#pitch-conditions

#pitch-conditions

Dundee United face playing four matches in 14 days on their weather-beaten Tannadice Park pitch after a request for postponed games to be rearranged for later dates was turned down. United will host Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership on Tuesday, 24 February, while the visit by St Mirren will be on Tuesday 3 March. Jim Goodwin's side were already due to host League 2 outfit Spartans in a rearranged Scottish Cup last-16 tie next Tuesday - and Kilmarnock in the league four days later.

It should be noted that Rayo Vallecano made significant efforts, undertaking a complete replacement of the pitch, with the aim of allowing the match to proceed as planned," LaLiga said. " However, adverse weather conditions during the works, as well as the forecast for continued rain in the coming hours, have prevented the pitch from reaching the necessary optimal condition.

It was a game where they took the lead, but we had our chances before them. They scored in an avoidable situation, but despite that, we did well to look for the equaliser. I don't like to talk about this, but there were two incidents, which we also reviewed, that looked like clear penalties. Honestly, we're not interested in these discussions, though. The positive thing is that, despite the pitch being unplayable today, our players always tried to play the ball, even if the flow of play wasn't what it used to be.

To put in context the surprise that greeted the two-day Boxing Day Test just gone, consider the rarity by arithmetic. The match in Melbourne was Test number 2,615, and was two-day Test number 27. You don't need a calculator to see that's roughly 1%. And yet we've had two such matches in the current Ashes series, plus another in Australia three years earlier. We've had half a dozen two-day Tests worldwide since 2021. What gives?

India is weighing the decision to include Jasprit Bumrah in the second Test, considering pitch conditions and energy reserves ahead of the next match.