What are the implications of rain interruptions in T20 World Cup?

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00:00Hello, everyone. Welcome to Straight Mad with Gulf News. It's Day 5 of the T20 World Cup

00:12in Australia. And on the fifth day, the rain played havoc. We had one rain-affected match

00:19and the other match was washed out completely. England were stunned by Ireland in a rain-affected

00:25match. By the time the match was stopped, Ireland were five runs ahead and that turned

00:31out to be crucial for them. But no such luck in the other game, that is the New Zealand

00:36versus Afghanistan game. And that has to be completely washed out and the teams split

00:41one point, which means that these two results have opened up the group. Satish, tell us

00:46how these two results will affect the scramble for semi-final spots.

00:52Prashanth, obviously, New Zealand still hold a slight edge for two reasons. One, they beat

00:59Australia, which is another big team and a leading contender for the semi-final slot

01:04and they have a very healthy net run rate. Though they would have preferred to have the

01:08two points on board today against Afghanistan, but it could have gone the other way also.

01:12But given New Zealand's form, I bet on them to get those two points. But in the end, today's

01:19rain has also affected England's chances badly because this loss has brought them on

01:24par with Australia almost. Because Australia suffered a massive drubbing at the hands of

01:29New Zealand. And now with this loss, England has now become two points along with Australia.

01:35So that has opened up the group. And if you ask me, in this rain-affected games, there

01:42are only two winners today. One is Ireland and the other one is Australia. Both must

01:46be laughing their way to glory because they have got a second chance of sorts right now.

01:53That also makes the Friday's match between the Ashes rivals, England and Australia, interesting,

01:58isn't it?

01:59Absolutely, Shyam. But Shyam, the biggest point right now is, that match could be washed

02:08out as well. There is a 90% chance of a rain on that day in Melbourne.

02:15Oh, La Neyla is playing havoc with the T20 World Cup. So that is perhaps, after the India-Pakistan

02:21match, that could have been the biggest match of the tournament, actually.

02:25Correct.

02:26So before we get there, let's look at what happened this morning. Ireland have a history

02:33with England. Their biggest win in their cricket history came in 2011, when Ireland beat England

02:41in the 50 Overs World Cup. So here is the same Ireland side beating England again in

02:48the T20 format. Two players from that team played in this team, that is Paul Sterling

02:54and George Darkbrill were part of the 2011 team and they were part of this team. So two

02:59players with two epic wins for Ireland, that is an amazing thing to happen. Tell us something,

03:05where did golf go wrong for England? Because England, to me, is the most powerful side

03:10in this World Cup and they are beaten by the Minnows.

03:13I think, Asham, the biggest problem England faced today was the first 10 Overs of their

03:19bowling. They won the toss and elected to bowl on overcast conditions, which is a pretty

03:24correct thing to do. But if you see the scores, the first 10 Overs, Ireland were something

03:30like 90 plus, scoring at the rate of 9.5. And thanks to some good bowling and of course

03:37Ireland, once again, because of the lack of experience, falling apart towards the end

03:43of the innings, they could have actually gone on to score 180-190 also. Because almost at

03:48the halfway mark, they were something close to 100, which they could have easily doubled

03:53given the chance. And they lost only about two wickets or so. So in that sense, I think

03:58that's where the English bowlers didn't bowl up to the mark. They were caught off-guard.

04:07And Andrej Balbrain played a brilliant knock. All the pays, everything that came for not

04:14on this day, he literally hammered them. I think in 12 Overs, Ireland were 103 and that's

04:22the time they lost the second wicket, which means they could have easily scored 170-180,

04:27which would have made it even more difficult for England. And that's where England lost

04:31the plot. Because if they had curtailed Ireland under 130-140 maybe, they could have still

04:38gone on to win. Because at that point of time, the net run rate, or rather according to Duckworth

04:43Lewis, they were just five runs behind. And what has also happened is, because of that

04:48excessive runs, they had to play an aggressive form of game so that to get those runs and

04:54stay ahead of the Duckworth Lewis. Because Ireland were ahead at that point of time as well.

05:01So they lost a few wickets, which could have also impacted the net run rate and the score

05:07could have been tinted in favour of Ireland. So all in all, it was a bad game again for England.

05:13They didn't play well as they would have expected them to play. So they lost the match in the first

05:2010 overs. That's where I would say.

05:22That is pretty much what Mark Wood also said. Mark Wood admitted that he didn't bowl well,

05:28rather they didn't bowl well. And so also, Joe Spudler in the post-match chat with the

05:34broadcast, official broadcaster, said that the first 10 overs, they didn't bowl well at all.

05:40And that actually turned out to be costly. Now, okay. But Ireland bowled well, isn't it?

