Melbourne rain ruins cricket mania as England and Australia forced to split points in ICC World Cup

Melbourne rain ruins cricket mania as England and Australia forced to split points in ICC World Cup

Wine, weather, women. This is what Melbourne is famous for. In the last few days, none is talking about the wine produced in the Yarra Valley or the women but the weather. Whether the weather will be clear. Whether there will be play. Whether weather will permit. All these terms have come into vogue in Melbourne in the ICC 20 World Cup.

On Friday, another glorious day of cricket was lost to the W factor in the Capital of Victoria state. For the die-hard cricket fans, Australia splitting points with England was indeed disappointing.Sample this. This edition of the World Cup has been hyped up over a few key rivalries, the biggest being India versus Pakistan. India won handsomely at the same venue and have grown from strength to strength. In the second rivalry, Australia lost to bitter trans-Tasman foes New Zealand.

It left fans waiting for the famous match between the hosts and England. Alas, wretched weather wrecked it.For those who are cursing Melbourne, be sure it’s a beautiful city. It’s modern and yet retains old world charm. The MCG is well known as a venue for producing brilliant cricket, and adjacent to it is the famous arena which hosts the season’s first tennis Grand Slam, the Australian Open.

Nowhere in the world will you find two historic venues almost adjacent to each other like this. In fact, the smart cookies park their vehicles at the gigantic MCG parking lot and then cross over to the two arenas. It’s common knowledge that these two venues mostly do not hold matches at the same time. Yes, there have been instances when a Big Bash game is on at the MCG and the Rod Laver arena is preparing for the slam-bang tennis of a fresh January. At that time, the mercury rises to 40 degrees Celsius, which calls for the heat wave rule to be applied.

This is the changeover period, weather-wise, in Australia, a country called Down Under. Geographically, the country is too far from the rest of the world. In the good old days, England used to throw convicts into ships and they would be set on sail to Australia. Half would die due to inclement weather. Those who survived, were jailed in Australia. This is the historical perspective.When you talk of cricket rivalry between these two nations — England and Australia — not an inch is given. They hate each other, and that’s how the birth of the famous Ashes series, the epitome of Test cricket rivalry, took place. Friday was supposed to bring the best out of these teams.

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Rain plays spoilsport in the much-anticipated Australia vs England clash

Alas, weather ruined plans and both teams had to split points. This particular Group A looks jinxed. The semi-final hopefuls are pregnant with possibilities. It needs plenty of maths, stats and probability theories to decipher who will make the cut. The Aussies are the defending champions and there is pride at stake. They are eager to make a mark but loss of match practice will hurt them. As for England, they are sulks. In fact, they will not mind sharing points with the Aussies.

Back to the weather, this has been the wettest changeover period. This is autumn, but it’s as cold as winter. The day high is around 18 degrees Celsius and nights can drop to a low of six degrees. When India beat Pakistan, it was freezing. Those in the stands were dressed in layers and an image of Sunil Gavaskar wearing a monkey cap caught the eye.To be sure, this edition of the ICC World Cup in T20 format should have been held last year. Thanks to Australia being in Covid lockdown, the event was held in the three desert venues of the United Arab Emirates. You can curse Melbourne for the bad weather and how it has ruined cricket. The bigger worry for the hosts is having to refund money to those who bought tickets for this game.

While planning a big ticket event, one does factor an alternate day’s play. However, this time, the ICC had decided that points would be split in the event of a no result. It gets more intriguing from here. The city of Melbourne has faced flash floods and those who normally enjoy the picturesque Yarra River walks are now indoors.You can blame global warming and whatever you want. Yet, for Melbourne weather to rob fans of good cricket is sad. What about the two other Ws? Well, there is no dearth of good wine in Melbourne. No comments on the women, please.

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