DARREN Gough has sprung to Yorkshire’s defence and insisted they should not be blamed for Thursday’s controversial wash-out of the opening match of the NatWest one-day international series.

Yorkshire suffered the brunt of the blame for the farcical scenes at Headingley when England’s showdown with the West Indies was abandoned in bright sunshine after their new £600,000 drainage system failed to cope with early-morning rain.

The county claimed the system had not had enough time to bed in after its installation, despite the England and Wales Cricket Board passing it fit for international cricket.

It is a view which is shared by former Yorkshire and England bowler Gough, right, who stressed: “I don’t think you can blame Yorkshire or Headingley for this, it’s just one of those things.

“Obviously it’s not ideal the fact the drainage system has just been laid and the first big game there with the television cameras gets rained off.

“It was disappointing for everyone, especially after the club worked so hard to try and sell a one-dayer against West Indies.

“It’s not been easy for them and they’ve put in all that hard work only for it to be rained off.

“It’s disappointing because playing at Headingley is usually a great atmosphere, people would have been in fancy dress and looking forward to that day.”

Gough claimed that only Lord’s would have had the ability of coping with such a downpour following the installation of a drainage system costing in excess of £1m.

“There was only Lord’s that could really have handled that sort of rain, but most other grounds in England are like Headingley,” added Gough.

“I’ve played county cricket all around the country and once you get torrential rain that’s what happens, the game gets called off for the day.

“Only Lord’s have the money to have installed the system they have with rocks just under the surface to speed up the drainage.”