BRISTOL – Sri Lanka’s World Cup match against Bangladesh was abandoned without a ball being
bowled due to rain in Bristol
on Tuesday.
The umpires’ decision left tournament organisers with the
unwanted record for the most number of abandoned games at a World Cup,
surpassing the two each at the 1992 tournament in Australia
and New Zealand and the 2003
edition in southern Africa.
It was the second successive World Cup match at Bristol that had fallen victim to bad weather, with Sri Lanka’s group game against Pakistan at south-west county Gloucestershire’s
headquarters on Friday another no-result washout that did not witness a single
delivery.
Rain has also been forecast for Wednesday’s match between Australia and Pakistan
in Taunton.
No reserve days have been scheduled for the 10-team
round-robin stage, despite the well-known risks of rain during a British
summer.
Asked whether there should be reserve days in the group
phase, Bangladesh coach
Steve Rhodes, a former England
wicket-keeper, said: “Yes, I would (have them).
“I know logistically it would have caused problems. But we
can put a man on the moon, so if we have to travel a day later, so be it.”
Only one of three World Cup matches scheduled to take place
in Bristol produced any play, champions Australia launching their title defence with a
seven-wicket victory over outsiders Afghanistan.
Heavy overnight and early morning rain delayed the scheduled
10.30am local time start of Tuesday’s match.
And with rain continuing to fall, the umpires – after several
inspections – bowed to the inevitable by calling the game off at 1.57pm.
Both sides received a point for the washout.
It was the second World Cup no-result in as many days after
rain meant only 7.3 overs were possible in the match between South Africa and the West Indies in Southampton on Monday.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/CWC19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CWC19fixture against Sri Lanka has been called off due to the inclement weather.
The points have been shared. pic.twitter.com/GHqKa0Hm48
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup)