Washed away England’s World Cup hopes dashed
Knight admits T20 exit is ‘bitter pill to swallow’ Men’s event in October also has no reserve days
Heather Knight, England’s captain, led calls for the International Cricket Council to act to ensure there is no repeat of her team’s Twenty20 World Cup semi-final exit to India without a ball being bowled due to rain.
As predicted beforehand, persistent rain through the morning and afternoon washed out the day’s first semi-final entirely and, with no reserve day scheduled, it was India who progressed to Sunday’s final by virtue of a better record in the group stages, having topped Group A. To deepen the cut, the skies cleared sufficiently later to allow 33 overs of the second semi-final between Australia and South Africa. Australia, who like England finished second in their group, beat South Africa by five runs on the Duck-worth-lewisstern method to progress.
“It’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow for a few of us for a while,” said an emotional Knight. “You’d hope now there is going to be a rule change and, moving forward, no other team will have to experience going out of a World Cup purely because of rain. We’re frustrated it has come to this.”
Clare Connor, the England director of women’s cricket and also chair of the ICC women’s cricket committee, described the situation as “not a good day for the tournament, the players, the fans or the sport itself ”, while England’s opening bowler Anya Shrubsole insisted changes needed to be made. “Sometimes you need something to happen for those playing conditions to be looked at, and unfortunately we’ve come on the wrong side of that,” she said. “If it means that it changes for future tournaments, then that’s good.”
The immediate question was why there had been no back-up plan regarding reserve days. Informal suggestions from administrators at the match pointed to timing issues, be that players needing a travel day and a training day before a match, or Twenty20 tournaments needing to remain short and sharp.
These explanations fail to address why 50-over tournaments can manage a reserve day within the same timeframe.
Plenty of ire was directed at the ICC, but control lies in the hands of domestic administrators. In an ICC event, every competing board is sent the proposed playing conditions and has to sign off on them. Every board did.
That was little consolation to Knight, who added: “It’s gutting. You put in a lot of hard work. You want to have the chance to showcase your skills and perform on the biggest stage, and in knockout games in World Cups there’s no bigger stage than that.”
Knight acknowledged that her team’s narrow defeat by South Africa at the beginning of the tournament had ultimately cost England top spot and the default path to the final. South Africa went undefeated to top that group, just as India’s strong opening win over Australia in the other group propelled them to a 4-0 record and a golden ticket.
Of broader importance, though, was the lack of allowance for reserve days for these knockout games. England’s semi-final was scheduled on a Thursday before a final on a Sunday, the same timetable as England’s men faced in the 50-over World Cup last year. The 50-over competition factored in a reserve day for the Friday, the 20-over competition did not.
Nor is this new: none of the ICC’S global Twenty20 tournaments has had semi-final reserve days, while
the 50-over equivalents for men and women have. Until this point the disparity had not been noticed, as organisers had won their gambles against the weather.
The same playing conditions are in place for the men’s T20 World Cup starting in October this year, though there will be agitation for that to change. Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said: “It gives you cause to reflect and think about how you might improve things in the future.”
There was also sympathy for England from Australia wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy, speaking after the defending champions posted 134 for five from their 20 overs and then stopped South Africa from chasing a rain-revised 98 from 13 overs.
“I feel for the Poms a little bit, it sounds a bit dirty coming out of my mouth that we got on and they didn’t. I’d have loved to have watched that semi-final, but I’m sure they’ll be bigger and better next time,” she said.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said she had been aware of the possibility that their position in the group would prove crucial.
“We knew from day one that we would have to win all our matches because something like this could happen, so that’s how we approached it,” she said. “It was very unfortunate that we were unable to get a game today, but those are the rules for everyone.”
For England, though, there is no point staying angry for the next T20 World Cup.
“I always think it’s dangerous if you use things that are out of your control as motivation,” said Shrubsole. “In two years’ time if we’re still holding on to a bit of rain in Sydney, we’re probably on the wrong track. Sometimes you’ve just got to let things go.”