Andrew Wu at Old Trafford
Australia and England were under fire on Wednesday morning after rain forced the abandonment of the second Twenty20 international at Old Trafford without a ball being bowled.
A senior official from the Lancashire County Cricket Club, which hosted the match, lashed out at the sides for not doing the right thing by the sell-out crowd, while firebrand former quick Jeff Thomson accused modern players of being precious and soft.
Unconvinced the ground was not fit to play following an afternoon downpour, umpires and players from both sides agreed for the match to be cancelled.
Of particular concern was a two-square metre area in the bowler's run up just before the crease at the Brian Statham End.
Sawdust was placed in an effort to dry the surface but without success.
The ECB has launched an investigation into why no play was possible despite Lancashire spending $1.2 million (600,000 pounds) on a new drainage system during the off-season.
Officials decided not to place the system under the edge of the square as the centre wicket will be realigned to run north-south as part of the ground's redevelopment.
An angry Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes, who played 161 first-class matches from 1963 to 1982, was bitterly disappointed no play was possible.
While he conceded the rain meant there was a greater risk of injury for players, he said Twenty20 cricket should not be played at international level if teams only took the field in perfect conditions.
He said there was a different level of expectation over what was acceptable in terms of safety for the Twenty20 game.
"I'm perfectly aware of safety of players. Christ, I played the game 20 years myself," he said.
"But there comes a time when you've got to think about people who've paid 50 quid to come into this game. Sometimes I think we'd rather play in front of empty stadiums."
"(I'm) angry because to my mind we were told when we started playing Twenty20 cricket several years ago that you should be expected to play in conditions that you wouldn't normally play in in first-class cricket which I understand and accept."
"To my mind if that had been Lancashire against Yorkshire on a Friday night in front of 16,000 people we would have been playing it, that's my honest opinion."
"If we can't do that at international level … then let's not play it at international level if we're not expected to play in those conditions because you're going to meet those conditions more often than not, especially in this country."
Cumbes said his club would not be out of pocket despite full refunds being paid, as the match was insured against wet weather.
Australia captain Michael Clarke said both teams were determined to play but not on a surface it deemed unsafe for fear of injury.
"I'm 75 kilos and for me to put my foot on that was very unstable so I can't imagine Sidebottom, Lee, Johnson … running into bowl on that," he said.
"They told us they thought the ground wasn't fit. Both Paul (Collingwood) and myself agreed."
Asked if the sides had considered playing the game from one end, both skippers said they did not want an international match reduced to a farce.
"There's no game I play for Australia that I'm willing to just go out and bowl some full-tosses so the crowd get a great spectacle," Clarke said. "You're representing your country."
England captain Collingwood sympathised with the fans but said player safety had to come first.
"It's an international Twenty20 game. In the end this is international cricket and we have to do the right things in terms of what the players need," he said.
"In the end you want everyone to come in at 100 percent. If the ground's not fit the ground's not fit. You have to make that decision."