World Cup History: Five rain-affected matches that changed the course of the tournaments
The earthy smell of the first rains refreshes the soul and fills it with happiness.
Rains bring smile on the weathered faces of farmers, kids come out with their paper boats, football fans hit the field and make those sliding tackles fearlessly, avid readers sit on the window reading their favourite novel, adventurous trekkers head out to get a spellbinding view of the nature and some have a sumptuous dose of their favourite beverage and snack.
But the cricket fans do mind rains. The most awaited tournament of this year - the World Cup 2019 is proving to be wringing wet with rains resulting in four matches so far ending in no-result as of 18th June.
Social media, TV news channels and newspapers were flooded with debates, discussions and analysis on the top team, best batsmen and bowler and who could be the X-factor - Archer, Pandya, Woakes, Carey, or Russell. Well as it turns out, rain is proving to be that X-factor, threatening to change the course of the tournament as it did in 1992 and 2003 World Cups.
Let us have a look at five such rain-affected matches during World Cups where rain played a crucial role.
#1 England vs South Africa - 1992, Sydney, Semi-final
England 252/6 (45), South Africa 232/6 (43)
England won by 20 runs as per the lowest scoring overs rain-rule.
Perhaps the most unfortunate rain-affected match of all-time was the semifinal between England and South Africa. Proteas needing just 22 off 13 deliveries with 4 wickets in hand were looking good to storm into their first ever World Cup final. However, as the luck would have it, rain interrupted and post 12 minutes of delay the updated target as per the dubious rain rule was set to 21 off just one ball (incorrectly shown as 22 on the iconic scoreboard image.)
The obvious happened and England entered the finals.
Also read – Cricket World cup winners