England Cricket Board likely to suffer losses due to rains

Heavy overnight and early morning rain washed out the World Cup group match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Bristol on Tuesday. Sri Lanka have already suffered one no result washout in Bristol, against Pakistan on Friday.

Meanwhile, tournament organisers were, for the second day in a row, faced with the prospect of another incomplete match after rain forced South Africa and the West Indies to take a point each at Southampton on Monday.

Heavy rain now threatens to play spoilsport when India face New Zealand in their next World Cup game at Trent Bridge on Thursday (June 13). The marquee clash between arch rivals India and Pakistan on June 16 at Old Traffoerd, Manchester is also at the mercy of the weather gods. "Manchester will experience sunshine and scattered showers on Sunday. It will be cool and breezy there too," the Met department source added.

There has been persistent showers across United Kingdom for the past two days and the local Met department has issued a warning for the residents. "A Yellow Warning for rain is in force in the Nottingham area for most of this week," local website 'Nottinghampost' reported. The Met office's warning on its website covered a large area of England, including Birmingham, Peterborough and Newcastle.

"There is a chance that heavy prolonged rain could lead to localised flooding and disruption to transport," it said. As per local Met Office weather forecast for Nottingham, the heavy rain will continue till 7pm on Wednesday. "That lighter rain is expected to finally come to an end at about lunch time on Thursday. The maximum temperatures will be around 13 degree Celsius and minimum overnight temperatures will be around 10 or 11 degree Celsius," the website reported.

It is a concerning scene for fans, with major fears the English weather could cause havoc throughout the World Cup. The matches call-off upset fans who had travelled to watch the game. The host board will suffer a lot of losses. The losses fall under sponsor commitments, telecast arrangements and match tickets. So, in case of an abandoned match, what will the fans who paid for the tickets get?

While no other sport gets affected to a large extent by rain, cricket games can face abruption even if only droplets of rain fall down on the ground. This is due to the fact that pitch and outfield conditions could be affected severely in such rain-affected matches.

About 44 years ago, uncovered pitches were common in cricket, but now the sport has progressed a lot. These days, especially in a country like Sri Lanka, the groundsmen are really proactive and cover the whole field as soon as possible.

Cricket boards also take as much care as possible to adhere to the weather forecasts in order to adjust the fixtures.

Here's what the ICC World Cup Rain Policy has to say: 'If play is restricted or does not take place at the Venue on the day for which a Ticket is valid, including any Reserve Day, the Ticket purchaser may claim a refund of the Original Sale Price of that Ticket (excluding fees) subject to there being: (a) 15 overs or less because of adverse weather conditions - a full refund; (b) 15.1 overs to 29.5 overs because of adverse weather conditions - a 50 per cent refund.'

For fans who travel far and long for these matches, the refund might not be satisfactory, but until cricket boards take steps to install roofs at stadiums, this will be the best method of reimbursement.