England vs New Zealand: Pundits and cricket fans baffled as lunch taken amid sunshine during rain-hit Lord's day

Even those who adore cricket can get frustrated by it.

One of the big bugbears is when it could be being played but isn't.

We saw just that on a rain-affected third day at Lord's in which only 9.4 overs were witnessed, when, in a Test that has been played at warp speed, there was a distinct lack of urgency.

Wet weather had delayed the start of play but at around 11.55am, with this famous old ground then bathed in sunshine, news emerged that lunch would be taken at 12.20pm.

That meant the first ball of the day would be delivered at 1pm, just when it was forecast that the rain would return.

It duly did, after only 11 balls had been bowled.

"There is heavy rain forecast from about 1pm, certainly from 3pm, and no action is going to take place while the sun is shining. That is cricket in a nutshell sometimes, I'm afraid."

Readers of the Sky Sports blog were also less than amused…

"Maybe the umpires wanted to give the players time to warm-up but they could have done that indoors. In the sunniest part of the day we had lunch. That was a bizarre decision.

"When the weather was good we were eating, when the weather was bad we tried to play cricket. That can't make sense for people who have come in. A Saturday at Lord's has a different feel and people have waited all week to come in."

Sky Sports' Mel Jones added: "As a sport we can't quite get this right. We will probably finish the summer and then come back and have the same conversation again.

"As frustrating as the rain is, I think people are more frustrated that the leaders of the sport cannot find a way to alleviate the situation."

Issues like this have been grating cricket fans for years.

Often bad light is a cause of their ire and the ICC has gone about trying to fight that by announcing that the pink ball - used in day-night Tests - will be trialled in traditional day Tests in order to continue playing in the gloom.

We don't yet know when that will come into effect - it is not an option for this England vs New Zealand series - but it should mean fans get more cricket going forward.

It seems a common-sense decision, something that was perhaps lacking when the sun shone at Lord's on Saturday…