New City's Steve McLennan says umpires ignored their duty of care

Father and son combination Adam (left) and Steve McLennan were forced to bat in the rain during New City's game against Wodonga.

Angry New City captain Steve McLennan claims the umpires ignored their duty of care by making his team bat in rain and poor light.

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New City lost 4-7 before it started raining around 6pm on Saturday night in the game against Wodonga.

The players went off, but then returned as New City lost another two wickets to finish on 6-23 from 12 overs.

“I’m not making excuses because we lost four wickets before the conditions changed,” he said.

“I thought it was always you have to wait until it stops raining, but apparently not.

“The light was terrible and I spoke to the opposing captain Jack Craig and said, ‘mate, put the shoe on the other foot’ and he said ‘I’m right behind you there’.

“(You talk about) duty of care, mate, there was no duty of care because there was bad light, that was the main concern and it was also raining.

“We’re not happy about it.”

Wodonga paceman Tim Kennedy tore through the Phoenix top order, finishing with 4-9.

He was asked if he would like to have been batting in the same conditions.

“No,” he said.

Wodonga had earlier made 216 from 61.3 overs.

Despite the tough day, the much-improved Phoenix found an ally in Craig.

“I’m really proud of New City and Steve McLennan and what they’ve done,” he said.

“They’ve come a long way from what they were two years ago and even last year, they’re on the right track.”

New City is in danger of slipping from third.

Cricket Albury-Wodonga (CAW) umpires’ representative Ken Brooks believes the officials in question made the right call.

“He (McLennan) made comments to the umpire that he was happy to go out, but he was a bit surprised they stayed out,” Brooks said.

“The two umpires had discussed the light and were happy with it and there was no issues with the wicket being wet.

CAW’s rule on playing conditions states that if less than an hour of play has been lost during the day, teams are still required to bowl out the remaining overs.

“Rain did increase and eventually the umpires came off with three overs left to be bowled,” Brooks said.

“The umpires believed none of the wickets were a result of bad light or pitch conditions, it was purely shot selection and good bowling.”