6 instances when rain affected a team's chances at an ICC tournament
The 2017 Champions Trophy is close to completing its first week and so far, we already have a semi-finalist in hosts England courtesy of their 87-run win over New Zealand at Cardiff last night. However, the tournament has not been very exciting as three matches have been hit by rain with two matches being abandoned, thus depriving New Zealand and Australia victories over Australia and Bangladesh respectively.
With New Zealand losing against England and their match against Australia (where they were looking in good nick) being washed out, their chances of making the semi-final have taken a big hit as they would now have to defeat Bangladesh and hope that England defeats Australia in their final group game.
Over the years, there have been a number of instances when rainfall affected a team’s chances at an ICC tournament. Here are six such instances.
#6 West Indies at the 2003 World Cup
West Indies began their 2003 World Cup campaign with a surprising three-run win over hosts South Africa in the tournament opener. However, the Windies lost their second game against New Zealand by 20 runs but they had a chance to make up for that as they were up against underdogs Bangladesh who were unable to defeat even Canada.
West Indies scored 244/9 from their 50 overs thanks to Ricardo Powell’s quick 50 from just 31 deliveries. In reply, Bangladesh were struggling right from the beginning as they lost openers Ehsanul Haque and Al Sahariar within the first seven overs.
When Bangladesh were 32/2 in 8.1 overs, rain interrupted play and it never stopped raining which led to the match being abandoned and both teams being awarded two points each. The Windies bowling attack which consisted of the likes of Mervyn Dillon and Vasbert Drakes could have easily taken down the Bangladesh batting and won them the match.
Had they won the match, the men from the Carribean could have been on the same number of points with New Zealand and Kenya at the end of the group stage which would result in them qualifying for the Super Sixes and Kenya being eliminated by virtue of an inferior net run rate.