Rain pain

The sore point about the rain in England is June can be a dodgy month even though it is said to be the third driest in their calendar. The point is the World Cup has been dogged by rain because it was scheduled by the England and Wales board in June-July rather than in July-August-September which are known to be generally drier summer months in the Old Blighty.

The reason for the World Cup starting as early as in May is because England put its cricket economy interests first by placing The Ashes series in the best part of the summer. Truth to tell, this is selfish because the hosts make not only considerably more money from The Ashes but the series is also the primary fixtures on their international calendar. The World Cup is small change compared to The Ashes so far as England is concerned.

As the crucial India-New Zealand game between two unbeaten sides was on knife's edge over getting in at least 20 overs a team to make a result possible, the unfairness of scheduling the World Cup in rainy June may have dawned on the cricket world. It was belting down so much at around 2 p.m. that those idling away their time in cricket media were sending out orders for bhajji and pakodas. You knew the signs were bad right then, another washout on the cards.

No one can predict the weather accurately but rest assured that those watching years of cricket played in England know that July-August is the better time for the game. The 1983 World Cup, played between eight teams in a quick format, was over by June 25 itself and we know the famous result too well. The 1999 World Cup in England was an elaborate affair that went smoothly without too much of interference from the weather even though it started in June. Perhaps, these things have more to do with luck. However, it is too well-known that rain and cricket do not go hand in hand.

It might have seemed logical for the World Cup to have had reserve days built in for the 45 league matches even if it would have made it a logistical nightmare for the organisers and, more importantly, for their television partners who have to move massive equipment from venue to venue. However, washed out matches do make a very poor advertisement for the game of cricket besides making qualifying in the top four a lottery, that too in cricket's mid format World Cup, which is the absolute showpiece of the game.

What kept us amused as the crucial game was heading for a washout in Trent Bridge, Nottingham was the innumerable memes online. Twitter was full of them, hundreds imagining cricketers playing under water to themes touching upon the movies while having a laugh at cricket's discomfort with rain. The rain pain simply would not go away as the unbeaten teams prepare to roll on, their record intact for a few days more. But, as the Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes put it plaintively - "If man can land on the moon, why not a reserve day in a World Cup?"

The washout result would not suit the stronger team India which has a 6-1 record against New Zealand in the last seven games, besides New Zealand's poorish record at Trent Bridge, where they did beat India in 1999 but otherwise flopped miserably. The irony, of course, is that India has never beaten New Zealand in the World Cup, having lost to them thrice on all occasions on which they played them - In 1979, 1992 and 1999. This is a bit like India's record of always having beaten Pakistan in the World Cup, starting from their first meeting in 1992. New Zealand can boast that they have never lost to India in a World Cup. That record could get tested if the teams were to meet in one of the semi-finals or the final. Until then, there are other urban legends to the World Cup besides India's supremacy over Pakistan.