“In 2018 there was just two millimetres of rain in June but the last 24 hours alone has seen around 100 millimetres fall in the south-east of England.” - ICC boss Dave Richardson
Times Select
TELFORD VICE in Cardiff
STEVE Rhodes and Dave Richardson were both wicketkeepers, a good option if you’re looking for the unvarnished truth; straight no chaser. But one is a Yorkshireman and the other a lawyer, and we know which of those we think talks more sense.
So here’s ‘Bumpy’ Rhodes, also the son of a wicketkeeper — Nottinghamshire’s Billy Rhodes — and now Bangladesh’s coach, on whether the World Cup league stage match schedule should have made provision for reserve days:
“If you know the English weather, sadly, we're going to get a lot of rain. We never know when the rain's going to come.
“People from all over the world keep asking me whether it's going to rain; I don't know. But at the moment, we're seeing some problems.
“And I know, logistically, it would have been a big headache for the tournament organisers, and I know that it would have been difficult, but we have got quite a lot of time in between games, and if we have got to travel a day later, then so be it.
“We put men on the moon so why can't we have a reserve day, when actually this tournament is a long tournament. They are spread out, the games.
“I would say that it's disappointing for the crowd, as well. They have got tickets to see a game of cricket, and you know, it would be up to them if they can get there the day after.”
And here’s Richardson, the floppy-hatted stumper in 42 Tests South Africa played immediately after they were let back into the international arena in 1991, and these days chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), on the same subject:
“Factoring in a reserve day for every match at the [World Cup] would significantly increase the length of the tournament and practically would be extremely complex to deliver.
“It would impact pitch preparation, team recovery and travel days, accommodation and venue availability, tournament staffing, volunteer and match officials availability, broadcast logistics and very importantly the spectators who in some instances have travelled hours to be at the game. There is also no guarantee that the reserve day would be free from rain either.
“Up to 1 200 people are on site to deliver a match and everything associated with it including getting it broadcast and a proportion of them are moving around the country, so reserve days in the group stage would require a significant uplift in the number of staff. We have reserve days factored in for the knock-out stages, knowing that over the course of 45 group games we should play the large majority.
“This is extremely unseasonable weather. In the last couple of days we have experienced more than twice the average monthly rainfall for June which is usually the third driest month in the UK. In 2018 there was just two millimetres of rain in June but the last 24 hours alone has seen around 100 millimetres fall in the south-east of England.
“When a match is affected by weather conditions, the venue team work closely with match officials and groundstaff to ensure that we have the best possible opportunity to play cricket, even if it is a reduced overs game. We also work to keep fans in the stadium, or those travelling to the game, as up to date as possible with any information we have, either through public announcements or on our social media channels.”
Rhodes said what he said in the wake of rain denying Bangladesh denied a crack at vulnerable Sri Lanka in Bristol on Tuesday. Not long afterwards, Richardson’s comments fluttered into view in the form of an ICC release.
It wasn’t difficult to see why the suits felt the need to say something. The Bangladesh-Sri Lanka game was the third in five days to be left unsatisfyingly unwon and unlost. Two of them — both in Bristol, and both involving Sri Lanka — didn’t even start. The other, between West Indies and South Africa in Southampton on Monday, lasted 45 balls before the rain arrived. And stayed.
The focus on the weather only sharpened on Thursday, when the match between India and New Zealand at Trent Bridge was also, in scorer speak, abandoned without a ball bowled. That’s four of the first 18 games left hanging — too many.
“We don’t want to win our points freely,” Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne said. “We want to play cricket and win games and gain the points.”
But he didn’t seem overly unhappy at his team having earned both of their points simply by turning up, especially as a win is worth only two. Sri Lanka were properly beaten in their warm-up games, by South Africa and Australia, and went into the tournament proper looking like a side who should get used to coming second.
Bangladesh had one of their warm-ups, against Pakistan in Cardiff, washed out and they lost the other by 95 runs — to India, one of the favourites.
But they showed how seriously opponents would have to take them by handing down a masterclass in making the most of limited player resources against South Africa at the Oval. They scored their record total in a one-day international, 330/6, and bowled cannily to complete the job and win by 21 runs.
New Zealand and the other fancied side, England, have since put dents in the Bangladeshis’ ambitions of reaching the semi-finals, but they would have been confident — and deserved to be — of putting one over the Lankans. The same goes, in varying degrees, for all of their remaining opponents.
Not so the South Africans, who staggered to a hattrick of losses before finally breaking the duck in the standings in Southampton’s fine weather for ducks. They should have the beating of Afghanistan in Cardiff on Saturday. That’s if the forecasted rain doesn’t get in the way. Much more of the wet stuff has been predicted for England’s south-east until Sunday.
That, potentially, puts five matches in danger — including India’s clash against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Sunday. Birmingham isn’t in the south-east, and thus play shouldn’t be affected. But, considering this fixture is in some ways a bigger deal than the World Cup final itself, prayers for no rain will go up.
Little wonder the England Cricket Board (ECB) are talking to a firm called, ominously, X, who are owned by Alphabet — Google’s parent company — and who make their money by putting solar-powered balloons 19 kilometres into the sky over rural parts of Africa to provide wifi.
The ECB want to know whether X can use their approach to float balloons draping a net of fine mesh over rain-hit grounds. The mesh would float high above the field and be anchored to outer points of the stands, and catch the rain to allow play to continue.
But that’s part of a weird and wonderful future. For now cricket is trying to keep dry the integrity of a World Cup that could be woefully wet.
Perhaps three points for a win would have been a better idea. But that would disadvantage teams in weather-affected games significantly more than the current arrangement.
A better way to decide the issue would be to use the Duckworth/Lewis system, or a variation thereof, to decide the spoils in rained out games.
The team closer to winning when the match is called off could earn 1.5 points, for instance, and their opponents 0.5.
Simple. Fair. Sensible. Wicketkeepers would approve. No lawyers required.
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