RICHMOND captain Allan Wise was furious about the state of the Central Reserve north ground wicket on Saturday after his team's match was the only Premier Cricket game to be abandoned.
The former Sheffield Shield bowler and premiership captain called his side's home wicket "disgraceful" and "underprepared" after players arrived to find the centre square not fully covered from the rain on Friday night.
Play was abandoned between the Tigers and Fitzroy-Doncaster. The two sides will play 90 overs this Saturday but neither side is likely to get a result from the game.
"The wicket was disgraceful," Wise said.
"I can't believe it. Things need to change.
"It was the only match that wasn't played; I was driving home from the ground and seeing all these different competitions playing.
"They hadn't put full covers on and the whole square was saturated. There were wet patches. The wicket was underprepared."
The Tigers moved to Central Reserve before last season and moved to the top or north ground this season after their new pavilion was built.
"All our facilities are in place here but the wicket was grossly underprepared." Wise said ground staff at the venue had to realise they were now preparing wickets for the state's top grade of cricket.
"The council employs curators and their job is to get the wicket up to Premier Cricket standard. As it was today, you wouldn't let kids play on it.
"I don't know what has happened. It was either laziness or incompetence; it can't be anything in between.
"There were lots of other curators who had grounds up and playing on Saturday."
With both the Tigers and Lions desperate for points to keep pace with other finals contenders, Wise said the two sides may still get a result this Saturday but it looked unlikely.
The Tigers could get Victorian batsman-keeper Ryan Carters back from an international tournament in Hong Kong for this Saturday.
"We could miss out on six points, as could Fitzroy. It's disappointing to serve up those conditions to other clubs," Wise said.
"We will see what we can muster, try to play good cricket and see if we can pull off some sort of result."
The Tigers host Fitzroy-Doncaster at Central Reserve North from noon this Saturday.