The International Cricket Council have come under fire for not allowing for reserve days at the Cricket World Cup.
Bangladesh’s match with Sri Lanka in Bristol, due to be played yesterday was the third to be abandoned due to rain at this tournament – setting an unwanted record for the most ever.
Sri Lanka’s meeting with Pakistan was also abandoned without a ball being bowled and their win over Afghanistan was heavy affected by the weather.
On Monday, West Indies weren’t able to capitalise on a good start against South Africa, taking two wickets in the opening overs, before the rain starting and continued leading to the match being abandoned.
Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes says he can’t understand why there are no reserve days for games at the Cricket World Cup.
Former England wicket-keeper Rhodes says the weather should have been taken into account by the organisers.
“It would have been difficult, but we have quite a lot of time in between games and if we have to travel a day later then so be it,” he said as his side must wait until next Monday before they play again.
We put a man on the moon, so why can’t we have a reserve day when this tournament is a long tournament?
The ICC’s David Richardson says reserve days would be “extremely complex to deliver”.
The tournament sees all 10 teams in one group, meaning all nations have nine matches before the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, former England cricketer Dominic Cork backed the organisers.
“The tournament is so long already to have reserve days,” he said
“(You have to) think about the grounds as well and pitches trying to turn them around for the next team. I just don’t think it works
“If it were anywhere else in the world, we wouldn’t be talking about the weather.”
The decision to reduce the World Cup from 14 teams to 10 was a controversial one which meant countries like Ireland, who played in the last three World Cups, missed out on the competition.