Rain wipes out second day of England-Windies Test

Rain saw play abandoned without a ball being bowled for the second successive day in the third and final Test between England and the West Indies at Edgbaston here on Friday.

It was the first time since 1964, during an Ashes clash between England and Australia at Lord's, that the first two days of a Test in England had been washed out without any play whatsoever.

After a fourth straight session was wiped out, the decision was taken with rain still falling shortly after the end of the scheduled lunch break at 1.50pm local time (1250GMT) to abandon play for the day.

Now the total refund bill to the 31,300 spectators who bought tickets for the first two days in total could exceed 1 million ($1.5 million), although the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are insured. AFP