Test Championship final opening day washed out

Heavy rain in Southampton has washed out the opening day of the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand.

After two years of qualifying and many more of planning, the showpiece event got off to a dismal start on Friday, as relentless rain hammered the Rose Bowl.

The morning session was quickly wiped out and while a small proportion of the limited 4,000 crowd hung around in the hope of seeing some action as the day progressed, there was never any realistic hope of play.

The inevitable decision was made by umpires Michael Gough and Richard Illingworth at 2.48pm, with the players set to reconvene on Saturday morning.

A reserve day has been built into the planning of the event but a decision on whether or not to activate the extra time will be made later in the match depending on how much additional time is lost.

New Zealand's Tom Latham, who captained the side in the second Test win against England that saw them win their first series in the UK since 1999, welcomed the potential for a reserve day.

"(Rain) is one of those things that as cricketers you need to adapt to. It's something we can't control, it's just about waiting and when we get the opportunity to come on, making sure we're ready," Latham said.

"The beauty of it is there is day six as well, so there is a little extra time that we can use then. We'll wait and see and have a look tomorrow.

"I guess for us it's just about waiting and trying to adapt to whatever weather conditions we're facing, whether it's tomorrow or whenever it may be.

"It's important we aren't caught on the hop and that we're ready when called upon. We've been in this situation many times as cricketers, so it's about trying to stay ready.

"Looking at conditions and the amount of water that has fallen since yesterday afternoon, there probably wasn't a huge chance that we were going to play today.

"So guys have just been trying to relax, there has been a lot of table tennis, a lot of darts being played up in the team room.

"Guys are pretty relaxed and we'll have to give it another shot tomorrow and see what happens."

India had already named spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in a five-man bowling attack, although without a coin toss yet they are well within their rights to change that, and the inclement weather might encourage New Zealand to go for an all-out seam attack.

A change to the named XI for India seems unlikely, however, with fielding coach R Sridhar claiming the team was confident that was the team for any conditions.

"I think the XI which has been announced is an XI that takes the pitch and conditions out of the equation," Sridhar said.

"I think it is an XI which can play and perform on any given surface, in any given weather conditions. Having said that, the toss is not yet over, so if it needs to be taken, a decision will be taken at the time of the toss.

"To keep them in a good mental space, that is something that is very important because they are going to be on and off the field with the weather so they will have to know how to keep their concentration going, switching on, switching off. 

"That is something all the players are aware of, they are a very experienced bunch of players. They have played a few finals, won a few tournaments and played a few Test matches, each one in that XI. So they all know how to do it and are in a good frame of mind, a good space."