05:46Yeah. Ireland bowled. They played a brilliant game, Sham. Now England were playing against

05:51two rivals. One was the rain, other one was Ireland. So in this, when you are facing two

05:56rivals and when you are under excess pressure, obviously you are likely to make more mistakes

06:00than the others. So Ireland made a very beautiful thing. They kept it very simple. They bowled at

06:05the right areas. Didn't try anything fancy. They just kept a good line and length for England to

06:11go after them, which England would have done it anyway because of the length.

06:18Josh Little bowled an excellent spell, isn't it? He had Josh Butler out on the second ball.

06:24Correct. Correct. That's what, Sham. He bowled at the corridor of uncertainty where

06:28he kept the ball there and didn't do anything. He didn't bowl 140, 150 plus. He just bowled

06:35at the right areas, kept to the good line and length and probably threw the ball to them and

06:40then said, come on, now it's up to you. Go for it. So England fell for it, actually, to be honest.

06:46And England has a batting strength which goes all the way to number nine. We

06:52discussed this. And what happened to all this powerful batting?

07:01Because if you look at the heaters, finally when the rain interrupted,

07:07Moeen Ali and Livingstone were batting.

07:10Yeah. Sham, if the rain had not intervened, England would have still scored those runs because

07:15some 52 runs of 33 balls is not a big deal, to be honest. Even after this. There is Sam Curran,

07:22there is Chris Wokes, Mark Wood. And this pair alone could have taken it forward. So it's just

07:28that the rain came at the wrong time. Maybe another one over or two overs down the line,

07:33maybe England would have been ahead of the run rate. But it's bad luck. Again,

07:38fortunately it was the Brave. Ireland played a very brave game and they are worthy winners today.

07:45Satish, what I also didn't understand here was, you know it's a rain-affected match.

07:51You are chasing, which means you have the chase under control.

07:54Sorry, Sham. I couldn't hear you.

07:58I was saying England were chasing.

08:02Sorry, Sham. I missed your question. Sorry. There's something wrong with my question.

08:07Okay. Let me rephrase it. I said England were chasing, which means they have a target in mind.

08:13So you know the rains are coming. That is no secret. I mean, it is not a sudden downpour.

08:19You know that there is going to be a rain at some point. Which means if I were the captain,

08:23I would be calculating every over where I should be. But it looks like England didn't do that.

08:30Because at the time when the rain interrupted, they were five runs behind. Which means

08:37they were not looking at the Douglas Duckworth-Lewis required rate.

08:42Sham, they might have looked also. But I think the untimely wicket of David Mullan,

08:49maybe an over or two before that, must have increased the run rate. Because the Duckworth-Lewis

08:54takes a lot of things into consideration. Your wickets, your number of overs left,

08:59the number of runs to be scored. So all those come into consideration. So that wicket actually

09:04must have pushed them a little further, where that's where even the final assault of

09:08Moeen Ali or… I think that three balls got them 12 runs in that 14th over.

09:16Moeen Ali was warming up at that point. He was six up.

09:21I think the wicket on the previous over of Mullan must have pushed the run rate up by another 20 or

09:2725 runs more. Because that's the way the Duckworth-Lewis works.

09:32OK. Now that's enough about England and Ireland. Now let's come back to the New Zealand-Afghanistan

09:38match. So New Zealand split points, which means they dropped the point.

09:43How will that affect their prospects from Group 1?

09:48Sham, now I think that's one good thing. They have a win already on hand. And that too against

09:53Australia, who are a title contender. So that means they have a slight edge over the others.

09:59If the match again between England and Australia are also washed out, then that means Australia

10:05must have lost two losses. England almost two losses. No, England almost… They'll have one

10:10point extra now after this loss. So that would still keep them in good shape. And I think they

10:15are not playing until, say… I think the next match they have is on Friday, I think. Not Friday.

10:23They must be playing later on. Must be Saturday, I think. So thankfully, the Friday matches are

10:28the ones that are going to be affected. And hopefully, they must be aiming at the next match

10:34where they are playing. I think that is not affected by rain. They are playing on Saturday

10:40against Sri Lanka, which is again in Sydney. So that is a little long way off. So hopefully,

10:47we should see them. And again, Saturday, the rain prospect in Sydney is about five percent. So they

10:53should get that win. And then if they get that, then I think they are in pole position to make

10:59the semis, just like any other ICC trophy event, which they have done in the past.

11:05Anyway, today's results, the rain washout and the rain-affected match has made the T20 World Cup a

11:12lot more interesting. In fact, the scramble for births of the semifinal sports has just begun.

11:17So thank you for tuning in. There is more to come in the coming days. Please stay with us

11:21over the period of the tournament. And for the latest updates and breaking news and other

11:26developments, please log on to cutnews.com. Thank you.

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