when the left-hand batsman was fatally struck by a bouncer.
St George club president Kevin Greene said Cricket NSW was compiling a report about the pitch condition and would have further discussions with the umpires.
Greene said it was likely the match would resume this Saturday at Petersham Oval at 9.30am and become a 120-overs game.
"Some of the players told me that some balls were keeping low and other balls were flying around their ears; the pitch had undulations and was uneven," Greene told the Leader.
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Greene said Randwick-Petersham’s main home ground Coogee Oval was unlikely to be available because another grade game was in progress there.
He said the game was almost certain to be played at Petersham Oval and perhaps on another pitch on that ground’s wicket square.
‘‘Or it may be played on the pitch that the game started on Saturday,’’ Greene said.
Greene said Cricket NSW would have to inspect the pitch and deem it playable and safe before this Saturday’s game resumed at 9.30am.
In other cricket news, St Geoorge all-rounder Moises Henriques will captain the Blues against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield match starting today at Sydney Cricket Ground.
Henriques played on Saturday in the abandoned first-grade game, returning from a calf injury which had sidelined him for more than a month. The former Australian player took a wicket in his comeback game for St George.
Should umpires make the players’ welfare paramount if wickets are unsafe?
