Decision to curtail play at Lord's 'a joke' - Hussain

The decision to abandon play an hour before scheduled at the end of the third day of England's second Test against Pakistan was called "a joke" by Nasser Hussain.

On a Saturday badly affected by persistent showers at Lord's, players left the field at 17:08 BST.

At that point, prospects of conditions improving sufficiently for play to resume seemed remote. However, rain cleared and the sky brightened.

The groundstaff partially removed the covers while officials deliberated. At 18:30, with up to an hour of playing time remaining and with the weather the best it had been all day, umpires Paul Reiffel and Allahuddien Parker abandoned proceedings.

The decision was greeted with booing by some of the sparse crowd that remained inside the ground.

"That's a joke, honestly a joke," former England captain Hussain said on Sky Sports.

"I earlier said how good the umpires have been. These fans have waited all afternoon for it to stop raining. It's now bright. There's blue sky in the distance. That is an unbelievable decision, it really is.

The weather stayed dry and the light remained good up to 19:30, the time at which play would have been scheduled to close.