Tiny Cricket thingy

Yesterday, England tried to play Zimbabwe at Headingley. Sadly, though, there was lots of rain. After lots of delays, England batted first in what had been reduced to a 25 over game. Zimbabwe bowled pretty well, and good bowling from Streak and Blignaut reduced England to 4/81 off 16.3 overs: not very good for what was supposed to be a 25 over game.

Sadly though, it then rained again and the match was abandoned. Zimbabwe and England too three points each.

Not much to say. Zimbabwe are clearly a better one day side than test side. Zimbabwe have three more games in the tournament: one against England and two against South Africa. If they can win one more game (and they might, as they are playing okay) they have some change of making the final, depending on other results. If they can win two (a tall order) they will definitely make the final. A South Africa v England final looks to be overwhelmingly the most likely possibility, but Zimbabwe's participation is not impossible.

Update: Of course, when the rain did come down, England captain Michael Vaughan (thankfully back from injury) was batting quite well, with 35 off 45 balls. Under the rules, the finish of the game was allowed to be delayed one hour from the scheduled time, but this time had been used up already due to the late start. Vaughan said that since it stays light until at least 9pm at this time of year, then the powers that be should consider changing the rule to allow a further extension of play in order to get a result. This cricinfo article suggests that it is in fact ICC rules that restrict the extra time to one hour.

Of course, the situation is actually more complicated than this. There are also cases where day games are played on ground with floodlights and it would be possible to extend play into the evening if the lights were turned on. So, it would make sense for different rules to apply in different times and places. Interestingly enough, when I check the ICC playing conditions that apply for one day internationals, they seem to be very flexible. Condition 12.6 simply says that "The participating countries may agree to provide for extra time where the start of play is delayed or play is suspended". It seems to actually be the current rules for games in England that restrict the extra time to one hour. So, it doesn't look like we can blame the ICC here.

This is a shame. If the rules were such that games start in the morning and that play can continue until 9pm if necessary, I think there would be very few times when you would not get a result. If the players want this (and by Vaughan's comment they seem to) then this should really be looked at.