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By Peter Della Penna in Newark, NJ

Overnight rain left Bloomfield’s Watsessing Park in a state of disarray, forcing all Friday matches at the venue to be canceled while a severe afternoon thunderstorm brought heavy rain and hail to Newark’s Weequahic Park to bring a complete abandonment to the first day of the 2011 USACA Twenty20 Nationals.

Image (above): A view of the infield and pitch of Watsessing Park at noon time on Friday. Despite morning and afternoon sun, overnight rain left the field unplayable. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

Two games scheduled for 9 a.m. were postponed while organizers drove to different grounds in the area looking for a suitable replacement for Watsessing Park as the infield there was filled with puddles from steady showers overnight. After surveying backup grounds including Orange Park and Warinanco Park, no ground was deemed suitable as a substitute.

Meanwhile, Weequahic Park was drying out and after an 11 a.m. meeting with all managers at the team hotel, it was announced that two matches would still be played there with the first one scheduled to get underway at 12:30 p.m. However, when 12:30 came around, the ground was not ready for use, despite bright and sunny conditions, because the matting pitch had not yet been laid down and nailed in for play to begin between South East and New York.

The toss finally took place at 1:30 with South East winning and electing to field. The players took the field and play was set to begin at 1:40 when showers came across the field and chased the players off just before the first ball was about to be bowled. The mat was not covered and with the pitch now very damp, a further delay ensued. With more storms on the way, the pitch was then covered and a short time later a massive thunderstorm rolled through the park, sending players and administrators racing to their cars. In addition to the rain, hail stones also began falling for 10-15 minutes. The storm was so bad that the area in the vicinity of Weequahic Park suffered flash flooding. Play was then canceled for the rest of the day.

Image (above): A flash thunderstorm left this tent in ruins at Weequahic Park after the teams left the field. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

Regardless of the fact that play was canceled, several teams have begun voicing their displeasure with how the event has been organized thus far. Disregarding the fact that the infield at Watsessing Park was waterlogged, players who visited the field on Friday morning were shocked to find that the field did not appear to have been cut anytime recently, with blades of grass reaching between four and six inches high. The hotel that is being used for this tournament is in a rundown area of East Orange and the front desk in the hotel lobby is encased in what appears to be bulletproof glass.

It is currently unknown how much play, if any, will take place on Saturday. In all likelihood, Watsessing Park will be unavailable for the entire weekend due to its poor drainage. Even if any other grounds are not affected by the rain, the local leagues in New Jersey opted not to cancel play for this weekend which makes finding an available ground increasingly difficult. Options will be reevaluated by tournament organizers overnight before deciding the best way to proceed with the event.

While rain played a major part in ruining play on Friday in New Jersey, conditions are forecast to be bright and sunny all weekend in Plano, Texas. Russell Creek Park in Plano was slated as the original host of this weekend’s tournament until a dispute between local organizers and USACA administrators resulted in the Central West recusing itself from hosting the tournament.