Umpires Steve Dunne and West Indian Eddie Nicholls abandoned play today before tea. Both teams remained in their hotels while captains Stephen Fleming and Mohammad Azharuddin made a brief visit during the lunch break.``This is the first time a Test has been scheduled here before Christmas,'' Perham, the chief curator said. ``The weather here is unpredictable before January. They should have know better.''

Perham, in his second year with Otago Cricket Association, said it was unlikely play will be possible at all in the remainder of the Test with more bad weather forecast in the next four days.

``Even if the rain ceases, we'll need a lot of sun shine to dry theoutfield. It will remain greasy,'' said Perham. If the game is abandoned without a ball bowled it will be only the eighth such instance in 1,434 Test matches.

No play in Pakistan

Islamabad: Zimbabwe brightened its chances of recording its first series victory away from home after fog prevented play for the third successive day in the third and final cricket Test against Pakistan in Faisalabad today.Though the fog was not dense, poor light forced umpires Dough Cowie and Salim Badar to rule out play shortly after noon. Dense fog had denied play on the first two days.

Zimbabwe leads the three-match series 1-0 after winning the first Test by seven wickets. The second Test was also marred by dense fog at Lahore as 13 hours were lost due to poor visibility.