England's one-day international against West Indies was abandoned shortly after 3pm today amid farcical scenes at Headingley following the failure of a new £600,000 drainage system.

Umpires Steve Davis and Nigel Llong decided no play would be possible due to an excessively damp outfield, caused by torrential rain an hour before the scheduled 10.45am start.

Even though the rain stopped at about midday, there was still far too much standing water on the outfield, making conditions unsafe for cricket.

The announcement was greeted with a chorus of boos by an understandably angry crowd, and the England players were quickly hurried on to the ground to sign autographs and appease the supporters.

The outcome is a huge embarrassment for the England and Wales Cricket Board and Yorkshire. The county installed a new drainage and irrigation system at Headingley during the off-season after receiving a £600,000 grant from the governing body, which Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan said was “good to go” before the start of the county season in April.

Today's problem appears to stem from the fact that the outfield was only relaid at the beginning of April and has not yet had time to bed down properly.

The county also host the fourth Ashes Test from 7-11 August, and it is to be hoped that the system is fully functioning by then.

A similar deluge occurred at Lord's in 2007 ahead of the first day of an England v India Test, but the drainage system there allowed for play to begin after only a short break.

With more county grounds clamouring for Test status, today's problems are a major issue for the Headingley management, who are have already conceded that other aspects of the ground's redevelopment, planned to be completed before the Ashes, will not be finished until 2010.

Yorkshire supremo Regan insisted the ground would be fine by the time the Ashes gets underway: “We are confident Headingley would be able to handle a major downpour if it happened when the pitch had bedded in.

“Our staging agreement for this match was reached in 2004. We were allocated this one-day international early last season, whereas we didn't take the decision to relay the outfield until late last season.

“Yesterday, the weather forecast was perfect, the outfield had been signed off, and there was no likelihood of rain. Unfortunately, we had a torrential downpour overnight, and then another torrential downpour before the start of play.

Nobody likes to upset fans, but the umpires advised us that it would not be safe enough to play cricket.

“If there is a downpour in the Ashes, it will be fine. The only ground with a Rolls Royce draining system is Lord's, and you can not play every cricket match at Lord's. Was there an element of a gamble about this game? There is an element of a gamble attached to playing any cricket in this country, because of the weather.”

Earlier, umpire Davis had said: “The biggest problem is the surface water. Some of the water is not draining away. It is just sitting there.
“Conditions will have to improve dramatically to allow play to take place. If there is any chance of cricket, we will try to play, but we have to be sensible about the players' safety.”

Yorkshire claimed that about 11,000 tickets had been sold for the game, although the attendance appeared to be far less than that as many fans stayed away following the morning downpour.
Even though the ground had dried out slightly by the afternoon, it was clear very quickly that the outfield was too damp to allow play.

The teams must now hope for better luck at Bristol on Sunday, in the second match of the NatWest Series.