World Cup 2019: ICC defends decision to not have reserve days for league matches

What’s the story?

ICC CEO Dave Richardson has issued a clarification after concerns were raised over the lack of reserve days for the World Cup 2019 league stage games. Richardson defended the ICC's decision by blaming the unseasonably wet British weather for disrupting the schedule.

In case you didn’t know...

The poor weather in England has given the event the unwanted record for the most number of abandoned games at a World Cup, surpassing the two each at the 1992 and 2003 editions. Three games have already been washed out during this World Cup due to heavy rain. More matches are expected to be affected by rain in the upcoming weeks. The ICC have only kept reserve days for the semi-finals and the final.

Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes was not pleased with the ICC's decision of not having reserve days for the initial World Cup games. Bangladesh's clash against Sri Lanka in Bristol was abandoned on Tuesday, with the two Asian countries having to split points.

The heart of the matter

A statement from Richardson read,

"Factoring in a reserve day for every match at the ICC Men’s Cricket 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 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. 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."

What’s next?

Australia will take on Pakistan in a much-awaited clash later in the day. Light showers are expected during this match as well.

Also see - IND vs PAK head to head stats

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