India vs NZ stopped by rain: This World Cup has seen spoilsport weather play its part on the pitch
Rain is dampening the spirit of fans, players and organisers in the World Cup. Surely the tournament could have more adequately factored in weather forecasting that was available.
New Zealand had posted 211/5 in 46.1 overs when rain stopped play in the Kiwis' World Cup semi-final against India.
The British Met Department had predicted rain to hit the match and the day's forecast was indeed cloudy throughout. It is highly unlikely that a no result will happen at the Old Trafford though as there is a reserve day on Wednesday, given that this is a semi-final match.
If the match is not played on Wednesday (reserve day), then the Duckworth-Lewis (DLS) method will come about.
This will actually be good news for India as India will qualify for the finals with more points (15) than New Zealand (11) in the league stage.
Rain has played spoilsport often in this World Cup though. One can see ground staff running on with covers one match after the other. This has hit several important league matches. The Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka match was rained out in Bristol and the Pakistan-Sri Lanka match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Now, two semi-finalist sides in the tournament, India and New Zealand, face a potential wash-out.
The all-important match held earlier between India and Pakistan, which had the entire sub-continent holding its breath, could also not be completed in full on the pitch thanks to interruption by rain. Without a reserve day, the match was finally settled through DLS or the Duckworth-Lewis method.
This is the fifth occasion when the cricket World Cup is being hosted in England. The last times were 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999. In 1999, the World Cup was held in May while the rest took place in June. This June has been a particularly damp exception though, with heavy rain predicted in many parts of the country throughout the month.
It is puzzling that despite such a weather scenario, accurately forecast, the organisers weren't better prepared.
After all, if a game is washed out, it means huge commercial losses for the organisers themselves. The spectators get their money back if no ball is bowled, or if the game is abandoned after a small amount of play. With rain being on the cards, and the weather prediction having been done well in advance, showing imminent downpours, the cricketing board should have had reserve days in plenty for each league match too, ensuring that some play happens.
The ICC claim’s that more reserve days would have lengthened the tournament and disrupted travel, accommodation and so on is hard to accept. After all, the entire tournament is a month long, and having one extra day as a reserve day for play in such conditions which were known beforehand wouldn’t have hampered too much.
With inadequate reserve days, any team may struggle to make it to the semi-finals and it may all come down to the net run rate. That's not really satisfying cricket.