PHOTOS: Rain washes out India-England ODI series opener in Bristol

Monday’s first One-Day International in the five-match series between India and England was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to relentless rain and wet ground conditions in Bristol.

The match, at the Gloucester County Ground, was forced to be called off at 1330 local time following heavy showers.

The forecast for the match was never good as it started raining late Sunday night and continued through Monday morning.

There were hopes of play commencing when the rain subsided for a while, but after 20-30 minutes it poured with greater intensity and never relented.

The groundsmen though did their best to get play underway. With the whole square under covers since morning, they were busy clearing the rain water around the field. Three super-soppers were in service but they would have been useful only had the rain stopped.

Their efforts proved even more futile when puddles started forming on the outfield, signalling that the drainage was getting choked.

The last cut-off time for the match to start was 1545 local time (2015 pm IST). 

For that the groundsmen needed at least an hour to dry the field to ensure suitable playing conditions.

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The last cut-off for that was at 1400 local time (1830 IST), but about 30 minutes before that the umpires inspected the conditions.

After observing the water accumulated on the covers as well as the heavy puddles on the outfield, they decided to call off the game.

It was inevitable given that this entire week's forecast wet weather.

It was a cause for much disappointment to the sparse crowd that had gathered at the ground, taking advantage of the summer bank holiday in England.

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Bristol is a regular feature on England's fixture-list since the 1999 World Cup, with 13 ODIs played at the venue after the first one in 1983. However, this 14th match was the first time a game has been abandoned.

India played at the venue before - against Kenya in the aforementioned World Cup, against Sri Lanka in the 2002 Natwest tri-series and against England in the ODI series of the 2007 tour. Interestingly, the Men in Blue had won all the three games.

The second ODI of the five-ODI rubber will be played in Cardiff on Wednesday.

The weather forecast for the second ODI isn't too good either as intermittent showers are expected throughout Wednesday.